✦Weekender✦ Vintage records | Monster surf | Jazz jam | Cat pageant?! | Shed funk | Opera flicks | Food truck fair 🚚

FROM PRETZEL-GORGING keg-tappings to groovin' patio parties to spooky surf sounds, here's what made The List this weekend. Cheers! – Andrew Kiraly 🤍

🎞️ Friday April 25

• I confess to feeling a certain odd kinship toward the malty Bavarian brew maibok in that I, too, was once described as "strong and bottom-fermented." Anyway: They're tapping a keg of the potent, 7.2% abv spring bock – but only after a bunch of local celebs engage in that other dignified German ritual, the pretzel-eating contest. Get twisted 'n' toasty at this National Pretzel Day and Maibock Keg Tapping. 6p, Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas
• Here's one way to reboot yr kids' scraggly, etiolated, hopelessly screen-scrambled attention span: with a cleansing blast of opera. But seriously, the larynx-stretching samplings at Vegas City Opera's cinematic song sesh To the Movies – The Godfather, Goonies, Willie Wonka, Matilda, even a Disney "Princess Power medley" – are mainstream enough to pique a youngster's possible interest in the vocal art form. Bel canto? I say bel canno! 7p, Historic Fifth Street School
• If you haven't watched "Mo," do. It's a funny tragedy masquerading as a sad comedy about a Palestinian immigrant trying to hustle up a life in Houston while navigating cruel immigration bureaucracy, racialized politics, and ancestral family drama. Comic Mo Amer is its star and co-creator, and he's sure to bring the same grumbling, plaintive warmth to the stage as he does to the show. It's also slightly mind-boggling and satisfyingly subversive that he's performing at one of Sheldon Adelson's flagship Strip spots. 10p, The Venetian Resort
• Fair warning: Get in that sweet spring-in-Vegas patio time before the city does its annual summer broil into a jambalaya of melted orange cones and still wayyy too many Cybertrucks per capita for our delicate historical moment. Backyard Grooves is a Fremont Street patio party with house and techno in the front, R&B in the back. 10p, Park on Fremont
• If you don't wanna shell out $120 to see a tilt-shift-tiny Primus/Puscifer/A Perfect Circle, affordably invest your rapturous despair in the stylings of Tool cover band Schism. 11p, Backstage Bar & Billiards

Also Friday ➤

Vamping vixens and rockabilly rave-ups rock The Orleans as Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend continues through Sunday ✦ Double your Shakespearean pleasure at twin-trouble twister The Comedy of Errors in Boulder City ✦ Clamp on the Beats and get in a rhythmic stretch at Silent Headphone Yoga at Fergusons Downtown ✦ They don't call them The McCharmlys for nothing – their mesmerizing mix of doo-wop, surf, and '60s rock captivates at The Usual Place.

😻 Saturday April 26

• For the record, I am not a huge fan of cats, so I want to be clear that I'm listing the Purr-fect Cat Show & Cat Costume Contest because I support the ritual comic humiliation of felines by armoring them in dignity-vaporizing, meme-ready costumes. 9a, Whitney Recreation Center
• Now that a sentient roller-grilled 7-Eleven meat stick is in charge of the nation's food safety, it's a good time to learn to grow your own sustenance – a topic on the docket at this educational Earth Day Market. 9a, Cactus Joe's
• Art literally saved Harold Bradford's life. Crippled by congenital heart failure in 2024, he turned to painting – writhingly vibrant, fantastical portraits – to pull him back from the brink. Good news: He's still alive – and painting. See the fruits of his creative will and meet him at the reception for his exhibit, "A Purpose." 12p, Left of Center Gallery
• The best thing about the Aztec calendar: There's no #$%&! daylight savings time. Another second best thing: You get to celebrate the new year when the weather is sane. Mexica New Year showcases Indigenous foods, crafts, and more, with an evening screening of Moana 2 to top it off. 2p, Gary Reese Freedom Park
• A spring Saturday evening spent buzzily pinballing between the taprooms and food trucks of the Henderson Booze District sounds like a very happy spring Saturday evening indeed. 5p, Henderson Booze District

Also Saturday ➤

Make sure your health bar is full for the grueling quest that is the fusion of esports, anime, comics, and tech at the LVL UP Expo at the Convention Center ✦ Uncage your kids' curiosity at BioBlast at the Wetlands Park ✦ Cosplay Carnage Dark Carnival turns The Bonfire into a red fright district ✦ Turn "why no friends?" into wino friends at Crush Pad's Bottle Share ✦ Tbh I don't even really enjoy Dogstar but Keanu is in the band so I'll allow it ✦ "Mad TV" alum Pablo Francisco brings his manic impersonations to Wiseguys Town Square.

✂️ Sunday April 27

• AFAN wants to borrow your legs for a good cause – AIDS Walk 2025. Better yet, Penn & Teller are sweetening the pot with an offer of two free tickets to their show at The Rio when you donate or raise $100 or more. 9a, Las Vegas Ballpark
• Spend a relaxing afternoon with a bunch of true cut-ups when the Las Vegas Collage Collective convenes another Collage Jam. Fun fact: SPCKRFT is located on the ground floor of The Alamo, a rehearsal space and longtime LV music scene nerve center. 2p, SPCKRFT
• Our stalwart and consistently spirited Las Vegas Sinfonietta is closing out a season of classical concerts with a patriotic bang in "Made in USA," featuring work by American composers. Keep an ear out for some homegrown talent, too – on the song roster is UNLV composer Jennifer Bellor's deliciously diaphanous "Music for a Waking Dream." 3p, Clark County Library

Also Sunday ➤

Wash up in sounds and sights at Terry Mahoney's April Sound Bath at Rita Deanin Abbey Art Museum ✦ Gear up your most spirited gritos for Fiesta en el Parque at Craig Ranch Park ✦ Texas' indie surf slingers Floats hangs ten with local talent at Rangel Boxing Gym ✦ China's classical giants The Nanjing Music Ensemble bring eastern sounds westward at UNLV.

🙏 Hope you have the raddest weekend. Thanks for your support! – Andrew Kiraly 🤍