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Pick up new-old threads at Beyond Retro's massive vintage sale, learn how to make paper pom-poms to adorn your house with, or grab a slice of doughy goodness from Baz and Fred's pop-up pizza party. Here's how to absolutely nail your 48 hours of freedom.
Things to do
International Fashion Showcase Late, Somerset House, TONIGHT, £15. An evening of fashion, music, performance and activities going behind the scenes of Fashion Utopias during London Fashion Week.
Post-War Public Art Walk, various London locations, £25. This morning-time walk along London's Southbank led by experienced guide Alexandra Epps, takes in post-war public art dating from 1951. Treats include sculpture commissioned for the Festival of Britain and pieces by Naum Gabo and William Pye.
Paper Pom-Pom and Rose Garland Classes, West Elm, Sat-Sun, £28. Pimp up your paper craft skills with these workshops led by Juliet Carr. A self-declared pomologist, Juliet's paper creations have decorated a party for Madonna and a bouquet for the Queen so she has earned the title.
London Super Comic Convention, ExCeL London, Sat-Sun, from £18.50. We suspect some seriously special cosplay is being planned for the fifth year of London Super Comic Convention, a huge fan show featuring legendary special guests, dozens of exhibitors, nearly 100 artists, internationally renowned costume makers and even some festival exclusives.
Sky Garden Yoga, Sky Garden, Sat-Sun, £10. Early risers can take part in sky-high stretching before work at these yoga classes taking place at the Sky Garden. Weekend classes last 60 minutes, focussing on vinyasa flow style yoga.
Beer at Beach, Beach, all weekend, free. A new group show in collaboration with Camden Brewery illustrating how beer is made. Artists and illustrators involved include the brilliant Grace Helmer, Charlotte Mei, Jay Cover, Maria Ines Gul and Alec Doherty.
Beyond Retro Garage Sale, Beyond Retro, all weekend. Beyond Retro returns with their second Garage Sale, selling off thousands of authentic vintage pieces at massively reduced prices in the huge warehouse next to their Dalston store.
…or check out more events happening in London this weekend.
Eating and drinking
Capish? Pop-Up At The Hat And Tun, Hat & Tun, TONIGHT. Feast on NYC style subs at this pop-up from street food champions Capish?. The menu sees Steak 'Braciole' Sandwiches packed with pecorino, parsley and chilli , indulgent deep-fried lasagne rolls, and class Meatball Hero subs stuffed with rare breed beef and pork balls.
Blue Platter Club, Battersea Business Centre, TONIGHT, £30. A lavish three-course meal in a hidden fine art studio awaits guests at this Arabian Nights-themed supperclub.
Baz and Fred Pop-Up, The Shop NW10, all weekend. Baz and Fred’s custom-made mobile pizza ovens can be dismantled into small sections allowing them to literally appear at any time, anywhere. They are currently ensconced in The Shop NW10.
…or check out the latest restaurant reviews.
Comedy
Frankie Boyle: Hurt Like You've Never Been Loved, Eventim Apollo Hammersmith, TONIGHT, £25. He said he was quitting stand-up a few years back, but Frankie Boyle's obviously changed his mind. He's bringing his new show, 'Hurt Like You've Never Been Loved', to the Eventim Apollo Hammersmith in 2016.
Sam Simmons is Not a People Person: Work-in-Progress, Pleasance Theatre, TONIGHT, £5, or three work-in-progress shows for £12. 2015's Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award-winner – Aussie loon Sam Simmons – workshops his new solo show.
Sketch Off! 2016, Leicester Square Theatre, Sun, £6.50. This comedy competition (from the team behind the Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year and Old Comedian of the Year comps) is searching for the best rising sketch stars.
…or check out all the critics’ choice comedy shows.
Live music
Girls Names, The Lexington, TONIGHT, £10. This four-piece from Belfast offer up dark post-punk soundscapes with occasionally excursions into motorik synth fuzz.
Public Service Broadcasting, Brooklyn Bowl London, TONIGHT, £20. Sample-heavy soundscapes are this excellent London duo's stock-in-trade. Using live guitar, drums and synths – and sometimes piano, brass or even banjo – they create eerie, white-knuckle instrumentals with vocal tracks from old radio broadcasts, public information films and crackly archive speeches.
Fluffer Pit Parties, secret London location, TONIGHT, £10-£25. In a praiseworthy attempt to put some of the underground thrill back into London’s rock ’n’ roll scene, east London indie label Fluffer Records are putting on a series of shows in a secret warehouse venue.
Marina & The Diamonds, Roundhouse, Sat-Sun, £24. Elastic-voiced quirk-pop star Marina Diamandis returns with a fresh set of songs from her new album ‘Froot’. It’s as sweet and juicy as you’d expect.
…or take a look at all the live music events in London this weekend.
Nightlife
FILTH at VAULT Festival, The Vaults, TONIGHT, £10. An exclusive underground silent disco with 50 shades of difference: three awesome channels of music plus an X-rated adult channel.
Trouble Vision, Dance Tunnel, TONIGHT, £5-£7.50. Forward-thinking house, techno, disco and wonkier dancefloor flavours, featuring scene-leading DJs behind the decks.
Hip Hop Vs R&B, The Garage, TONIGHT, £10, adv £6. Prepare for smooth tunes, ballsy beats, sharp rhymes and plenty of classic hip hop and R&B jams that you know and love. DJs Shortee Blitz, Mr Thing and pals spin the tunes.
Hot Breath Karaoke Pizza Party, Lauriston Pub, Saturday, free. It's the last ever Hot Breath Karaoke night before they leave the city (sob). Go down for tunes, pizza, beers and tears.
…or see all the parties planned this weekend.
How to Be Single
Film
Punk Doc Festival: 'The Filth and the Fury', Regent Street Cinema, TONIGHT, £11, £10 concs. As part of the Punk London festival, Regent St Cinema will host a weekend of great anti-establishment rock docs, including ‘Revenge of the Mekons’, Subway Sect film ‘Derailed Sense’ and this examination of the rise and fall of The Sex Pistols.
Classic Cinema Club: ‘It Happened One Night’, Ealing Town Hall, TONIGHT, £7, £6 concs. Frank Capra’s 1934 screwball comedy basically invented the romcom. Look closely and you’ll see ingredients that have been tossed together ever since: a couple who can’t stand the sight of each other, shotgun-speed bickering and the sudden slap-the-forehead realisation that they are crazy about each other.
‘The Phantom of the Opera’ + live score, Phoenix Cinema, Sun, £9.50, £7 concs. Soundtrack experts Minima accompany the 1925 version of this creepy classic. The best scenes here are way up there with the finest in the tradition of Gothic fantasy: Lon Chaney's best-ever phantom, his face scarred to hell by acid, unmasked at the organ by the timorous heroine.
Or at the cinema...
How to Be Single ★★★☆☆ This 'Sex and the City'-ish romcom should have focused on Rebel Wilson's firebrand best friend.
Triple 9 ★★★★☆ A gang of dirty cops plan a heist in this superb, star-packed thriller.
Bone Tomahawk ★★★★☆ There's blood on the trail in this unusual, unpredictable western-comedy-horror movie.
…or see all of the latest releases.
© Robert Day
Theatre
Janis Joplin: Full Tilt, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Fri-Sat, £8-£22.50. A great title performance from Angie Darcy powers this enjoyable jukebox musical.
Uncle Vanya, Almeida Theatre, Fri-Sat, £10-£38. Almeida golden boy Robert Icke does it again.
The Encounter, Barbican Centre, all weekend, £42. Simon McBurney and Complicite shred the fabric of time and space with this awesome new show.
Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore, Unicorn Theatre, all week, £16, £10-£13 concs. Three oddballs try to understand the world in this delightful piece of kids' theatre for ages three-plus.
…or see our theatre critics’ choices.
This week's best new art
Botticelli And Treasures From The Hamilton Collection, Courtauld Gallery, all weekend, £5-£9.50. This exhibition brings together the Renaissance master Botticelli’s drawings for Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’: ten for each of the imagined journeys through Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.
Cris Brodahl: Lightyears, The Approach, all weekend, free. Belgian artist Cris Brodahl’s new collection of paintings and sculptures deals with themes of violence, desire and the subconscious. Her disquieting, fragmented works are exquisitely created.
Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art, National Gallery, all weekend, £8-£16, under-12s free. The audacious, under-appreciated Romantic painter steps into the spotlight in this blockbuster show.
Imran Qureshi: Where the Shadows Are So Deep, Barbican Centre, all week, free. Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi will present a series of delicately crafted miniature paintings in the Barbican Curve, riffing on a centuries-old tradition and creating images that are both subtle and psychologically intense.
…or see all London art reviews.
And finally
Win... a coffee-soaked trip to Florence and tickets to The London Coffee Festival or a VIP festival package at Hideout in Croatia
Grab... £24 tickets to a screening of 'Romeo + Juliet' in a church with a live choir by Backyard Cinema
Book… these gigs while you still can
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