A steel cage match in a taproom, free ice cream, and a totally rad vintage fest

Hey Memphis 👋 It's Thursday, so here's your weekend. It's going to be a hot one — sunny and low-to-mid 90s Friday straight through Sunday, with a stray afternoon storm to keep you honest. Five things worth leaving the house for tonight, then the whole plan, in about five minutes.

🌙 Tonight

• Little Big Town — Radians Amphitheater (Live at the Garden), East Memphis, 8 PM, lawn seats around $70. Four-part harmony under the trees at the Garden's BYOB lawn series — pack a cooler and a chair that sits low. Details

• Groove Factor — Collierville Town Square, 7 PM, free. Collierville takes over the gazebo every Thursday night in June and July, and there are only two more after this one. El Mero Taco and MemPops park nearby; bring a blanket. Details

• Art & Aperitifs: Samilia Pelshak — Brooks Museum, Overton Park, 5:30 PM, free (RSVP). The designer talks through blending traditional African prints with Western street fashion — a conversation with a drink in your hand, not a lecture. Details

• Holy Roller — Hernando's Hide-A-Way, South Memphis, 8 PM (doors 7), $12–15. Country night at the juke joint that's been standing since the Jerry Lee Lewis era. Details

• Pleasant Valley w/ Abusements, Steel Waves & Motark — Growlers, Midtown, 8 PM (doors 7), $5. Four bands, five bucks, on a Thursday. Details

Wouldn't you rather a weekend sneak peek? Here's the whole 901, Friday through Sunday.

☀️ Your Weekend in Memphis

Friday

• Reading Rhythms — Beale Street Landing, 10 AM, free. Not your average book club: silent reading set to live rhythms from Collage Dance Collective, right on the river. Bring a book, find a spot on the grass. Details

• Happy Friday at The Grove — GPAC, Germantown, 5 PM, free. GPAC throws open its lawn for free live music, a full bar and food trucks. This week it's a "Let's JAM" session — bring an instrument if you've got one. Details

• Dude Perfect: Squad Games Tour — FedExForum, 7 PM (doors 6), ticketed. The YouTube trick-shot crew turns the arena floor into a 360-degree battle zone, with the Savannah Bananas along for the chaos. Details

• Memphis Redbirds vs. Iowa Cubs — AutoZone Park, 7:05 PM. Fiesta Friday: $5 margaritas, $5 Dos Equis and 2-for-$5 street tacos while the Redbirds open a three-game set against the Cubs' top farm club. Details

• Elmiene — Graceland Soundstage, 8 PM, $54. The British soul singer everybody's been passing around brings that velvet voice to the Soundstage — and your ticket gets you into Elvis Presley's Memphis free from 3 to 6 PM beforehand. Details

Saturday

• Totally Rad Vintage Fest — Renasant Convention Center, 10 AM (early entry 8:30), $8 advance / $12 at the door, kids 12 and under free. Vintage dealers from all over take over downtown with '80s, '90s and Y2K clothes, records and toys — plus a free-play retro arcade and a walk-through museum of old tech. Details

• Tai Chi in the Gardens — Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 10:30 AM, free. Slow, flowing tai chi on the lawn to start the day — and the whole Dixon, galleries and all 17 acres, is free to wander after. Details

• Read with a Pup — Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, 11 AM–1 PM, free. Kids read aloud to a very patient therapy dog. Drop in anytime. Details

• Bartlett LIVE: Truck Patch Revival — W.J. Freeman Park, Bartlett, 6 PM, free. Bartlett's free summer concert series rolls on with roots band Truck Patch Revival. Chair, food truck, done. Details

• Memphis Redbirds — AutoZone Park, 6:35 PM. Competitive-eating legend Joey "Jaws" Chestnut turns up, and the Redbirds built an all-you-can-eat "Meat & Greet" around him — a buffet of the exact foods he holds world records for demolishing. Fireworks after. Details

• North Mississippi Allstars — GPAC, Germantown, 8 PM, tickets via GPAC. The Dickinson brothers bring their raw, psychedelic hill-country blues to GPAC's main hall. Details

Sunday

• V&E Greenline 30th Birthday & Ice Cream Social — Kirby Stationhouse, Vollintine-Evergreen, 1 PM, free. The little rail-trail the neighbors saved turns 30, and they're throwing a party on National Ice Cream Day: cake, hot dogs, kiddie pools, music, and leashed dogs welcome. Details

• Memphis Redbirds — AutoZone Park, 1:05 PM. Christmas in July at the ballpark: a free ugly-sweater tee, Mr. and Mrs. Claus on hand, and kids run the bases after the last out. There's a Chill Zone for when the heat wins. Details

• Memphis Wrestling vs. KAW — Ghost River Brewery, South Main, 5:30 PM (meet-and-greet at 5), from $13.73. Memphis Wrestling meets Kick Ass Wrestling for the first time ever, and they're settling the main event in a steel cage — inside a South Main taproom. All ages; 21+ to drink. Details

📰 The Rundown

Pro tennis is coming back to Memphis. The WTA's new Memphis Classic lands at the Leftwich Tennis Center in Whitehaven later this month — the first WTA stop here since 2013. (via Action News 5)

There's a new place to cool off. A brand-new pool opened at Westwood Park on July 1, part of a wave of city pools coming online for the summer — a Memphis Parks membership gets you in the water. (via FOX13)

Primark picked Memphis for its Tennessee debut. The Irish fast-fashion chain opens its first store in the state at Wolfchase Galleria on Thursday, July 24, with an 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting, a DJ and giveaways. (via WREG)

🍽️ Food & Drink

Ticer and Hudman opened a two-in-one out east. Josephine Estelle — the pasta-forward Italian-American room the pair ran in New Orleans — is now at 6695 Poplar in Germantown, with cocktail spot Rosie's Tavern up top. Go see. And out on Germantown Parkway, Bain Barbecue opened a second location for its Texas-style brisket.

🎟️ Looking Ahead

• Spamalot & the Stray Cats — both go on sale tomorrow (Fri, July 17) at the Orpheum. Spamalot runs Oct 27–Nov 1; the Stray Cats play Nov 15. Details

• 42 Dugg & Babyface Ray — Friday, July 24 at Minglewood Hall. On sale now. Details

• SUFFS — opens July 31 at the Orpheum. The Tony-winning suffrage musical starts its Memphis run; tickets on sale now. Details

🏡 Community Corner

It's going to be 90-plus all weekend, so tell us: what's your move when Memphis gets like this? Hit reply — a pool, a matinee, a specific shady patio with a specific cold drink — and we'll pass the best ones along.

And if you know about something we missed, there's no gatekeeping here — send it to hey@heymemphis.co and it might make tomorrow's issue.

That's it — go have a good weekend out there. See you tomorrow at 6.

— Josh