Weekend Guide: Reggae Fest Massive, Labor of Love, The Fete Gala, and More

By Shawn Setaro

One of Brooklyn’s biggest annual events, the West Indian Day Parade, is happening on Monday (September 1). That means a ton of Caribbean-themed stuff will be happening in the lead-up to it. In fact, you could spend the whole weekend just outside the Brooklyn Museum if you wanted to—concerts are happening there pretty much every night from Thursday up until the parade. But parade and parade-adjacent activities are not the only things cooking in the borough you’ll find in the latest edition of the Weekend Guide.

We’ve got a lot more for you below as well.

Courtesy of Cafe Erzulie

Thursday, August 28

Summer Jazz with Wayne Tucker @ Cafe Erzulie
6 p.m.
There are few experiences more gratifyingly entrancing than a live jazz set played into open air. And Cafe Erzulie’s season-long event series has been delivering just that. This week’s maestro is composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Wayne Tucker, a local jazz misfit with five albums of potent polyrhythms and unexpected chord changes to explore.

Caribbean Music Awards @ Kings Theatre
8 p.m.
This show will honor, among others, Bounty Killer and Busta Rhymes, the latter of whom was born not far from the venue. Performers include Chronic Law, Konshens, and Lady Lava.

Sounds Fun! @ Roulette Intermedium
8 p.m.
Contemporaneous is an ensemble of 25 musicians with a mission of performing music by living composers. This show is focused on “the wildest—and simply most fun—music you’ve never heard.” Composers who will be featured include Alex Paxton, Eve Beglarian, and Andrew Hamilton. Hamilton’s “Music for People Who Like Art” is on the program, which alone makes this worth attending.

Labor Day Weekend Welcome Party @ Isola
9 p.m.
Toronto and NYC connect for this party, which features DJs and hosts from both cities spinning Dancehall, Soca, Reggae, Kompa, and more. Special guests are also guaranteed.

Courtesy of Crown Hill Theater

Friday, August 29

This is Ballroom @ Herbert Von King Cultural Arts Center
5 p.m.
Come on out to watch this 2024 documentary about Rio’s Ballroom scene. Think of it as a sort of modern Paris Is Burning, but in Brazil. This showing is part of the Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival, celebrating Brazilian films in the U.S.

Write Club Summer Playfest @ Vino Theater
7 p.m.
This is the middle day of a three-day festival of performances of original short plays by emerging writers and directors. And this is not just some staged reading, scripts-still-in-hand business. Instead, we’ve got six fully staged productions from top new talent, with an intermission, all in an hour and a half. Featured playwrights include Zara Roy, Kenndall Wallace, and Ethan Manuel Homen.

Reggae Fest Massive with Vybz Kartel @ Barclay’s Center
8 p.m.
Just in time for the West Indian Day Parade, Vybz Kartel is kicking off the two-day Reggae Fest Massive at Barclay’s Center with a headlining show in a borough that never fails to pull up for the dancehall icon. If this past weekend’s Michal Montano show at Planet Brooklyn was anything to go by, it’s gonna be pure cinema.

Rok One @ Suono
9 p.m.
The heat is not letting up this weekend at Suono, where Rok One is set to cast a spell in the subterranean hi-fi room. Come for the sweat, steps, and cocktails, stay because there will still be three more days of weekend when you come up for air.

Shouting at the Screen @ Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park
9:15 p.m.
Shouting at the Screen is a Mystery Science Theater 3000-style event featuring comedian Wyatt Cenac and rapper/DJ/podcast host/man-about-town Donwill watching a Blaxploitation classic and providing hilarious commentary. They never announce the movie in advance, so you’ve just got to show up and see for yourself.

Charlie Takeover ft Benjamin Röder, sianza, beewack + Warehouse Preservation Society @ Good Room
10 p.m.
Munich’s club Charlie is recreated in Brooklyn for one night only, as their resident DJ Benjamin Röder gets behind the decks, joined by sianza and beewack.

The Fete Gala @ Crown Hill Theater
10 p.m.
If you’re looking for a pre-parade toast, this all-nighter in Crown Heights is promising to be the “crown jewel” of Labor Day Weekend. Six DJs, four hosts, one fantastically fitting venue, and no cost (!)—here’s one to clip up on the calendar for Friday night.

Courtesy of Public Records

Saturday, August 30

Labor of Love: A Fundraiser for North Brooklyn Mutual Aid
All day
This weekend-long benefit for a local mutual aid program is delivering funds and creating a function proper with DJs, raffles, and, of course, a ton of food, provided by Carlos Barrera on Saturday and Super Chori on Sunday.

Clown Cult Presents Clown Picnic @ Prospect Park
3 p.m.
Clown Cult is a sort of clown-themed performance art/variety show that you probably already know about if you’re a reader of this fine website. This event is, as billed, an end-of-summer clown picnic. They promise lawn games, clowns (of course), and “silly shenanigans.”

Elsewhere Presents: Yung Singh @ Superior Ingredients Rooftop
4 p.m.
You probably know Yung Singh from his viral Boiler Room set a few years back. Now’s your chance to experience his wildly varying song choices live in person, with a gorgeous view of Manhattan as your backdrop.

New York Panorama Steelband Competition @ Brooklyn Museum
7 p.m.
As mentioned, 200 Eastern Parkway will be the site of nearly nonstop partying this weekend, with a dancehall event on Thursday and a soca festival on Friday. But this may be the most unique and fun event of them all. There will be a giant steel pan band competition featuring bands from around the city.

Djakout #1: Welcome Back to NY @ Club Bentley’s
10 p.m.
Djakout #1 is a Haitian compas band that is a spinoff of Djakout Mizik, which split into two groups with slightly different names about 15 years ago. But all that confusing history will be put out of your mind the second the group busts out into one of its incredibly catchy hits like “Bag La.”

Justin Strauss and HONEY B @ The Sound Room at Public Records
11 p.m.
The venerable, inimitable Justin Strauss is holding court in the OG sound room at Public Records, one of few spaces in the city wired well enough to properly support a night of Strauss selections. But it is Saturday night at the Gowanus club complex, after all, and that means there’s a DJ generating a different frequency in every room (Darone Sassounian’s spinning upstairs, and Donis is going back-to-back with VARSHA and Sevyn in the atrium.)

Courtesy of Dead Letter No. 9

Sunday, August 31

Superior Elevation Records Takeover @ Dead Letter No. 9
5 p.m.
The Superior Elevation roster is running the decks all day long this Sunday, which is poised to feel a lot more like a Friday or Saturday with the celebrations of Labor Day, Jouvert, and West Indian Day all colliding at the top of next week. So soak up the gift of a good, long three-kend with a parade day warm-up of house, funk, and disco of all strains from some of the best in the game.

Jungle Dub House: NYC Drum n Bass & Dance Labor Day Weekend Sunset Party @ Keybar
6 p.m.
Celebrate having an extra day off by dancing to d&b, house, and dub until the wee hours. DJs include Paul C, Grimmkeys, Cell Division, and more.

James Austin Johnson @ Bell House
7:30 p.m.
Everyone’s got a favorite James Austin Johnson moment, whether it’s his turn on Inside Out 2, his stream-of-consciousness Trump impressions, or this writer’s personal favorite, his Tonight Show impersonation of different eras of Bob Dylan singing “Jingle Bells,” which had me cracking up for days. Come watch him do any of them (or perhaps none, who knows!) right in front of you.

The Sound Guy: World Premiere Screening @ Littlefield
7:30 p.m.
Mockumentaries, when they’re good, are among the best comedies out there. From This Is Spinal Tap to Waiting for Guffman to even some stuff Christopher Guest had nothing to do with, the form is ripe for hilarity. So The Sound Guy, a kind of meta-mock-documentary about a man who cons a small theater by pretending to be a relative of the creator of The Music Man, itself a musical about a con man, should pile funny layer on top of funny layer until you’ve got a…I don’t know, a very funny layer cake?

Spread Love for Gaza Benefit Fundraiser @ Wonderville
8 p.m.
Help provide families in Gaza with sorely needed food, water, and medicine by showing up to this event and donating at the door. Eithermore, Si Doux, Henry Ryeder, and Calista Garcia will be performing, you’ll have the chance to buy handmade goods from local vendors, and there will be indie arcade games to try out.