STUDENT LIFE
CollegeFest
Welcome to Boston, freshman! Now that you’ve settled into your classes—dropped the hard-looking ones and any that start before noon—what to DO? This fair is a good start, with a bunch of different companies hurling coupons and swag at you—need a water bottle? T-shirt for laundry day? Done. There’s also live music and Fenway Park photo ops!
Sept. 16, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Fenway Park, Gate C, 4 Yawkey Way, Boston, free with college ID, collegefest.com
MUSIC
Arcade Fire
Since their 2004 debut “Funeral,” intellectual, indie rock band the Arcade Fire have been lauded by the tastemakers for their dramatic music and trenchant social critique, so it’s weird that some critics are crabby about their latest record, “Everything Now.” Some are saying the band’s warnings about social media are played out, we think those people are just ashamed of their Twitter addictions.
Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m., TD Garden, 100 Legends Way, Boston, $22-$271, ticketmaster.com
MixFest
Mix104.1’s free annual concert is always a good, erm, mix of pop eras. In the old school category, there’s Blondie, among the last of the old CBGB bands still standing; in the recent history category, it’s Kelly Clarkson, the first American Idol; and in the new talent slot it’s Andy Grammer, whose earworm “Honey, I’m Good”, is probably still stuck in your head.
Sept. 16, 11 a.m., DCR Hatch Memorial Shell, 47 David G. Mugar Way, Boston, free, mix1041.cbslocal.com
MOVIES
Get Out
The Museum of Fine Arts teams up with the Roxbury International Film Festival for a free outdoor screening or Jordan Peele’s instant classic “Get Out”,” a tonally singular film that proves the old theory that horror and comedy are divided by a razor-thin line. The screening will be preceded by lawn games, art-making activities and music by DJ YVNG PAV.
Sept. 14, 6 p.m., Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, free, mfa.org
CHARITY EVENTS
Heather Abbott Foundation 3rd Annual Fall Kick Off Fundraiser
Marathon Bombing survivor Heather Abbott started her eponymous foundation to help survivors of traumatic injuries like hers get the prostheses they need to live more normal lives. The Heather Abbott Foundation takes over the Barking Crab once again for their annual fundraiser this Saturday, with a performance from Sean Rivers and, of course, plenty of food and drink.
Sept. 16, 2 p.m.-6 p.m., The Barking Crab, 88 Sleeper St., Boston, $50, heatherabbottfoundation.org
An Evening with Champions
This fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund, hosted by Olympians and Harvard grads Emily Hughes and Paul Wylie, features more than a dozen world-class figure skaters, including Polina Edmunds, Angela Wang and Shotaro Omori. Molly Malone, a17-year-old skater who was once a patient at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute, for which the Jimmy Fund raises money, will also perform a special routine.
Sept. 15-16, Bright Hockey Center, 65 N. Harvard St., Allston, $10-$200, aneveningofchampions.com
THEATER
The Phantom of the Opera
Producer Cameron Mackintosh has given this classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical a facelift—though the Phantom, of course, remains hideous. “Phantom” debuted in the '80s in London and New York, and it continues to play in both cities to this day, a testament to its immortal themes of obsessive love, wounded pride and tortured genius—not to mention those very memorable songs.
Through Oct. 1, Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston, $40-$150, boston.broadway.com
Merrily We Roll Along
Huntington Theater has brought director Maria Freidman’s celebrated London production of Stephen Sodheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” to Boston. It tells the story of Franklin Shepard, who leaves being his successful career as a Broadway composer to become a Hollywood producer. The play moves backwards through his life over two decades, peeling back the layers of his development.
Through Oct. 15, Huntington Avenue Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston, $20-$99, huntingtontheatre.org
COMEDY
Andrew Dice Clay
Comedian Andrew Clay Silverstein became an arena-filling superstar in the late '80s with his crude New Yorker character the Diceman—a shtick that Nebraskan comedic Dan Whitney would later lift, with a redneck twist, to create Larry the Cable Guy. Would the Diceman cry foul? Maybe, but he’d probably rather just keep reciting his brilliantly stupid X-rated nursey rhymes.
Sept. 16, 9:45 p.m., Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St., Boston, $55, thewilbur.com
FITNESS
Trillfest
Trillfit present what they claim is the first-ever Hip Hop Fitness Festival. In addition to workouts including a three mile run, a sculpt session, cardio dancing, boxing and yoga, there’ll also be DJs, food trucks, lawn games, a wellness market and a meditation session. You may have so much fun exercising, it’ll take the work out of “workout.” Clever, huh?
Sept. 16, 9 a.m., University Park Commons, 65 Sidney St., Cambridge, $20, trillfest.splashthat.com
FESTIVALS
Boston Freedom Rally
“Boston Freedom Rally” might sound like another right wing “free speech” protest, but this is actually a three-day gathering to support fully legalized cannabis—the east coast’s largest, dating back 27 years. Method Man and Redman and Slaine are the musical headliners, with nine other supporting acts. There will also be vendors, speakers and (of course) food.
Sept. 15-17, Boston Common, 84 Beacon St., Boston, free, masscan.org/rally
ART
Somerville Toy Camera Festival
The Nave Gallery presents their fifth annual showcase of lo-fi photography made on cameras like the Holga, whose cheap construction leads to unintentionally weird and beautiful effects. That’s what makes these pics so special: they are all, to some extent, happy accidents. This year’s collection is bigger than ever, taking up the Nave Gallery, the Nave Gallery Annex and the Washington Street Gallery.
Through Sept. 30, multiple locations, Somerville, free, somervilletoycamera.org
