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: Alvvays at Leader Bank Pavilion
It’s alvvays fun to see a band rise through the clubs and into the big rooms, and tonight (August 25) we get a double dose of that as Alvvays and Alex G hold court at Leader Bank Pavilion in the Seaport. For us, it’s been chronicling Alvvays’ rise from when we first photographed the Toronto indie band at the ‘Dise, and partying with Alex G when he was still a bit “Sandy” at Brighton Music Hall. Tonight they post under under the tent by the water, and Alvvays bring last year’s masterful album Blue Rev and a bunch of generation-defining songs, like “Easy On Your Own”, the timeless “Archie, Marry Me” and 2017 SOTY “In Undertow”. It all should sound just lovely with that late-summer breeze starting to kick in.
ALVVAYS + ALEX G :: Friday, August 25 at Leader Bank Pavilion, 290 Northern Ave. in Boston, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $25 to $69 :: Venue info :: Advance tickets
Comedy: Andrew Mayer at City Winery
It used to be that late August’s comedy calendar was a bit of a joke, but this year it’s no laughing matter. Or wait, maybe it is. Shit, we wrote ourselves into a bind with this lede. But we’re trying to say that this week has been filled with ace comedy options across the commonwealth, as noted in Mic’d Up. And City Winery is in the mix as Andrew Mayer hits (just outside) the Bulfinch Triangle tonight (August 25): “As one of the many representative faces of the Boston comedy scene, Andrew Mayer is still the soft-spoken and thoughtful comedic firecracker we’ve come to know and love over the years. As he makes his way to one of the chillest spaces in town, which is seemingly more than fitting, we can’t wait to hear what kind of audible tapestry of musings and well-crafted jokes are making their way through the mic this time around.”
ANDREW MAYER :: Friday, August 25 at City Winery, 80 Beverly St. in Boston, MA :: 6 p.m., $25 to $30 :: Advance Tickets
Film/TV: ‘New Jack City’ at The Coolidge
The Coolidge Corner Theater is celebrating Been Here For Years: Hip Hop at 50 this month, and things wind down next week. But not before the Brookline indie cinema’s After Midnight series brings New Jack City to the screen this Saturday night (August 26), showcasing director Mario Van Peebles’ iconic 1991 action crime film starring Ice-T, Wesley Snipes, Judd Nelson, Chris Rock, and others. “Part of the beauty of the culture is that it’s not just one thing,” says Billy Thegenus, Coolidge’s programming and outreach coordinator. “That’s why we’re excited to showcase this series, to remind audiences hip-hop has been telling stories that can range between tragedy and comedy as well as drama and horror since the beginning.” Remind yourself why you were once a “New Jack Hustler,” and cry like Snipes before you post that meme.
‘NEW JACK CITY’ :: Saturday, August 26 at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Brookline St. in Brookline, MA :: 11:59 p.m., $15.50 :: Info and tickets