Shock-rock “freaks” from different generations tour together, Art & Jazz returns to Delray Beach, and Freddy Krueger is back on the big screen. Plus, Sommore in Boca, and more in your week ahead.
WEDNESDAY
What: Art & Jazz on the Avenue
When: 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: The Set neighborhood on West Atlantic Avenue from West Third Avenue to West Sixth Avenue
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/243-1077, downtowndelraybeach.com
The latest iteration of this cherished downtown Delray tradition returns with another four-hour program of live music, live art-making, children’s activities, and food and craft vendors. At Libby Wesley Plaza, jazz vocalist/pianist Leesa Richards will open the festivities at 5:30 p.m., followed by Motown hits from Old School Flavor beginning at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, on stage two, in front of the Delray Beach Police Department, Mervyn Johnston’s four-piece band will take the stage at 7:30, preceded by the reggae stylings of CAPE Universal at 5:30. The artists NICO and DOME will be creating live murals all night.
FRIDAY
What: Screening of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master”
When: 9:30 p.m.
Where: Movies of Lake Worth, 7380 Lake Worth Road, Lake Worth Beach
Cost: $12
Contact: moviesofdelray.com
Cult status accrues fairly easily on even the sequels of beloved horror franchises, so I expect a healthy turnout for this 35th-anniversary screening of the fourth “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Like its two predecessors, it was not directed by founding virtuoso Wes Craven, but in this case by Finnish action director Renny Harlin, in his breakthrough project. The story is boilerplate Freddy Krueger, complete with all the expected gleeful antihero camp. But thanks to its fast pace, state-of-the-art special effects and zeitgeist-capturing teenage characters, it has been referred to as the “MTV Nightmare” of the franchise, and for 15 years, it held the title of the highest-grossing movie in the “Elm Street” series. Catch it for one night only at this “Shock O Rama” special event.
SATURDAY
What: Matisyahu and G. Love & Special Sauce
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Pompano Beach Amphitheater, 1806 N.E. Sixth St., Pompano Beach
Cost: $34-$80
Contact: 954/786-4111, pompanobeacharts.org
Eighteen years after his breakthrough single “King Without a Crown” topped the Alternative music charts, Matisyahu remains a relentless road warrior with a dedicated fan base and an expanded musical palette. Already a singular talent—an Orthodox Jewish reggae vocalist and composer who borrows liberally from rap and beatboxing, with a jazzman’s flair for scat singing—he has lately embraced a jam-band aesthetic, letting his ace band improvise melodies, latch onto grooves and form fleshed-out instrumentals before even considering lyrics, as on 2017’s hit record Undercurrent. Matisyahu co-headlines this tour with fellow genre hybridizers G. Love & Special Sauce, whose slack style has blended hip-hop, blues and soul across 10 albums.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
What: Sommore
When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Where: The Studio at Mizner Park, 201 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: $35, or $50 for VIP
Contact: 561/203-3742, thestudioatmiznerpark.com
Judging by her promotional photos, you’d be forgiven if you assumed Sommore was a giant pop star. But despite all appearances, the glamorous, gold-bedecked figure who calls herself “The Chandelier” is not Sia, or even one of Sia’s backup dancers. She’s a humble comedian, not a diva, and for nearly 30 years she’s been one of the funniest women in comedy. Her Oprah-endorsed material, covering relatable topics from aging to money to gender differences, has been featured on nine comedy specials, and her TV appearances range from “The Hughleys” to “Flavor of Love” and “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.” This weekend’s shows provide a rare up-close club date for a comic usually booked at much larger rooms.
SUNDAY
What: Freaks on Parade Tour
When: 6 p.m.
Where: iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach
Cost: $42 and up
Contact: 561/795-8883, westpalmbeachamphitheatre.com
Shock rockers from two generations co-headline this legacy bill. Equal parts heavy and theatrical, Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie have led metal—or at least metal-adjacent—bands for decades, acts that prize elaborate makeup, lyrics inspired by horror fiction and double kick drums. Cooper, now 75 and an elder statesman of a subgenre he all but created, fronted his original eponymous band for seven enormously influential albums in the 1970s, followed by a solo career of more than 40 years; hits such as “School’s Out” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” have transcended genre and era. Rob Zombie, in some ways Cooper’s immediate heir, makes movies and music that take B-movie schlock to levels of feverish hysteria; “Living Dead Girl” and “Thunder Kiss” are among his iconic favorites. Do arrive early for bands that are legendary in their own right: Ministry, one of the foundational industrial bands of the 1980s, and Filter, the Midwestern rock band marrying heavy riffs with occasionally dreamy atmospherics, open the show.
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