Friday
▪ The U.S. National Whitewater Center’s TuckFest continues Friday through Sunday with free outdoor concerts every day/night, along with demos, clinics and sporting competitions such as paddling, obstacle races, biking, canoeing and scavenger hunts. Music starts at 5 p.m. Friday, and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The event is free to watch. Participants can pre-register for the sporting competitions online or on site beginning at 7 a.m. daily; cost is $35 for adults and $25 for children 9 and younger.
▪ The three-day Boom Festival ignites spring in Plaza-Midwood with visual, dance, theater, music and performance art spanning several neighborhood venues such as Snug Harbor, Petra’s and Open Door Studios — as well as the Intersection stage, which hosts free outdoor performances and activities across the street from Petra’s. 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. to 12 a.m. Saturday, and 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday. Much of the festival is free; individual venue shows are $10, $35 for a day pass and $85 for a weekend pass.
▪ More than 100 female-owned local vendors and businesses gather to share their wares and knowledge at this weekend’s Girl Tribe Pop-Up. Shop for clothing, jewelry, paper goods, gifts and beauty products; take-in a fitness seminar or DIY workshop; learn calligraphy; and enjoy craft cocktails, food trucks and live music. $25 preview from 6-9 p.m. Friday. Free from noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with $10 VIP early entry at 10 a.m. Saturday. Hawkins Street Design Center, 2216 Hawkins St.
Saturday
▪ As part of the national Record Store Day, vinyl collectors and music fans will line up early for a chance to grab a copy of limited edition releases and reissues at Repo Record and Lunchbox Records. Both will also host live music (2 p.m. at Lunchbox, 5 p.m. at Repo), freebies and giveaways. Meanwhile, the recently opened indie vinyl store inside Tip Top Daily Market is too new to carry Record Store Day releases, but from 2-6 p.m. it will host DJ Elon on the turntables and 10 percent off LPs.
▪ Stroll through some of the most unique and creative outdoor spaces in Myers Park, Merry Oaks, Spring Valley, SouthPark and Plaza-Midwood as visual artists draw inspiration from their surroundings and paint live “en plein air” during the Charlotte Garden Club’s Art in the Garden Tour. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. $15-$25 for members, $20-$30 for non-members; includes admission to a wrap-up party and Plein Air Art Show at Mint Museum Randolph from 4-6 p.m. Sunday.
▪ Loch Norman Highland Games celebrates its 25th anniversary at Historic Rural Hill in Huntersville with a weekend full of competitions, from battle axe to kilted races. Plus, there’ll be cooking and shepherding demonstrations, whiskey seminars, historic reenactments, live traditional music and Celtic rock performances, Scottish food, vendors and more. 8 a.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday. Single-day passes are $8 Saturday/$16 Sunday for ages 13 and older, $6 for kids 5-12. Weekend passes are $20 or $10.
Sunday
▪ From ’80s MTV to “Saturday Night Live” to A-list blockbusters and voice work in animated features, Adam Sandler has spent the last 30 years conquering all facets of comedy. But we rarely see him on the standup stage. That changes when the actor and comedian hits Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre for a performance that will be filmed for use in a forthcoming special for Netflix. His frequent film and former “Saturday Night Live” co-star Rob Schneider opens. 8 p.m. $39.50-$217.50.
Monday
▪ Think “Stomp 2.0” meets “found” industrial art with a futuristic vibe and you’re in the ballpark of Vancouver-based company Scrap Arts Music’s “Children of Metropolis” at McGlohon Theatre. Five athletic percussionists hammer, drum and bang on instruments artistically fashioned out of industrial scrap metal for a 21st-century (and family-friendly) show that’s both visually and rhythmically astounding— as well as environmentally friendly in its use of re-purposed materials. 7:30 p.m. $20-$45.
Wednesday
▪ The Diceman cometh back as notoriously controversial comedian Andrew Dice Clay returns to The Comedy Zone for a one-night, one-performance-only show. First known for the dirty nursery rhymes that once had him banned from MTV in the ’80s, Clay has gone on to acclaimed acting roles on his own Showtime series and in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.” Next, he plays Lady Gaga’s father in a big-screen remake of “A Star Is Born.” But it’s still on standup stage that he’s most familiar. 8 p.m. $40.
Thursday
▪ Powered by the sound of a live rock band armed with fiddles and electric guitars, Rockin’ Road to Dublin attempts to revitalize and update “Riverdance” for a new generation. World champion Irish dancers Scott Doherty (the show’s co-creator, formerly of “Lord of the Dance”) and Ashley Smith (“So You Think You Can Dance,” “Silver Linings Playbook”) lead a cast of dancers, vocalists and musicians through this contemporary take on Irish step dance at Ovens Auditorium. 8 p.m. $29-$60.