A Father John Misty gig, a swanky AGO art party and six other things to do this week

A Father John Misty gig, a swanky AGO art party and six other things to do this week

(Image: Emma Elizabeth Tillman)

A psychedelic folk set from Father John Misty
Joshua Tillman lent his talents to more than half a dozen indie bands—most notably folk royalty Fleet Foxes—before hitting his own stride as Father John Misty. The name is inspired by his evangelical upbringing and captures the messianic persona he adopts onstage, where he howls like a preacher over swirling sounds and strobe lights. In this show, he’ll deliver cuts from I Love You, Honeybear, widely considered one of the best albums of 2015. Wednesday, April 20. $39.50–$59.50. Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St., roythomson.com.

Massive Party, a magical masked ball
A ticket to the AGO’s annual fundraising bash includes cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and the chance to reinvent yourself for a night. Guests will be masked in elaborate disguises as they take in pop-up video and sculptural installations in the gallery’s central court and revel in a soundtrack provided by live musicians and DJ Humble Mike (of the music videography project Humble Empire). Thursday, April 21. $190. AGO, 317 Dundas St. W., massiveparty.ca.

A jazzy Michael Jackson tribute
Like any self-respecting jazz ensemble, San Francisco’s SFJazz Collective is steeped in the greats: Monk, Coltrane, Hancock. But every season, the eight-piece band breaks from tradition and applies their swinging skills to a pop mastermind. In this Massey Hall concert, their muse is Michael Jackson. Expect standards like the Chick Corea classic “Spain” alongside a funky, brass-filled version of “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough.” Saturday, April 23. $29.50–$69.50. Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St., masseyhall.com.

An evening of bugs and beer
During the plant-filled design exhibition Grow-Op, the Gladstone Hotel’s Ballroom will host the Alternative Food and Drink Show. Twelve vendors, including Rise Kombucha and Third Millennium Farming, will treat guests to snacks and beverages made from sustainable, ethical, organic and, in some cases, downright bizarre food sources. It’s not all tempeh and bugs, though—there’s cheese and beer, too. Thursday, April 21. $10. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W., alternativefooddrink.eventbrite.ca.

(Image: Marie-Josée Roy, courtesy of Thompson Landry Gallery)

Womb, Marie-Josée Roy’s stunning multimedia exhibition
Roy is a master of mixed media: photography, ink, oil painting, engraving, metallic sculpture. She combines those skills in Womb, an exhibition that includes grey-scale portraits on aluminum, eerie steel-and­-copper statues with willowy curves, and swirling abstract pieces in black and white. Her colour works—like a copper rendition of two bodies on an orange background—add smart contrast to the dark, daunting oeuvre. Artwork $3,500–$12,000. Thursday, April 21 to Sunday, May 15. Thompson Landry Gallery, 32 Distillery Ln., thompsonlandry.com.

Amanda Lindhout’s incredible story of kidnapping, captivity and escape
Somali insurgents kidnapped the Albertan journalist in 2008, four days after she’d arrived in the country to work on a story about war victims. In this lecture, Lindhout describes how 15 months of captivity, torture, rape and failed escapes—documented in her harrowing 2013 memoir, A House in the Sky—irreversibly changed her life and turned her into an advocate for Somali women’s rights. Monday, April 18. $65–$88. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St., roythomson.com.

The past, present and future of Said the Whale
The Vancouver band makes jangling, sunny indie-pop about young love, living on the Canadian Shield and navigating the woods. This tour is an experiment: instead of booking an opening act, they’re playing back-to-back sets, the first entirely composed of new tunes and the second a greatest-hits performance that spans the group’s nine-year career. Saturday, April 23. $25. The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W., thedrakehotel.com.

The Summoned, a twisted tale from Fab Filippo
This world premiere by TV actor and screenwriter Fab Filippo takes place in the aftermath of a billionaire tech visionary’s death. When the late genius’s closest friends gather in an airport hotel for the reading of his will, their lives are changed forever. Tarragon artistic director Richard Rose directs the grim look at death in the digital age. April 27 to May 29; previews from April 20. $28–$60; previews $28. Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave., tarragontheatre.com.