Welcome back to the Vanyaland Weekend Six-Pack. Each Friday, we’ll be giving you six different ways to dig into the capital of the sixth state in of the Union. Music, beer, film – nothing is off limits. Just like your plans.
Let’s have at it.
What: Hallelujah the Hills CD release show
Where: Great Scott, tonight @ 10 p.m.
Why: You paid for it, now see how it sounds live. Boston’s Hallelujah the Hills took to Kickstarter in the fall to fund it’s fifth album, Have You Ever Done Something Evil?, finished it in one business week and delivered it earlier this month. Fresh off a west coast road swing that ended Sunday, the band has enlisted Thick Wild and Tallahassee to help bring the goods back home.
What: Ray LaMontagne
Where: Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, tonight and Saturday @ 7 p.m.
Why: Hooking up with Black Keys’ frontman Dan Auerbach for his fifth album, Supernova, may not have done much to assuage Ray LaMontagne’s prickly nature both onstage and off, but it has helped uncover a much more welcoming and easy to embrace sound. Supernova kicks it back to the 60s in terms of the guitar punch and sonic airiness at times, though LaMontagne’s love affair with that 70s singer/songwriter vibe is retained.
What: American Craft Beer Fest
Where: Seaport World Trade Center, Tonight @ 6 p.m., Saturday @ 1 p.m.
Why: The American Craft Beer Fest is the east coast’s largest celebration of American craft beer, featuring more than 640 craft beers from more than 140 American brewers. Presented by BeerAdvocate & Harpoon Brewery, the 7th annual ACBF is expected to draw 15,000 plus beer enthusiasts from around the world to the three sessions that begin tonight and split into two separate ones tomorrow. If there was ever a time to get your drink on, this would be it.
What: Lez Zeppelin
Where: The Center for Arts in Natick, Saturday @ 8 p.m.
Why: Next week sees the highly anticipated expanded editions of Led Zeppelin’s first three albums landing on shelves. What better way to get even more hyped by seeing one of the best tribute bands to the foursome out there? Lez Zeppelin aren’t like any other tribute to Jimmy Page and Co., and it’s not because they’re all girls. There’s no other tribute act out there who regularly gets invited to play events like the Download Festival in England’s Donington Park and Bonnaroo. Find out why tomorrow night.
What: Reunion Weekend
Where: The Brattle Theatre, Saturday and Sunday
Why: While the university heavy area we live in celebrates graduations and homecoming, the Brattle Theatre brings some film alums back to the screen who happen to have their 25th, 50th and even 75th anniversaries this year. On tap this weekend are classics like Do the Right Thing, Dr. Strangelove, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Sex, Lies & Videotape and the ode to the caped crusaderthat started it all, Tim Burton’s Batman, featuring the all-time classic Michael Keaton scene where he implores Jack Nicholson’s Joker to “get nuts.”
What: Failure
Where: The Paradise, Sunday @ 7 p.m.
Why: Failure were one of those alt-rock bands that a lucky few were dedicated to during a prolific three album run from 1992 to 1996, while everyone else discovered them long after they broke up in 1997, more likely to not get back together that reconvene. That’s the main reason why it was such a shock to see the group reunite its classic lineup this past February at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. Following a stint opening up for Tool, the headlining club tour is now in full effect. Even better news? A new record is on the horizon.