Five Reasons to Leave the House This Weekend
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Festival
Boston Calling
No big deal, this is just Boston’s first big music festival since ever. The announcement of the two-day extravaganza a few months ago made us all think: Why don’t we have an annual rock festival already set up, anyway? This weekend’s lineup is impressive too, with acts like fun., The National, The Shins, and Of Monsters and Men, and more. Want to support the home team? Boston group Bad Rabbits will perform at the festival on Saturday. Their latest album American Love debuted this month, and they just performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Take if from Bad Rabbit member Salim Akram, this weekend’s Boston Calling is just “good for the city.”
$75+, Saturday-Sunday, May 25-26, City Hall Plaza, bostoncalling.com
Photo by Neuromorph/Flickr
Convention
Anime Boston
Not to be confused with ComicCon, Anime Boston is for serious Japanese animation enthusiasts. Just kidding, casual fans of the art are welcome too. But like ComicCon, here is a convention where geeking out is kind of required. There will be gaming, there will be a manga library, there will be karaoke, and there will be a cosplay photo suite. “Cosplay,” I just learned (thanks Google!), is short for costume play. So enjoy that, convention-goers.
$30+, Friday-Sunday, May 24-26, Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston St., and Sheraton Boston Hotel, 39 Dalton St., animeboston.com
Photo by Justin Knight
Music
Megan Hilty of Smash Performs with Boston Pops
You might know Hilty as the always-a-bridesmaid character Ivy Lynn on NBC’s Smash, and while the show was just canceled, two seasons was plenty of time for Hilty to show off her singing chops on broadcast television. While costar Katharine McPhee got her big break on American Idol, Hilty is Broadway-bred. She played Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked and Doralee Rhodes in 9 to 5: The Musical. In the fall, Hilty performed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s annual IN party.
$20+, Thursday, 8 p.m., and Friday, 8 p.m., Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave., 617-266-1492, bso.org
Photo by Jyothis/Wikimedia Commons
Food and Drink
Taste of Faneuil Hall
This event is exactly what it sounds like. How many times have you strolled through Quincy Market without buying a single thing? A long list of restaurants and breweries are taking part in tonight’s event, so consider satisfaction guaranteed on the food-and-drink front. There will also be live music courtesy of Dalton and the Sheriffs, and yes—the Bruins game will be on.
$10, Thursday, May 23, 6-9 p.m., Ned Devine’s, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, faneuilhallmarketplace.com
Photo via ICA Boston
Film and Live Performance
Alloy Orchestra Live Film Score
Roger Ebert called them “the best in the world at accompanying silent films.” So is you’re into those sort of superlatives, then this Saturday, check out Alloy Orchestra at the ICA. The Cambridge-based group will perform the score to the silent film From Morning to Midnight. The 1920 film, directed by Karl-Henz Martin, was a “lost” German work recently rediscovered in Japan.
$25, Saturday, May 25, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., 617-478-3100, icaboston.org
