The Weekender, Dec. 1-3: Let’s get those trees lit, people!

BDN photo by Gabor Degre

It’s beginning to look a lot like, what? Winter? December? Oh, right! The holiday season. More on that later, however. For your Bangor nightlife entertainment options this weekend, take your pick on Friday night from The Edd at Paddy Murphy’s, Bill Barnes Jazz at Nocturnem Drafthaus, or Skeleton Crew at the Sea Dog, while up in Orono, Wyld Lyfe is at Black Bear Brewing, and Stesha Cano plays at Woodman’s. On Saturday night, Salty Dog is at Paddy’s, jazz man John Nowak is at Nocturnem, and rockers OneSixtyOne and Rich Medeiros are at the Sea Dog.

St. Vincent (Alex Da Carte/Shore Fire Media)

On Friday night in Portland, the amazing St. Vincent performs at the State Theatre, the DuPont Brothers, Max Garcia Conover and Connor Garvey play at Portland House of Music, and there’s comedy night, followed by Throwback Night with DJ KTF, at Empire. Elsewhere, the Suitcase Junket and Katie Matzell are at One Longfellow Square, Darlin’ Corey, Okbari and the Evan King Group are all at Blue throughout the evening, and at Geno’s, there’s local metal from Sylvia, Lord Almighty, Replicire and Obsidian Tongue. On Saturday, Angel Olsen plays at the State Theatre, David Nail and Town Meeting are at Aura, it’s Emo Night at Portland House of Music, and Cousin Earth and Beards are at Empire. There’s also folksinger Lucy Kaplansky at One Longfellow, and the Michael Beling Ensemble, the Soggy Po’ Boys and the Kyle Hardy Group at Blue. There’s local punk rock with Mouth Washington, Fon Fon Ru, Phallus Uber Alles and Barbecue at Space Gallery, and local metal with Korovyov, Lug, Hazelkrust and Remember Slave at Geno’s. On Sunday, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are at Port City Music Hall, and Front Country and Twisted Pine are at One Longfellow.

On the Midcoast, Belfast is full of fun Friday night, including the monthly Belfast Flying Shoes contradance at 8 p.m. at the Legion Hall, and John Burstein performs his one-man play “Darrow” at the Crosby Center. In Unity, the Andrew Silver Variety Show brings magic and juggling to the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts, while in Rockland, the Miners Creek Bluegrass Band is at Rock City Coffee. On Saturday night, Rockland is the place to be, with the Cool Kids Table at Rock City, and the Jukebox Bullies at Trackside Station, while up in Belfast, the Mondaynite Jazz Orchestra plays at the UU Church on Miller Street.

2016 Festival of Lights/BDN file photo

Looking for some holiday fun for the weekend? This is the prime weekend to get your Santa on in Maine. On the Midcoast, on Friday there’s the tree lighting in Camden at 6:30 p.m., while on Saturday, Belfast has its tree lighting at 4:30 p.m. In Bangor on Saturday, the annual Festival of Lights parade and tree lighting is set for Saturday, with the parade down Main Street at 4:30 followed immediately by the tree lighting in West Market Square. Not enough? Camden also hosts the Atlantic Ballet Company’s production of “The Nutcracker” all weekend at the Camden Opera House, and at the Theater at Monmouth, David Sedaris’ contemporary holiday classic “The Santaland Diaries” will be performed all weekend as well.

Emily Burnham

About Emily Burnham

Emily Burnham is a Maine native, UMaine graduate, proud Bangorian and a writer for the Bangor Daily News, where she's worked since 2004. She reports on everything from local bands to local food to all the cool things going on in the Greater Bangor area. In her quest for stories, she's seen countless concerts and plays, been lobster fishing, interviewed celebrities, hung out with water buffalo and played in a ukulele orchestra. She's interested in everything that happens in Maine.