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: Stereo MC’s at The Sinclair
“Something ain’t right!” If there was ever a week to have that classic lyric dancing around the dome, it’s been this one. And if there was ever an iconic jam to help transport us mentally to a better place, it’s Stereo MC’s‘ 1992 enduring anthem “Connected.” So beam us the fuck up and drop us at The Sinclair on Saturday, as the English hip-hop and electronic dance pioneers bring the party to Cambridge as part of their first stateside dates in 24 years. The crew even took to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon recently to air it back out and prove its timelessness. But the Stereo MC’s catalog runs deep, and recent set lists include a spectrum of selections from their seven albums, as well as the possibility of new joints. “There are many influences in the melting pot being shaped by this time we live in,” says Rob Birch. “In the same way as we look back for inspiration, we are charged by the present and that’s how we work: Combining old methods with modern technology. The more diverse our music becomes the happier I feel.” Go and do it again, and get to the club early to catch homegrown talent Haasan Barclay.
STEREO MC’S + HAASAN BARCLAY :: Saturday, January 25 at The Sinclair, 52 Church St. in Cambridge, MA :: 7 p.m., 18-plus, $29.50 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Comedy: Sarah Silverman at Chevalier and The Wilbur
Any time Sarah Silverman returns to New England, we take notice. And now the New Hampshire native is back in town for three gigs as part of her ongoing Postmortem tour: Friday at Medford’s Chevalier Theatre and two Saturday shows at The Wilbur in Boston. The newly remixed Mic’d Up sets it up and breaks it down: “Silverman has always been one to have her finger on the pulse. That remains to be the case as she makes her town with a new hour of comedy, even if a pulse isn’t exactly there. …Equipped with a new slate sharp and cutting hot takes, as she always is, Silverman makes her first trip back to the area since she recorded her latest special, Someone You Love, at The Wilbur in 2023, and with the current social and political landscape in its present state, there’s no telling where the long-standing comedy crusher will take the night.”
SARAH SILVERMAN :: Friday, January 24 at Chevalier Theatre, 30 Forest St. in Medford, MA :: 7:30 p.m., sold out :: Event info :: Saturday, January 25 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 6 and 8:45 p.m., $59 to $89 :: Event info and advance tickets
Film/TV: ‘Revenge’ at The Coolidge
Director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance has been all the rage lately, as the 2024 body horror film (read the Vanyaland review) racks up tons of online and word-of-mouth buzz, as well as five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Leading Actress (Demi Moore), and Best Director. Tonight, the Coolidge Corner Theatre rolls it back to showcase Fargeat’s intense 2018 action thriller Revenge as part of its After Midnite series. Here’s the word from the Brookline cinema: “Fargeat announces her stunning arrival, painting a crimson canvas of hypnotic beauty and bloody retribution in this razor-sharp feminist subversion of the revenge-thriller… A white-knuckle tale of transgression and transformation, Revenge gloriously blurs the lines of vengeance and survival while simultaneously delivering a ferocious dissection of gender and genre.” Hit the trailer below for the details.
‘REVENGE’ :: Friday, January 24 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St. in Brookline, MA :: 11:59 p.m., $17 :: Event info and tickets