By Charlotte Cox
Join the mob. Eat pigeon. Get involved in a Mardi Gras parade. This weekend is many things – but ordinary, it is not
FESTIVAL: The Winter Social
What’s this? A festival already? You betcha – and don’t you be worrying about the cold, now. Because at this boutique clubbing fest, you’ll be dancing way too hard to care. Filling an atmospheric warehouse space at the Kent County Showground with an all-star line-up including Steve Lawler, Eats Everything, Art Department and Ame, it’s shaping up to be an almighty day of bleeding-edge house and techno. Plus, it provides 2016’s first decent excuse to be raving in a field at 12pm, which in itself has to be worth celebrating.
6 Feb; £48.50 The Winter Social, Kent County Show Ground, Maidstone ME14 3JF (regular coaches to and from London)
SHOPPING: Bethnal Green’s Affordable Vintage Fair
There are times that we need to wax lyrical in order to sell you on an event. And there are times when all we need say is: ‘the UK’s biggest selection of vintage, reworked and hand-made fashion, curated by style experts and price-checked to ensure you pay to 75% less.’ Guess which one of those times this is.
7 Feb; £3 York Hall, 5-15 Old Green Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PJ Judysvintagefair.co.uk
FILM: Trumbo
This week’s contribution to the ‘which Oscar-nominated film should we go to see tonight?’ dilemma comes in the form of biopic Trumbo, which sees Bryan ‘Walter White’ Cranston on fine form in the titular role, with super-glam support from Helen Mirren. Recounting the tale of the prodigious 1940s screenwriter blacklisted by Hollywood for holding to his political beliefs, it’s lively and inspiring stuff. Trumbo or Spotlight? The Big Short or The Revenant? Make the most of being spoilt for choice in quality films while you can. After all, Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 is on its way.
Out 5 Feb at cinemas nationwide
FOOD: Native
Ask, how game is Covent Garden’s newest restaurant? And the answer would be: GAME AS HELL. Both literally (game such as venison, rabbit and trout are the focus of the menu) and metaphorically, because this place is well up for trying bold new ideas with its rare-breed meats. The chef has a River Cottage pedigree and takes inspiration from street food trends; which should suddenly make pigeon kebab, southern-fried rabbit and foraged veggies sound very appetising indeed. Yes, you heard: pigeon kebab. We’re game if you are.
Opens 4 Feb 3 Native, Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden WC2H 9DP
MUSIC: Fat Tuesday’s Mardi Gras
Lights! Colour! Dancing! Hedonism! Tr-r-rumpets! It can only be Mardi Gras, New Orleans-style, and its happening right here in London. Along the Southbank, to be precise, where local jazz legends Kansas Smitty’s House Band will lead a motley parade of performers, dancers and (we quote) ‘curiosities’ from theatre company Shotgun Carousel. It all lands up in the Vaults in Waterloo, for a night of drinking, dancing and down ’n’ dirty, rhythm ’n’ blues revelry. Surely the best kind of revelry, you’ll agree.
THEATRE: Crooks
Drug dealing. Extortion. Poisoning… No, this isn’t a confession on our part, but it IS what you may have to get up to at CoLab Theatre’s new immersive experience, aptly named Crooks. In a secret London Bridge building set for demolition after the show’s run (true story), you’ll find a basement bar filled with prosecco and Cockney gangsters (a natural combination). But what the crooks don’t know is, you’re deep undercover with the police and ready to pull off the bust of the century… Unless you decide to join the bad guys, that is. At which point the aforementioned drug dealing, extortion and poisoning can begin.
CoLab Theatre, 6-20 Feb; £18.50 Secret location, London Bridge
EVENT: Super Bowl at Balthazar
America loves bowls. So much so that every year they celebrate them by watching NFL, drinking beer and eating nachos. (Maybe.) And while the American Football bit may be somewhat lost on us, we CAN get on board with the booze and food part. That’s why we’re off to London's branch of NYC hotspot Balthazar to watch the game on five giant screens, take in the half-time team-up between Beyoncé and Coldplay (ColdBey?) AND feast on cocktails, beers, chicken wings and corn dogs. We’ve always wondered what exactly a corn dog is.
7 Feb; £50 including cocktail on arrival and food all evening
Balthazar, 4-6 Russell Street, WC2B 5HZ
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