Michael Marotta

1 day ago | vanyaland.com | Michael Marotta

Sometimes a song isn’t so much a song as it is a confrontation, and within that confrontation is a chance to escape, if only for a moment, the blackened malaise of life.

2 days ago | vanyaland.com | Michael Marotta

When a person tells you who they are, it’s best to listen. And when an artist declares a new track “the most unhinged song I have ever written,” well, that warrants full attention, too. Enter Sydney Sprague, the Phoenix singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who delivers “As Scared As Can Be” as a full swandive into the chaos that only charred emotional wreckage of unreciprocated love can bring.

3 days ago | vanyaland.com | Michael Marotta

Back in December, just at the start of winter, when Kendrick Lamar and longtime collaborator SZA announced the Grand National Tour, we used it to cross off two potential names from Boston Calling’s rumored headliner board for 2025. But so much has gone down since — we’re still thinking about that Super Bowl performance, and we got our festival lineup locked in — that we kinda can’t believe that tonight show (May 12) at Gillette Stadium is finally here.

6 days ago | vanyaland.com | Michael Marotta

Editor’s Note: Welcome to V3 Weekend, Vanyaland‘s guide to help you sort out your weekend entertainment with curated selections and recommendations across our three pillars of Music, Comedy, and Film/TV. It’s what you should know about, where you need to be, and where you’ll be going, with us riding shotgun along the way. As we predicted last year from new music features to Year in ReView, the star shine of Isabel LaRosa continues to grow brighter.

1 week ago | vanyaland.com | Michael Marotta

Some of the most memorable moments at Boston Calling over the past dozen years came under cloudy, dark, and ominous skies: A rain-soaked inaugural edition in 2013 at City Hall Plaza as The National, Marina, and MS MR held court; a frenzied mad dash to greet Lorde on that same stage two years later after the thunder and lightning finally subsided; and a spontaneous dance party two years ago in the hockey arena during an unexpected weather delay.