🔥 Spring is heating up! | Things to do
Experience Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA, Philly Tech Week, The OPA! Festival, and more this week.
It’s only seven days in, but May is already bringing the heat this season.
I’m not talking about the occasional hotspots on your weekend weather tracker, but about the latest restaurant openings, newly-announced concert series, and the launch or revival of other cultural offerings.
Many of them, including the opening of the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum, are here to stay so you can plan your visit even beyond this weekend.
Read below to find out what’s happening this week and beyond.
— Earl Hopkins (@earlhopkins_, Email me at thingstodo@inquirer.com)
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Dell Music Center’s summer concert list has been announced
The Dell Music Center has announced its concert lineup for the summer, and Patti LaBelle and Eve are among the highlights of the season.
Like many things this year, the city-owned, open-air venue in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia are wrapped into the nation’s Semiquincentennial celebrations.
On June 25, West Philly-raised rapper Eve will kick things off with a free show followed by fireworks that’s part of the Wawa Welcome America lead up to July.
LaBelle will then headline an all Philly-connected lineup on July 9 that’s billed as America’s 250th birthday celebration. R&B singers Kem and Tamia will play the Dell on July 16, and a gospel-themed show featuring Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Chandler will follow on July 18.
For more information, read my colleague Dan DeLuca’s story here.
The best things to do this week
💻 Grind your gears: Philly Tech Week is here for those intrigued by the latest in technological innovation. Highlights for this year’s event includes the Code to Costa Rica Hackathon competition and showcase, the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, and Cira Centre’s transformation into the world’s largest video game console.
🍷 Enjoy all things Greek: The OPA! Festival will celebrate Greek food, culture, and tradition all weekend in Elkins Park. Local vendors are offering visitors a taste of Mediterranean bites, coffee, wine, and beer. There will also be a whole bunch of performances you don’t want to miss.
🖼️ From hospital to museum: In 1751, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Bond founded the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum, the nation’s oldest hospital. The facility is now a brand-new museum, which opens for view on Friday. The halls will be filled with a series of exhibits, interactive video, and activities highlighting the new museum’s historic past.
🎞️ Black history in film: Congo Oyé by Bill Stephens and the People’s Communication Network was believed to be lost forever until a video cassette of the film was recently unearthed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Watch that historical film along with Philadelphia’s very own Mother Moore’s speech at Connecticut’s Green Haven Correctional Facility, in 1973, two years after the Attica uprising. Both play at the Scribe Video Center, on Friday, 7:00 p.m.
📅 My calendar picks this week: Romeo and Juliet at the Academy of Music, World’s Fair Night at AmRev, Northern Liberties Spring Fest.
Philly’s dining scene is about to get a pinch sweeter and a lot more savory
May’s crop of new eateries and food options is all over the place, writes restaurant news reporter Michael Klein.
Everything from white-tablecloth dining and taverns in the burbs, a po’boy shop in the city, a pizzeria in South Jersey, and the revival of a Wilmington bistro. The bakery game is also getting a sweetened boost, too.
For the full list of restaurant openings, check out Klein’s story here.
Spring fun this week and beyond
🎫 An uncorked concert series: The Summer unWINEd Concert Series at Shady Brook Farm has returned. This year’s lineup will bring a mix of live music, fireworks, food vendors, craft beer, specialty cocktails and other offerings every Friday night.
🎪 The Big Top comes to Montco: Transport to a Mexican dreamscape with Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA now in town through June 7. The acrobatic circus group has set up shop at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, offering the same dazzling costumes and high-flying action, as well as a new water feature that’s on tour for the first time.
🍕 New pizzeria in Fishtown: Among the new restaurant openings this week includes Liguria, the latest offering by pizza-making brothers Amro and Sherif Nagud. As our very own Michael Klein points out, the pizza list is tight, but it makes up for it in pedigree.
☀️ Alfresco dining in Delco: Delaware County’s annual Dining Under the Stars event kicked off this Tuesday, offering street-side strolls, restaurant specials, and sidewalk shopping every Wednesday in Media from now through September.
Staffer picks
Here’s pop music critic Dan Deluca’s list of the top concerts this weekend.
🎤 Thursday: The power pop-rock duo Lemon Twigs, set to release a new album called Look For Your Mind!, will drops in Philly to perform their breezy, dreamlike records at Union Transfer.
🎤 Friday: The Australian sensation Kid Laroi, who first bursted onto the musical scene with collaborations with late rapper Juice WRLD, is headlining a show at the Met Philly on Friday for his “A Perfect World” tour.
🎤 Saturday: The Germany-born, British Sudanese vocalist, Elmiene, is coming back to Philadelphia after last year’s Roots Picnic performance to headline at Theater of Living Arts.
🎤 Sunday: Pink Pantheress, the British singer and producer who’s cranked out a slew of recent viral drum and bass smashes, will be playing back-to-back nights at the Met Philly. She closes out her short-term residency in Philly on Sunday.
That’s all this week. But as always, tell a friend to tell a friend about the Things To Do newsletter, and continue to follow what’s happening next.
– Earl Hopkins
