Editor’s Note: Welcome to V3 Weekend, Vanyaland‘s guide to help you sort out your weekend entertainment with curated selections and recommendations across our three pillars of Music, Comedy, and Film/TV. It’s what you should know about, where you need to be, and where you’ll be going, with us riding shotgun along the way.
Music: Interpol at Roadrunner
Out of all the acts that sprouted from the early aughts New York City indie rock resurgence, Interpol probably came the closest to the power of their debut when it was time for album number two. Released in 2004, Antics was a bit more jagged, rambunctious, and – at times – more mournful than its predecessor, the 2002 post-punk masterpiece Turn on the Bright Lights. All that is to say we’re more than good with the nattily-dressed trio doing the 20th-anniversary thing on the back of Antics, performing it in full to celebrate. Beyond the unimpeachable singles, “Slow Hands,” “Evil,” and “C’mere,” there are some quality deep cuts. The pleading “Take You on a Cruise,” bounding “Not Even Jail” and even the funeral dirge-like lead track – and Afghan Whigs rip-off – “Next Exit” are worthy of some spotlight time onstage. Unsurprisingly, there’s a 20th-anniversary edition of Antics – on red vinyl no less – available now, and the band is currently taking pre-orders for a made-to-order 3LP box set until December 13, which we imagine frontman Paul Banks putting together himself by hand, maybe with help from RZA. The latter comes with the full recording of a 2005 gig at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes when Interpol was still a foursome and bulletproof, along with a 30-page photobook as a reminder. If this Sunday (December 1) at Roadrunner is even one-third that good, it’s worth going out for and shaking off day three of Thanksgiving leftovers. Why not? It’s not like we’re telling you to go see Elefant do The Black Magic Show in its entirety. — Michael Christopher
INTERPOL + CAVE IN :: Sunday, December 1 at Roadrunner, 89 Guest St. in Boston, MA :: 8 p.m., all ages, $49.50 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Comedy: Sean Sullivan at Nick’s Comedy Stop
If you’re looking for that post-holiday decompression, and feeling the need to laugh off some of those “fourth serving of Stove Top stuffing” calories instead of enduring the chaos of Black Friday, Sean Sullivan has you covered. As a long-standing fan favorite around the region (and this webbsite), Sullivan ushers in the holiday weekend as he occupies the famed stage at Nick’s Comedy Stop for a much needed palate cleanser of that charmingly dry sarcasm and precise observational hilarity that we’ve come to know and love from the “Song and Dance Man.” We’ll two nights of top-tier comedy, the opportunity to go back to avoiding family, and the chance to feel a jolt of vitality without being tackled over a stuffed Bluey at a Target at four in the morning. That’s a textbook win-win if we’ve ever seen one. — Jason Greenough
SEAN SULLIVAN :: Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30 at Nick’s Comedy Stop, 100 Warrenton St. in Boston, MA :: 8 p.m., $22 :: Event info and tickets
Film/TV: Wicked vs. Gladiator II in theaters
It’s certainly not the cultural phenomenon that was Barbenheimer, but Wicked vs. Gladiator II is providing a nice double-shot of distraction — even if its promo portmanteau of Glicked is kinda lame — as we head into a long holiday weekend desperate for adventures away from the Thanksgiving dinner table. Ahead of their theatrical release last week, both films earned high praise from Vanyaland film editor Nick Johnston (revisit the official reviews: Wicked + Gladiator II), who wrote that established fans of the Broadway franchise will probably have a great time with Jon M. Chu’s screen adaptation; while Ridley Scott’s sequel to the 2000 Best Picture winner emerges as an uneven, yet fun time, at the movies, carried by another spectacular Denzel Washington performance. We’ll all be sitting in the dark in relative silence at some point this weekend, so we might as well maximize the entertainment value in front of us. — Michael O’Connor Marotta
‘WICKED’ + ‘GLADIATOR II’ :: Now playing at a theater near you; check local listings for showtimes and info