Events

10 things to do in Boston this weekend

BosTen is your weekly guide to the best events and coolest happenings in and around Boston.

Demi Lovato performs "Anyone" at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards on Jan. 26, 2020, in Los Angeles. Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

By Kevin Slane

6 minutes to read

Welcome to BosTen, your weekly guide to the coolest events and best things to do in Boston this weekend. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter here. Have an idea about what we should cover? Leave us a comment on this article or in the BosTen Facebook group, or email us at [email protected].

Watch thought-provoking documentaries at GlobeDocs Film Festival

The 8th annual GlobeDocs Film Festival, which runs now through Sunday, will feature more than a dozen documentary film screenings, each followed by moderated conversations with filmmakers and Boston Globe journalists. Viewers can choose to watch the movies virtually or attend in-person screenings held at The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge or the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. Highlights include Friday night’s “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues,” an in-depth look at the legendary jazz musician; and Sunday’s closing film “Turn Every Page,” a chronicling of the 50-year relationship between legendary biographer Robert Caro and his editor, Robert Gottlieb. For a full list of films and to buy tickets, visit the GlobeDocs Film Fest website. — Kevin Slane

Admire art while eating flapjacks at The Boston Pancakes & Booze Art Show

This Thursday, enjoy free all-you-can-eat pancakes while browsing works from the nation’s emerging artists at The Boston Pancakes & Booze Art Show. Billed as “one of the largest pop-up art movements to hit North America over the past decade,” this L.A.-based event originated in 2009 and has since popped up more than 500 times in over 35 cities around Europe and North America. More than 100 local artists and 750-plus works of art will be on exhibit at MIXX 360 Nightlife in Malden, and guest can also enjoy live body painting, live art demonstrations, and live audio performances from local DJs and music producers. Tickets for the 21+ event, which runs from 7 p.m. to midnight, are available via Eventbrite. — Ria Goveas

See ‘Life Magazine and the Power of Photography’ at the MFA

The Museum of Fine Arts’ newest exhibit focuses on the now-defunct Life magazine, highlighting the publication’s cultural impact and the way its photos shaped American media throughout the mid-twentieth century. “Life Magazine and the Power of Photography” features dozens of original photos from the archives of Life, which printed in some capacity from 1883 through 2000. The magazine defined photojournalism and chronicled historic moments of the last century, such as the moon landing and the Birmingham civil rights demonstrations. The exhibit, which runs through January 16, will display original photos alongside objects from Life’s paper archives like assignment outlines, memos, and layout drafts, taking a close look at how Life photo essays were constructed from assignment all the way through to completion. In peering behind the scenes of the magazine’s creation, the exhibit also examines how Life shaped conversations around topics like race, war, technology, and national identity. — Natalie Gale

Help Demi Lovato reclaim her power in Boston

The Holy Fvck tour — visiting Boston’s MGM Music Hall on Thursday at 8 p.m. — is the seventh concert tour by Demi Lovato, in support of her eighth studio album, aptly named “Holy Fvck.” (Please don’t ask how to pronounce it.) The Grammy-nominated artist and former “Barney & Friends” star will be performing alongside Royal & the Serpent, who collaborated with Lovato on “Holy Fvck.” Lovato, who is back to using she/her pronouns, dubbed her latest album one that “begins with pain and anger and concludes with me reclaiming my power.” She’ll no doubt have plenty of help from a devoted audience of Boston-area Lovatics. — Ria Goveas

Go for the gold at the Gardner Museum

All that glitters — and even all that doesn’t — is gold this weekend at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The museum’s newest exhibit, “Metal of Honor: Gold from Simone Martini to Contemporary Art,” chronicles the historical allure and significance of the precious material in the art world. The exhibit focuses on four artists separated by centuries but connected by their material of choice, beginning with 14th century Italian painter Simone Martini and finishing with three American contemporary artists (Titus Kaphar, Stacy Lynn Waddell, and Kehinde Wiley) who have reinterpreted Martini’s “style and medium of devotional imagery to explore the meaning of representation, commemoration, and adoration today.” “Metal of Honor” opens Thursday and runs through January 16, and can be viewed by purchasing general admission tickets available at the Gardner website. — Kevin Slane

Expand your horizons at Boston Palestine Film Festival

Now in its 16th year, the Boston Palestine Film Festival will hold live and virtual screenings, celebrating “Palestine-related cinema, narratives, and culture.” Starting this Friday, the festival runs through October 23 and will be held at venues such as MFA Boston, ArtsEmerson, and Coolidge Corner Theatre. Highlights include opening film “Farha,” a story about a young girl living in a village whose life changes while trying to escape violence in 1948 Palestine. You may also wish to check out “Huda’s Salon,” a thriller about a blackmail case in Bethlehem, or the closing film “The Stranger.” — Shira Laucharoen

Get shocked by Hitchcock in Somerville

Few directors can claim a greater impact on the medium of film than master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, whose works are oft-imitated but rarely topped almost a century after he helmed his first feature. To celebrate the director’s titanic legacy, the Somerville Theatre is hosting a double feature featuring two of Hitch’s more spine-tingling films —1960’s seminal horror “Psycho” and 1972’s penultimate thriller “Fenzy.” Both films will be projected in 35 mm, and will be screened multiple times this Saturday and Sunday. To buy tickets to the double feature — or only one of the two movies if your schedule is tight — visit the Somerville Theatre website. — Kevin Slane

See the Smashing Pumpkins at the Garden

It’s difficult to keep track of how many times and ways Billy Corgan has retooled the Smashing Pumpkins, the band he founded in 1988, and continues to write and sing and play guitar with. The lineup seems to be ever-changing; the music they play has shifted its focus from rock to pop, from metal to psychedelic, from goth to electronic; the lyrics are sometimes angst-ridden, the guitar-driven instrumentation is often brimming with catchy hooks. But they just keep moving forward, still selling out arenas, preparing, even as they roll out their current “Spirits on Fire” tour — hitting TD Garden this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. — to enter the studio again as soon as they come off the road. The band will have fellow ’90s rockers Jane’s Addiction as an opening act, a funny coincidence considering that the Pumpkins opened for Jane’s Addiction at the start of the band’s career. — Ed Symkus

Pair wine, cheese, and chocolate like a pro at Formaggio Kitchen

Cheeses from around the world, chocolates with varied origins, and wine — it’s a match made in heaven. From surprising pairings, like dark chocolate and blue cheese, to more obvious ones, wine connoisseurs and newbies alike can taste them all at this Formaggio Kitchen’s “Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate” event, held this Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at the gourmet grocer’s South End location. Tickets are available via Eventbrite, and grant guests a cheese platter, wine, and accompaniments for one. — Ria Goveas

Rock out to five decades of heavy metal with Judas Priest in Boston

Not many artists can claim as much staying power and relevance as Judas Priest. Equal parts substance and style, the British metal quintet struck a balance that myriad bands sought to emulate. Unfortunately, the band’s 50th anniversary tour – which mathematically should have taken place in 2020 – has struggled to get the Boston area checked off its list. The 2021 Halloween night gig at UMass Lowell’s Tsongas Center – along with a month’s worth of other dates – was postponed when guitarist Richie Faulkner fell ill. Five months later, Priest had to cancel the rescheduled performance hours before the first notes were set to ring out due to an unspecified, non-COVID related “illness.” Now, hopefully, the show will happen this Sunday at 8 p.m. at MGM Music Hall. Although the date and venue have changed, ticketholders will still be treated to an opening set by Queensrÿche, one of the finest metal acts to come out of the generations subsequent to Priest. — Blake Maddux

Kevin Slane

Staff Writer

Kevin Slane is a staff writer for Boston.com covering entertainment and culture. His work focuses on movie reviews, streaming guides, celebrities, and things to do in Boston.