Philadelphia Weekly

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11am-3pm. Free. Through June 19. 6300 Block of Germantown Ave.  215.844.4200. 6300gtownave.wordpress.com

Summer Solstice
The longest day of the year just turned into the longest celebration Philadelphia has ever seen. The Citibank Summer Solstice Celebration will kick off summer with a 14-hour-long celebration. Every corner of the Kimmel Center will come alive with an eclectic array of entertainment. Treat yourself to a refined afternoon of artistry and song. Threeds Oboe Trio will help you wind down with their exploratory sounds from all corners of the world, as well as a variety of classical and jazz acts to keep you well rested for the night of partying ahead.  After you’ve recharged, check out Bob and Barbara’s Drag Show or jam to the indie rock acts featured at various times throughout the evening. The ArcheDream for HUMANKIND, an internationally touring blacklight mask and dance theatre company, will whisk you out of reality just in time for you to turn up the heat with an experimental dance party. DJ Rahsaan and friends present an eclectic blend of tropicalia and urban dance beats to get your feet moving. Though the evening ends at 2am, the experience will last for a lifetime of memories. -Lauren Gorden

Noon-2am. $10. Through June 19. Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St. 215.790.5800. kimmelcenter.com

Sunday, June 19

Sade
For any fan of R&B temptress Sade Adu and her band, also known as Sade, a new album is an event. Their latest, 2010’s Soldier of Love, was released a decade after 2000’s Lovers Rock, which dropped eight years after 1992’s Love Deluxe. Judging from the rarity of their releases, Sade consists of A) perfectionists who won’t release music unless it’s absolutely sparkling, B) withholding sadists who want their hungry fans to appreciate whatever morsel they give them or C) people who would rather have comfortable lives than constantly make music. It’s well-documented that Adu prefers a life of privacy, keeping a quiet home life with her family. The other members—Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Denman—have chosen to keep themselves busy in-between albums. They’ve released two albums under the name Sweetback, a project that has included guest vocals from Amel Larrieux and Maxwell, whom Matthewman worked closely with on his first two albums. Whatever category you consider this foursome, just be glad they’re out on tour. Hey, who knows when they’ll get back together again! -Craig D. Lindsey

7:30pm. With John Legend. $52.50-$152.50. Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St. 800.298.4200. livenation.com

Florence + the Machine
With powerful lungs and positive lyrics, Florence + the Machine belted onto the music scene with their passionate and instantly popular hit “Dog Days Are Over,” appearing on their A Lot of Love, A Lot of Blood EP and their album Lungs, both released in 2009. After winning the 2009 Critics Choice Award at the Brits, Florence hopped across the pond and performed the song at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, capturing the crowd with her strong vocals and fiery red hair. Florence evokes strong emotions with her voice, saying on her website she wants her music to “sound like throwing yourself out of a tree, or off a tall building, or as if you’re being sucked down into the ocean and you can’t breathe.” Mission accomplished. -Kristin Toussaint

8pm. $42. Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing, 301 Columbus Blvd. 215.923.0387. livenation.com

Monday, June 20

Games Without Ends
For Philadelphia-based artist Nora Chase, the human body—as a unit of measurement, progress, and emotion—continues to be of upmost importance in her large scale works. She first explored the body for a major exhibition in the “Skin” series from her thesis show, exploring the surface of her own body, abstracting and dissecting images of her own skin—her nose, shoulders, etc.—to offer multiple perspectives and vantage points of her skin as a cover and protector, but also as an indicator of what’s happening beneath it both physically, psychologically and emotionally.  For her solo show at the Center for Architecture, featuring all new works, the young artist looks at the body again: In the construction of her pieces that toe the line between relief sculpture and painting, using small pieces of hand cut paper to create a surface that morphs and contorts for the viewer repeatedly, “like the body replicates and performs a series of steps over and over, entangling everything in the generative process.” Pulling inspiration from the Eames’ The Power of Ten, ’80s electronica and Italian folklore by Italo Calvino, “Games Without End” will challenge your sense of space, perspective and vision. -Darren White

Through July 28. Free. Philadelphia Center for Architecture, 1218 Arch St. 215.569.3186. philadelphiacfa.org

Tuesday, June 21

Next To Normal
It’s been two years and 525,600 minutes since Tony Award-winning musical RENT took Philadelphia’s Merriam Theater by storm. RENT’s original director, Michael Greif, strikes again with Next To Normal, a rock musical that tells the tale of a not-so-normal family wracked with grief, seeking love and struggling with substance abuse, suicide and depression. The musical premiered in 2008 off-Broadway in New York, and has since received three Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for best drama. And, to prove this ain’t your Grandma’s typical jazz-hands-and-box-step kind of musical, it’s also the first Broadway show to ever perform on Twitter. Follow @n2nbroadway to read all the drama and news. Or, you could just see the show. -Alexis Sachdev

7:30pm. $20-$75. Academy of Music, 1420 Locust St. 215.893.1940. academyofmusic.org