Your Memphis Halloween weekend: Buddy Guy tonight, a free Samhain festival downtown, and the Grizzlies on Halloween night

Hey Memphis 👋 It's Thursday, Oct. 29. Sunny and near 80 today, and the forecast stays warm and mostly dry into the weekend, with only a small shower chance creeping in on Halloween itself.

Tonight's picks, then the weekend, day by day. It's Halloween weekend, so the kids' section runs long.

Buddy Guy — Graceland Soundstage, 7:30 PM, $75.25–$169.50 with fees, reserved seating. The Chicago blues titan plays Whitehaven on a tour billed "Buddy Guy 90." It was a save-the-date here on Oct. 19; tonight's the night. Details

Arlington's Trunk or Treat — The Crossing Market & Amphitheater, Arlington, 4–7 PM, free. The town's third annual trunk-or-treat, built for the little kids: candy, face painting and games two nights before Halloween. Details

Invisible Listening: Jon Hassell — Memphis Listening Lab, Crosstown Concourse, Suite 269, 6–7:30 PM. A guided listening session through trumpeter Jon Hassell's catalog, curated by his label, Ndeya, and hosted by Jared Boyd. Details

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Fall Movie Night: Poltergeist — Overton Square courtyard, 7 PM, free. The Square's free Thursday movie series goes full Halloween with the 1982 original. Bring a blanket or a folding chair. Details

Concerts in The Grove: Lina Beach — GPAC, 1801 Exeter Rd., Germantown, gates 5:30, music 6:30–8 PM, $13 adults, $8 ages 5 to 18, 4 and under free. A rising Memphis soul voice on GPAC's outdoor lawn stage, with food trucks and cocktails on the plaza. Bring chairs. Details

Full Metal Racket — Hernando's Hide-A-Way, the South Memphis juke joint on Old Hernando Road, doors 6, show 8, $10–$15. Metal night in the old honky-tonk room, cheap. Details

FRIDAY

Shell on Wheels: Hallows' Eve at Wiseacre OG — 2783 Broad Ave., 5–11 PM, no cover listed. The Overton Park Shell parks its mobile stage at the Broad Avenue taproom for Halloween eve: Recent Future at 5, Bailey Bigger 6:15, Cyrena Wages 7:30, Aquarian Blood 8:45 and Country Westerns at 10, with DJ Kid Mestizo between sets, a michelada bar and a new beer release. Details

The Orchestra Unplugged: The Planets — Halloran Centre, 7:30 PM, $47.30. Robert Moody and the Memphis Symphony take Holst apart in the Halloran's small room, the night before Halloween. Details

Reggae in the Park After Dark: finale — Court Square Park, 7–11 PM, free. Worth repeating from last Friday, because it's still the easiest free plan downtown: the fourth-annual series closes its October run with live reggae, DJs and Caribbean, vegan, soul-food and barbecue vendors. Bring a lawn chair. Details

Mystic Krewe of Pegasus Halloween Charity Party — Dru's Bar, 1474 Madison Ave., 8 PM–midnight, $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Memphis's LGBTQ Mardi Gras krewe throws its costume party, with individual and group contests, raffles and tarot readings. Every dollar goes to the Tennessee Equality Project. Details

SATURDAY

Memphis Samhain Irish Festival — Madison Avenue Park and The Brass Door, 151 Madison Ave., 11 AM–8 PM, free. Halloween is Irish, it turns out: an opening parade, Gaelic sports demos, Irish and céilí dancing, Irish film, and Dermot & The Pints, all day downtown. Under 18 with a grown-up. Details

Memphis Renaissance Festival — the Greensward at Overton Park, Saturday 10 AM–5 PM (plus an 18-and-up night, 6:30–10) and Sunday 10 AM–9 PM, presale $35 adults, $15 youth, through Friday. A first-year Renaissance faire on Halloween itself: a 30-merchant maker village, a tarot tent, Memphis Wrestling's costumed fighters and Tea with the Fairies. Rain or shine. Details

True Crimes of Bygone Times — Elmwood Cemetery, 824 S. Dudley St., 1–2:30 PM, $23.18 with fees. A Halloween-afternoon walking tour of Elmwood's old crimes: who done it, and what went wrong. The morning tour is already sold out. Details

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Grizzlies vs. Kings: Halloween with Día de los Muertos — FedExForum, 191 Beale St., 7 PM, tickets through FedExForum. The Grizzlies' only home game of the week lands on Halloween night, with a Día de los Muertos T-shirt at the door. Details

Tigers vs. Army: Homecoming — Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, 7 PM, from $30. Homecoming against Army's option offense, same hour as the Grizzlies. Pick your 7 o'clock. Details

Hotel Pontotoc's 120th Anniversary Halloween Party — The Dame at Hotel Pontotoc, 69 E. Pontotoc Ave., 9 PM–midnight, $15. The 1905 South Main hotel turns 120, its reopening turns one, and the party is Prohibition-themed, with Deviltrain playing two sets. Details

SUNDAY

Memphis Japan Festival — Memphis Botanic Garden, Radians Amphitheater, 9:30 AM–4 PM, $12 adults. Japanese food, performance, games and crafts in the amphitheater the morning after Halloween. The Garden switches to winter hours the next day. Details

LOCOmotion Community Block Party — Off the Walls Arts, 360 Walnut St., 1–5 PM, free. Marcella Simien & Her Lovers play a free block party on the old rail line Off the Walls is turning into a 1.5-mile walking trail from South Memphis to Downtown, with kids' craft workshops and a walking tour of the new murals. Details

Día de Muertos Rave — Growlers, doors 7, show 8, $15. Three Latin DJs, DJ Oddyssey, SERG. and Daniel Del Cuzcatlan, close out the weekend with a Day of the Dead dance night. Details

ROARFest Halloween Block Party & Pep Rally — Alumni Mall, University of Memphis, Friday 4–7 PM, free. The university opens Homecoming's pep rally to the whole city as a Halloween block party: food trucks, the Mighty Sound of the South, a kid zone and Tent-or-Treat. Clear bags only. Details

Trick or Treat Trail at Lichterman Nature Center — Saturday 10:30 AM–4 PM, free admission all day. Lichterman drops its admission for Halloween: a trick-or-treat trail, pumpkin carving, face painting, crafts and animal ambassadors. Details

Super Scientific Circus — Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, 3663 Appling Rd., Bartlett, Saturday 2–3:30 PM, $20 adults, $15 under 18. Mr. Fish and Trent the Mime turn physics into a Halloween-afternoon circus. The lobby opens at 1. Details

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Halloween at Tobey Park — Tobey Park, Midtown, Saturday afternoon, then the movie 5:30–8 PM, free. Memphis Parks' Park & Treat trunk-or-treat and kids' costume contest in the afternoon, then the last Movie Night in the Park of the year, Minions & Monsters, with free concessions. Blankets and chairs. Details

Zoo Boo's last nights — Memphis Zoo, tonight through Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1, 6 PM, last entry 8:30, $23, $20 members, online only. The rebuilt Zoo Boo, with a 7-foot maze and free train rides, closes out the season. Last Saturday sold out, so buy ahead, and the Toxic Waste Zone isn't meant for small kids. Details

Today is the last day of early voting: all 26 sites, 11 AM–7 PM, and the Election Commission office at 157 Poplar, 9–5. After today you vote at your assigned precinct on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Bring a photo ID. (Sites and hours and the polling-place lookup, via the Shelby County Election Commission)

The Metal Museum has moved into Overton Park. Its first shows in the former Rust Hall at 1930 Poplar run into 2027, the bluff-top campus is closed for now, and Thursdays are free for Tennessee residents with ID; otherwise $10, Wednesday through Sunday, 11–5. (via the Metal Museum)

Clocks fall back at 2 AM Sunday. Halloween night gets an extra hour, and Sunday morning comes with a free one. (via NIST)

The King's Table: Spirits to Spirits — The Guest House at Graceland, TCB Showroom, Saturday, 8 PM, $100 all-in, 21 and up. A five-course Día de los Muertos dinner paired with El Mágico tequilas: elote, a smoked-trout tostada, hot-chicken al pastor on a sweet-potato waffle, birria tamales and a pan de muerto cheesecake. Details

Indigo Girls with Linda Perry — Overton Park Shell, Monday, Nov. 2, gates 5 PM. The Shell Yeah! benefit show rescheduled from Sept. 29. Tickets for the original date are honored. Details

Crafts & Drafts Holiday Market — Crosstown Concourse, Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 AM–4 PM, free. Ninety-five-plus makers and a beer garden, a week after Halloween. Details

Tigers basketball home opener vs. VCU — FedExForum, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2 PM, tickets through FedExForum. The first home game of the season, a Saturday matinee. Details

The Halloween house roundup. We asked three times for the blocks that go all out, and you all decided to gatekeep the good ones, so here's what's publicly available: the Cooper-Young Community Association judges its Halloween Home Decorating Contest this weekend and is publishing a map of every entered house. Check it before you load the car. If you know a street we should see, reply and we'll add it to Friday's issue.

The tip line never closes — a pop-up, a band, a Saturday we missed. No gatekeeping — send it to hey@heymemphis.co.

That's it for today — see you tomorrow at 6.

— Josh