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: Melanie Martinez at MGM Music Hall at Fenway
There are two groups of people in this world: Those who clicked on the photo up top wondering WTF is going on there, and those who clicked it knowing that’s Melanie Martinez. The New York alt-pop phenom returns to town this Saturday (July 1), bringing her PORTALS Tour to MGM Music Hall at Fenway, leveling way the fuck up from when we first snapped her back in 2016 at House of Blues. The multi-platinum, 12 billion-streaming artist with a devoted following hits town showcasing her dynamic new album PORTALS, and she does it while “performing as an otherworldly new creature, which is a rebirth of her alter ego Cry Baby.”
A few weeks ago she dropped the wild video for “VOID”, inviting us deep down into the world she’s created and the characters she’s nurtured. “This is the first song I fully produced on my own,” says Martinez. “I remember screaming that chorus while crying, it felt like a weight I needed to get off of me. The weight of my anxiety, the weight of my brain. A void. A dark place where you are left alone with your own thoughts for introspection, in order to find the light within yourself.”
MELANIE MARTINEZ + TANUKICHAN :: Saturday, July 1 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 6 p.m., all ages, $56.50 to $96.50 :: Event page :: Advance tickets
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Comedy: Kenny Gray’s bachelor party at The Rockwell
With Fourth of July falling on a Tuesday this year, we’re declaring the start of a four-day weekend as it should be illegal to have to work on Monday. Which means we have a few extra days to recover from Kenny Gray’s bachelor party in Somerville. The animated Boston comic is getting married in September, so he’s taking his bachelor party not to the casino or the strip club, but The Rockwell in Davis Square, where he promises “sketches, bits, music and improv scenes based off embarrassing stories.”
Here’s word from this week’s Mic’d Up: “What happens at The Rockwell stays at The Rockwell. And no, it’s not a cheeky marketing name for a show. It’s legitimately Kenny Gray’s bachelor party, and instead of what some might consider to be the essentials when it comes to such an occasion, Gray is bringing his favorite friends who stay fully clothed on stage to cause a little good-natured ruckus.”
KENNY GRAY’S BACHELOR PARTY :: Friday, June 30 at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St. in Somerville, MA :: 8:30 p.m., Free admission :: Event page
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Film/TV: D.O.A. at The Regent Theatre
A bit of Hollywood – with Boston roots – comes to town this weekend as The Regent in Arlington hosts the world-premiere screening of D.O.A., directed and co-produced by former WFNX DJ and program director Kurt St. Thomas. A loose remake of the classic 1950 film noir, it stars X frontman John Doe (Road House, Great Balls of Fire), ex-MTV VJ Matt Pinfield, John Byner, and Lucinda Jenney, and was filmed entirely in St. Augustine, Florida, to capture its retro-throwback feel. After the screening, Doe, St. Thomas, actor Tony V, and Jimi Simmons will take part in a Q&A.
Here’s the word: “John Doe stars as Frank Bigelow, a private detective who begins a routine assignment for a wealthy socialite only to discover that he’s been fatally poisoned; with only days to live, he must unwind a tangle of conspiracies to figure out who ‘killed’ him and why. The fast-paced thriller, directed by Kurt St. Thomas and written by Nicholas Griffin… The story is set in the late 1940’s and was filmed in black-and-white by cinematographer Peter Berglund. The filmmakers, including production designer Bonnie Druckenmiller, meticulously recreated the period (utilizing a small fleet of vintage cars) to evoke the mood of sun-drenched postwar Florida.”
‘D.O.A.’ BOSTON PREMIERE :: Sunday, July 2 at The Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St. in Arlington, MA :: 4:30 p.m., $15 :: Event info :: Advance tickets