36 cool things to do in London this weekend

Bag yourself a bargain at the Classic Car Boot Sale where vintage fashion and stylish homeware will be piled high, get a load of Patty & Bun's special Record Store Day burgers while you flick through vinyl in Soho, or settle down with Mowgli and friends at a screening of 'The Jungle Book'. Here are all the best happenings this weekend.

Things to do 

Record Store Day, various locations, Sat. The world’s independent record shops come together to celebrate Record Store Day 2016, and London’s top music boutiques are set to join in the fun. Whether you’re an avid vinyl collector or just want to catch some great live music, be sure to get involved.

Art Macabre: The Drawing Jukebox, Book Club, Sat, £15. A Record Store Day special from the Art Macabre crew who'll have both nude and costumed models striking poses throughout the afternoon.

Cabbages and Frocks Dog Day Afternoon, Marylebone, Sat, free. Think your dog’s looking a bit ruff? Bring your pooch along to this special Cabbages and Frocks market day starring doggy accessories, treats, training and puppy portraits. 

South London's Affordable Vintage Fair, Army Centre, Sat-Sun, £2-£3. The UK's biggest vintage fair returns to South London for a furniture-filled edition, offering up stalls packed with vintage chairs, barware, textiles, record players, lamps and more.

Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear, V&A, Sat-Sun, free. Get ready to have shirts and skirts stripped back to focus on the skivvies that shape the body below at this exhibition charting how underwear supports and firms the figure, as well as the sexual and sensual appeal it holds.

Classic Car Boot Sale, Lewis Cubitt Square, Sat-Sun, £5. King's Cross's newest public space Lewis Cubitt Square is gearing up to be covered in classic vehicles from which vendors will be flogging vintage fashion, homewares and collectibles.

This Is A Voice, Wellcome Collection, all weekend, free. Through exploration of vocal tracts, speech devices and restless minds, this exhibition sheds light on the human voice and why we make the weird and wonderful sounds we do.

…or check out more events happening in London this weekend.

Eating and drinking

Singha Beer Presents: Songkran Festival, Carousel, TONIGHT, £35. Celebrate Thai New Year without leaving the capital at this dining experience drawing on the tastes, sights and sounds of Southeast Asia. 

The '80s Office Party Pop-up, Rose Lipman Building, Fri-Sat, £55. If your ideal dinner party guests are ‘Ab Fab’s Patsy Stone, ‘Die Hard’s John McClane and ‘Blind Date’-era Cilla, you’ll have a power-suited ball at The Art of Dining’s retro party pop-up.

Patty & Bun x Record Store Day, Patty & Bun Soho, Sat-Sun. A two-day event  a celebration of the UK’s Independent Record Shops. The Soho burger joint will be serving special burgers which also come with a free Island Record IPA. 

Comida Fest, Oxo Tower Wharf, Sat-Sun, free. A new Latin American street food market showcasing the likes of Jama Cubana, Marlon's Kitchen, London Locomotive Smoke, Gusacaca and more.

Love Beer, Battersea Arts Centre, Sun, free. Following the devastating fire that destroyed Battersea Arts Centre's Grand Hall last year, the annual beer festival that normally takes place there is no more. The venue have decided to throw its own version, however, giving beer lovers the chance to try the wares of a number of London breweries.

…or check out the latest restaurant reviews.

Comedy

Friday Night Freaks, Udderbelly, TONIGHT, £16.50, £15 concs. Get your freak on with these twisted stand-up, comedy and cabaret acts.

Paul Zerdin – Spongefinger, Udderbelly, Fri-Sat, £16.50, £15 concs. Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin has long been a favourite on the UK comedy circuit, and is a regular on the 'Royal Variety Show'. But now he's a full-blown US star, having won 'America's Got Talent' last year, and performing headline shows in glitzy Las Vegas.

Knock2Bag East, Rich Mix, Sat, £10 adv. The Knock2Bag team regularly have some of the best comedy bills in London and are always brilliant value. Tonight's bill includes Aisling Bea, Matt Rees, Matthew Crosby, Lazy Susan.

…or check out all the critics’ choice comedy shows.

Live music

Scout Niblett, The Lexington, TONIGHT, £12. Don't be fooled by the cute name: her frost-bitten, sparsely accompanied vocals vacillate between violence and tenderness with the emotional punch of PJ Harvey and Cat Power.

Jóhann Jóhannsson + Hildur Guðnadóttir, Conway Hall, Sat, £20-£25. The two Icelandic composers present the world premieres of new work: Jóhannsson’s ‘12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann’ and Guðnadóttir’s ‘Prepared Listening’ for voice and cello, performed by the composer.

Tinie Tempah, O2 Academy Brixton, Sat, £29.50. Charming grime-pop chap Patrick Okogwu headlines The O2 as part of his enormous latest tour, pumping out chart hits like the synth-slathered soul of 'Pass Out'.

…or take a look at all the live music events in London this weekend.

Nightlife

Coney Island Party, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, TONIGHT, £6 adv. A monthly surreal and strange sideshow of fairground follies, rock 'n' roll dancing and freak show craziness, inspired by kooky car-crash beach resort Coney Island.

Hip Hop Vs R&B, The Garage, TONIGHT, £6 adv. Prepare for smooth tunes, ballsy beats, sharp rhymes and plenty of classic hip hop and R&B jams that you know and love.

Prins Thomas, The Pickle Factory, TONIGHT, £10. Space-disco don Prins Thomas, also known for his cosmic odysseys with fellow hairy Norwegian producer Lindstrøm, turns in an all-night set to transform The Pickle Factory into an obscenely groovy cosmic frenzy of disco, deep house and prime funky fodder.

Love Come Down, Arch Gallery, Sat, £8. If you're looking for glitter, disco, more glitter and more disco, LCD is very probably the party for you.

…or see all the parties planned this weekend.

Film

Kinoteka Polish Film Festival: ‘Repulsion’, Close-Up Film Centre, TONIGHT, £12, £10 concs. ‘Repulsion’ is Polanski's most perfectly realised film, a stunning portrait of the disintegration, mental and emotional, of a shy young Belgian girl living in London.

‘Singin’ in the Rain’ + Richard Ayoade intro, East Dulwich Picturehouse, Sat, £13, £12 concs. It’s the East Dulwich Picturehouse’s first birthday, so they’ve asked local boy Richard Ayoade to come and introduce one of his favourite films.

Shakespeare on Screen: ‘O’, BFI Southbank, Sat, £6.50. A rare, welcome and pleasingly cheap screening of this smart, overlooked Shakespeare adaptation, setting ‘Othello’ among the members of a high-school basketball team.

Or at the cinema...

The Jungle Book ★★★★☆ Oobie-do… Disney's live-action remake of 'The Jungle Book' is a winner.

…or see all of the latest releases.

Theatre

Scenes from 68* Years, Arcola Theatre, Fri-Sat, £12-£17, £12 concs. Moving, polemic-free play about life under occupation from Palestinian-Irish writer Hannah Khalil.

The Brink, Orange Tree Theatre, Fri-Sat, £15. ‘Buying houses? We’re not Tories, Chloe.’ Brad Birch’s surreal new satire wears its politics on its polycotton sleeves, in defiance of the chintzy Richmond residences outside the theatre.

Goosebumps, The Vaults, all weekend, £25-£47.50, £15 concs. Nostalgic horror fun in this uneven immersive theatre show.

…or see our theatre critics’ choices.

This week's best new art

R Crumb: Art and Beauty, David Zwirner, Fri-Sat, free. Brash, sex-obsessed and divisive, Robert Crumb’s satirical images reference modern-day celebrities and Renaissance ideals of beauty alike.

Joby Williamson: Heel Bar, Tintype, Fri-Sat, free. Broom handles, cardboard boxes, screwed-up notes and other bits of everyday ephemera are turned into art in Williamson's objects and installations.

Jules de Balincourt: Stumbling Pioneers, Victoria Miro, Fri-Sat, free. After returning to his hometown of Los Angeles after 20 years away, artist de Balincourt has created a series of bright, trippy paintings that deal with this strangest of cities.

Angela de la Cruz, Peer, Sat, free. Ace Hoxton space Peer reopens with a massive, crumpled painting squeezed into the gallery by Angela de la Cruz.

…or see all London art reviews.

And finally

Win... a pair of VIP weekend tickets to T in the Park or one of 1,000 pairs of tickets to Time Out's Dalston Yard Preview Party

Grab... up to 58% off off a wash, cut and blow dry with Luxe oil treatment at Andrew Jose

Book… these gigs while you still can

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