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: Grub, Sweat, and Beers at O’Brien’s Pub
In recent years we’ve often shown the love to Grub, Sweat, and Beers, the Allston’s annual serving of music n’ meats at the soon to be relaunched O’Brien’s Pub. But this year might be the first time we’ve dropped it into our Fest Intentions highlight series, because the 2025 lineup — the weekend’s ninth offering overall — is a fucking beast of Boston heaviness. This year’s Grub, Sweat, and Beers goes down this Saturday and Sunday and hitting the stage is a sweltering smorgasbord lineup of metal, hard rock, NWOBHM, psych, stoner, sludge and whatever other genres everyone’s currently arguing about. It features, in alphabetical order, ALRECKQUE, Burn Channel, Catching Hell, Cold Hard Cash, Dwelley, Earthlore, Gozu, Guppy, Holy Bowl, Karate Steve, Louderjoy, Mollusk, Officer X, The Long Wait, The Outlourdes, Strawberry Coffin, Swamphead, Viqueen, Wire Lines, and Worshipper. The mighty Worshipper at OBs for a BBQ? Alright then. Peep the dope flyer by Adam O’Day, who’s been illustrating Grub, Sweat, and Beers’ vibe for as long as we can remember, and buckle up.
GRUB, SWEAT, AND BEERS :: Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27 at O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave. in Allston, MA :: Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., $20 each day :: Event info and tickets
Music: Lowell Folk Festival
We find ourselves headed out to Lowell more and more these days, and one of the highlights of last summer was walking around The Mill City’s downtown and taking in the various sights and sounds of Lowell Folk Festival. The longstanding summer weekend returns for its 38th edition, with the help of some local sponsors after grants from National Endowment for the Arts were rescinded. “We are grateful for the outpouring of support from the entire community,” says Festival Director Lee Vileisis. “In addition to the new stage sponsorships, we were overwhelmed by the number of individual contributions we received from festival fans both near and far when they heard about the funding set-back.” Taking part this year are Cajun legend BeauSoleil, Irish favorites Solas, blues band Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, gospel ensemble The Bullock Brothers, flamenco dancer and singer Los Ricos featuring Sonia & Ismael, West Africa’s Bamba Wassoulou Groove, fado guitarist Ricardo Parreira, bluegrass group Crooked Road Revival, and plenty more. Hit the performer page for all the details, but the best way to enjoy Lowell Folk Fest is to just wander out and wander around.
LOWELL FOLK FESTIVAL :: Friday, July 25 to Sunday, July 27 across multiple stages in downtown Lowell, MA :: Event lineup and schedule
Film: ’10 Things I Hate About You’ at Aeronaut Somerville
It’s the season of free, outdoor film screenings, and Aeronaut Brewing Company serves up a late-’90s teen movie that holds up quite nicely a few decades after its release. The very re-watchable 10 Things I Hate About You has become a bit of a cult-classic over the years, and Aeronaut’s Somerville location takes it to the screen for its Outdoor Movie Nights at Aeronaut series this Saturday. The modernization of William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew features a pretty solid cast, starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, Andrew Keegan, and Gabrielle Union. Here’s the synopsis ICYFI: “Kat Stratford is beautiful, smart and quite abrasive to most of her fellow teens, meaning that she doesn’t attract many boys. Unfortunately for her younger sister, Bianca, house rules say that she can’t date until Kat has a boyfriend, so strings are pulled to set the dour damsel up for a romance. Soon Kat crosses paths with handsome new arrival Patrick Verona. Kat may let her guard down enough to fall for the effortlessly charming Patrick.” Aeronaut’s series continues through the summer with flicks like Anchorman, Mean Girls, Clueless, and more; get the full lineup here.
’10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU’ :: Saturday, July 27 at Aeronaut Brewing Company, 14 Tyler St. in Somerville, MA :: 9 p.m., sold out :: Event info