This weekend we want to go to...

Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Nielson.

Auckland Town Hall: Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Nielson returned in April with Sex & Food, his fourth album under the psychedelic rock-pop outfit. The record was a sidestep from the glittering disco-pop of 2015's Multi-Love, presenting instead an introspective journey of distorted guitars and funky synths. The result was stellar, now Nielson brings the acclaimed new record to Auckland's Town Hall. From the irresistibly careless riffs of Hunnybee to the grunge-rock of American Guilt, the Sex & Food tour is sure to be a dazzling, danceable show at one of Auckland's best live music venues.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Auckland Town Hall, Saturday.

MOTAT: If you were to visit MOTAT and see contortionists, knife throwers and pole dancers you'd no doubt think WTF?! And you'd be right. MOTAT is busting all your PG rated conceptions to host WTF?! a strictly R18 event that, in its own words, contains "nudity and disturbing content". Two of our favourite things ... MOTAT has lined up a fully-packed, adult-orientated entertainment schedule, including live music and performance art, but wander away from the main stage and you'll find many strange and exotic delights waiting. Just some of the tantalising events to discover are The Art of Death, I Get to Throw What?, Pleasure of Pain? and Naked Girls Reading. There's also Loo Racing, but we might give that one a miss. It's all in aid of delving into science, technology, arts, culture, food and entertainment with an eccentric twist.
WTF?! MOTAT, Saturday at 7:30pm, $20 on the door, with food and booze available.

Aotea Centre: And let it never be said that we don't also enjoy a good and intelligent chinwag, where speakers delve into issues such as modern parenthood, improved gender equality in entertainment and how creativity can help in finding solutions to these challenges. This weekend, as part of suffrage celebrations, Auckland Live gathers together a range of women including actors Miriama McDowell, Alison Quigan and Nancy Brunning, politician Chloe Swarbrick, Auckland Writers Festival director Anne O'Brien and broadcaster Karyn Hay for a series of thought-provoking discussions which dig deep into some tough subjects. We're particularly looking forward to Saturday evening where leading female musicians Victoria Kelly, Moana Maniapoto and Cherie Mathieson mix performance and talks about creating positive futures for women in the music industry.
Speak up! Lower NZI Room, Aotea Centre, Saturday 10am, 2pm and 7pm.

Crying Men, a new work by dance company Black Grace, explores masculinity through the eyes of three generations of Pacific men.

ASB Waterfront Theatre:

Lead by choreographer Neil Ieremia, Black Grace is one of the country's most visionary dance groups. Now Ieremia has teamed up, for the first time, with Pacific playwright Victor Rodger and hip-hop legends Anonymouz and Submariner for a powerful performance which traces the journey of three generations of Pacific men, living in a new country and dealing with the loss of a woman who brought balance to their traditional ideas about what it means to be a man. Using gesture, elements of traditional Pacific storytelling, song and dance, this is a premiere production by a group lauded around the world.

Crying Men, ASB Waterfront Theatre, until Saturday.