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: The Elovaters at MGM Music Hall at Fenway
It’s a new Boston music tradition, like the Dropkicks on St. Patrick’s Day or the Bosstones over the holidays — only here, the rooms keep getting bigger. The Elovaters have another post-holidaze show to heat up the hometown masses with warm vibes in the coldest month, and it goes down Saturday (January 18) at MGM Music Hall at Fenway. It continues an impressive winter rise for the Boston progressive roots and reggae rock brigade that began in the clubs and elevated from the ‘Dise to House of Blues and now MGM, and this gig welcomes V faves Moon Taxi as direct support. The Elovaters are fresh off another win as Reggae/Ska Artist of the Year at the 2024 Boston Music Awards, and 2023 global breakout album Endless Summer has plenty of juice left, taking the band across festival appearances at Cali Vibes, California Roots, Levitate Backyard, and Rise and Vibes Music Festival. Now Lansdowne will be once again warmed up in the best ways possible. Get “Sky High” with the boys below and this weekend.
THE ELOVATERS + MOON TAXI + LITTLE STRANGER + SURFER GIRL :: Saturday, January 19 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 6pm, all ages, $33.50 to $99.50 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Comedy: Tracy Morgan at The Wilbur
One of the editorial changes here at Vanyaland for 2025 has been breaking up Jason Greenough’s weekly Mic’d Up column into individual live comedy spotlights, and yesterday the longtime comedy editor shined a light on Tracy Morgan‘s appearance Saturday night at The Wilbur in Boston. Here’s the word: “Morgan has certainly had quite the track record of making Saturday nights feel special. And though he won’t be in studio 8H this weekend, the living legend will, at least, be live from Boston. In addition to his work on stage as one of the most highly-respected voices in stand-up, which has most recently spawned his 2023 HBO Max special, Takin’ It Too Far, the Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock alum has also stayed busy with a handful of screen roles added to his credit, including 2022’s Spirited and The Neighborhood, as well as 2023’s The Santa Clauses on Disney+.” Dude’s got the resume.
TRACY MORGAN :: Saturday, January 18 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 6:30 p.m., $69 :: Advance tickets
Film/TV: ‘Climax’ at Coolidge Corner Theatre
We’re looking for a head trip this weekend, and strangely enough, we found one in Brookline. Gaspar Noé’s 2018 psychological horror film Climax screens tonight (January 17) at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, and it’s an appropriate hallucinatory journey to get us through the weekend. Plus, Vanyaland film editor Nick Johnston raved about it when he caught it at TIFF ’18, describing it as “an acid-laced dance descent into madness.” Here’s more: “Climax is, in many ways, a film that could serve as an introduction to the rest of Noé’s deeply intimidating filmography. The first 40-odd minutes, right until the acid starts to kick in, including an impressively photographed and choreographed series of dance sequences, may be the most restrained work of Noé’s career, and I think you’ll see a ton of re-evaluations of his work from people who just couldn’t see beyond the aesthetic. It’s not nearly as brutal as something like Irreversible nor is it as much of a time investment in the way that Enter the Void and Love (it’s only a scant 93 minutes), but it does retain Noe’s abrasive, psychedelic tendencies and a number of his most memorable visual tics.”
‘CLIMAX’ :: Friday, January 17 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Tremont St. in Brookline, MA :: 11:59 p.m., $17 :: Event info and tickets