Top 5 Weekend (corrected)

March 19, 2026

Apologies for the double send… the link to the Live Music listings was incorrect in an earlier email. It should be: https://the518.com/p/live-music-more-march-17-23-2026. Have an awesome weekend!

Happy Thursday evening, Capital Region! It’s getting hot in here—and not just because spring has sprung. See if you can take the heat at the Spicy Food Festival at The Shirt Factory. Expect to get hot under the collar at the 15th annual Firehouse Chili Cookoff. And Cinephile’s Cabaret is a burlesque revue featuring the best Quentin Tarantino characters. Wha?? All this and more in our spicy Top 5 Weekend guide below 🥵 

🍏 Congrats to Anya Patterson, the winner of our food & drink giveaway to Nine Pin’s Hangover Brunch, a free event on Saturday featuring Typhoid Mary, Forrest Fleur and Andramada serving shamrocks and showstoppers with DJ Mercy.

An attorney in Albany, Anya says: “I love The 518 Newsletter because it helps me plan my weekends around activities where I can potentially make new friends!” 🤎 🦫 🎩 

By the way, Nine Pin is offering 10% off all cider pours in its Albany Tasting Room for subscribers of The 518. All you have to do is show them the newsletter on your phone!

—Phat X. Chiem & Karley Sullivan

We’re expecting Cinephile’s Cabaret featuring the films of Quentin Tarantino to look something like this

⭐️🕊️ Lost & Found in Albany’s hoppin’ Warehouse District is hosting “One Day of Peace & Music,” featuring 15 of the best musicians that the 518 has to offer, including Sydney Worthley, Caity Gallagher, Nocturnne, The Sugar Hold, James Mullen, and more! Metroland has a preview of what’s being billed as “The 518 Woodstock.” Sun, 12-6p, suggested donation of $10.

⭐️ 👨‍🚒 It’s gonna get pretty toasty at Troy’s Brown’s Brewing Co. as your local firemen (and women) face off at the 2026 Firehouse Chili Cookoff. As always, the 15th annual competition pits real firehouse chefs against each other—no restaurants allowed! The event is also a fundraiser benefiting our brave first responders. Sunday, 1–4p, $15.

⭐️ 👗 Albany Bound Vintage is heading to Likeable Popups, Albany’s first shipping container building located at 51 Watervliet Ave, for a themed popup—Party Like It’s 1999! With $5 and $10 piles, prices are rolling back to the late 90s too. Come browse among 15+ vendors, and stay for the free trans thrift, food & bev. Sat, 1-6p, free. Also, the Big Gay Market is hosting its first regional popup at Mt. Ida Preservation Hall in Troy, Sun, 11a-4p.

⭐️ 🌶️ Glens Falls is the place to be this weekend. Starting off strong is the Winter Meltdown: Spicy Food Festival on Saturday at The Shirt Factory. Other than Ted’s Fish Fry, we don’t know who the other vendors will be, but you can expect a range of spicy eats, from mild to it’s burning my face off! The festivities are part of the Glens Falls Brew Fest, which also coincides with the last weekend of Glens Falls Restaurant Week. And… Hoffman Car Wash in Glens Fall is offering FREE car washes all weekend!

⭐️ 🎬️ Cinephile’s Cabaret: A Band Apart Films | When the event description includes this line—”We’re giving you tittie twirling, boa-blowouts and babes with looks that kill”—we’re all in. Get to Arts Center of the Capital Region as Vixen Vega puts on a burlesque revue featuring the most memorable characters from Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic universe. This is one mashup you’ve got to see to believe. Sat, 7:30–10p, from $25.

🌸 Honorable Mention: All of Us Events presents Bloomin’ at Universal Preservation Hall, celebrating the spring equinox with headliner Stone Van Brooken. Read our profile of promoter Shane Stiel, the man bringing big-city rave energy to the Capital Region. Sat, kicks off at 9p, tix start at $17.

A word from our sponsor

There’s so much good theater happening right now:

Did you know Ballet Hispánico New York performed at The Egg’s grand opening weekend in 1978? Now, nearly a half century later, Ballet Hispánico returns to the newly renovated Egg this Friday.

“The Egg’s opening in May 1978 was an important cultural moment for the state, centering the capital city as a showcase for the artistic wealth of our state,” Artistic Director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro tells us. "Nearly 50 years later, as the nation’s leading Latino dance company, it gives me great pleasure to say that Ballet Hispánico will return to The Egg with our production of ‘CARMEN.maquia.’ Gustavo Ramírez Sansano has redefined and re-centered a story originally written by two Frenchmen inspired by the exoticism of Spanish culture.”

MORE NOTABLE EVENTS…

THURSDAY

🃏 Jokers of Magic promises to be “a no-holds-barred evening of tricks, lies and laughs” at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga.

🧶 Every third Thursday, get to Nine Pin for Yarn Swap Night. Swap yarn, share ideas, and chill out with new friends.

FRIDAY

💃 Broadway Rave at Empire Live is a dance party especially for all you theater kids!

🖼️ Get to EMPAC for Jeni Wright’s latest installation, Conducting Life: A Celebration of Microbes and Gertrude Stein. Wright is a biologist and artist known for her mud paintings. Formal seating at 1p and talk back at 1:30p.

🕹️ Also at EMPAC is Peter Burr’s Maintenance Game, a room-sized video game about designing systems designed to fail.

🎨 Art Night Schenectady is back!

SATURDAY

🦎 The Saratoga Reptile Show, one of the largest reptile shows in NY, returns with hundreds of critters to see—and possibly take home, if you can convince Mom & Dad.

⭐️🍀 Clover Fest 2026 at the MVP Arena is being billed as “Albany’s biggest music event of the year,” with a full lineup of hip-hop artists, rappers, and dancehall talent.

🦘Watch some spectacular jump rope masters at the 4th Annual Nanny’s Double Dutch League at Albany Armory.

🗣️ The Sanctuary for Independent Media is putting on “Run, Hide, Fight,” a youth storytelling workshop.

🛶 Catch “They Built America: Workers of the Erie Canal” at Universal Preservation Hall.

💀 Legendary gore-metal titans GWAR make their invariably messy return to Albany’s Empire Live, with special guests Soulfy and King Parrot.

🐇 Bethlehem Lutheran Church invites the kids to Easter Egg Hunt, at 10a and 12p.

🥬 Forts Ferry Farm’s Mini Market pulls out the latest haul from their greenhouses—leeks, kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, herbs, salad mix, spinach, and the fan favorite arugula.

🖼️ If you haven’t checked out Gloversville lately (or ever), this Arts & Culture Weekend is as good a time as any!

🍄‍🟫 Chef Riany Mena collabs with Collar City Mushrooms to put on A Mushroom Experience Dinner at Indian Ladder Farms.

SUNDAY

🎸 Join WAMC On the Road for a special conversation recorded live at the historic Caffe Lena—Does music matter?

🎻 The Next Generation Festival at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall features six colleges and over 100 young musicians coming together to represent the best of what classical music has to offer.

🍸️ Lectures & Libations at Bibulous in Saratoga features Nelson Dellis, six-time USA Memory Champion and author of the upcoming book, Everyday Genius: Hacks to Boost Your Memory, Focus, Problem-Solving, and Much More.

MONDAY

👟 Put on your sneakers and Walk with Us for fare free transit, a peace walk led by the youth organizers at We Are Revolutionary. 12–3:30p, from West Capitol Park to Green Tech High School.

LOOKING AHEAD

Our music listings are now published separately on The 518 website. Click here.

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