QuickTake:

Into Japanese noise rock, classical music, and/or Beyoncé? If so, it’s a great weekend to live in Eugene. And if none of those are your thing, there's a new “Predator” flick.

This week, we have a trio of shows at the Hult Center, an opportunity to start your holiday shopping, and two additional concerts, featuring either an esteemed string quartet or a Japanese noise rock extravaganza. Let’s get into it:

🎁 Willamalane’s Holiday Marketplace: I’m already starting to worry about what gifts I’m going to get for people in my life. I’m looking forward to quieting some of those worries this weekend at Willamalane’s Holiday Marketplace, with decor and gifts from local vendors and artisans. I am a sucker for small, cute tchotchkes — and this market just may be my undoing.

  • When: Friday, Nov. 7, from noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Where: Bob Keefer Center, 250 S. 32nd St., Springfield.
  • How much: Free to attend, but bring money to buy gifts!

🐝 Queen Bey: A Dance Experience: BeyHive, unite. This weekend, Eugene’s Xcape Dance Company is presenting a celebration of all things Beyoncé Knowles, with original choreography and visuals to pay tribute to Queen Bey’s music through her different eras of genre-smashing superstardom.

  • When: There will be two performances, Friday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m.
  • Where: The Soreng Theater at the Hult Center, in downtown Eugene.
  • How much: Tickets are available online and start at $30.

🪐 Eugene Symphony’s concert from the cosmos …: Big fans of “The Imperial March,” anyone? This entry in the symphony’s Blockbuster series will feature well-known music from pop culture, like John Williams’ compositions for “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Hans Zimmer’s theme from “Interstellar,” and Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra,” best known for its inclusion in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” 

  • When: Saturday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. 
  • Where: The Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center, in downtown Eugene. 
  • How much: Tickets are available online and start at $22.

🎵 … and Eugene Symphony playing side-by-side with youth: Maybe you’re less into the pop culture side of classical music and more into the classics. Then you can catch this joint concert from the Eugene Symphony and the Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras, where the two symphonies will be playing the music of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and more.

  • When: Sunday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. 
  • Where: The Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center, in downtown Eugene.
  • How much: Tickets are available online and start at $10.

🍌 Melt-Banana at WOW Hall: Do you like loud music? Do you like fast, loud music? Do you want two wizards of ’90s noise rock to melt your mind? Japanese noise rock band Melt-Banana is stopping in Eugene during a week-long whirlwind West Coast tour. What better way to spend a Sunday evening? 

  • When: Sunday, Nov. 9. Doors open at 7 p.m.
  • Where: WOW Hall, 291 W. Eighth Ave., Eugene.
  • How much: Tickets are available online for $35 ($42.88 with fees) and $40 on the day of the show.

🎻 Delgani String Quartet: Oregon chamber music ensemble Delgani String Quartet is making two Eugene stops this weekend for its “Love Abounds” concert, with a vocalist trio from the Resonance Ensemble in Portland and a program of music about love, from 12th century Hildegard of Bingen’s compositions through to the modern day. 

  • When: Sunday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. and Monday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m.
  • Where: You can see the concerts in person at Eugene’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, at 1390 Pearl St.
  • How much: Tickets are available online for $30, with offers at $10 for students. The concert is free for youth 12 years old or younger. 

🎥 What’s playing at the movies: 

  • A mad scientist of cinema is ready to unveil his latest, and perhaps greatest, creation. Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” releases on Netflix this Friday, and I am absolutely thrilled. To say nothing of actors Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi playing the two Frankensteins (doctor and monster, respectively), this source material with del Toro’s magical approach looks to be something special. The New York Times review said it’s “the movie he was born to make.” Streaming on Netflix on Friday, Nov. 7.
  • “Die My Love,” a two-hander from Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson directed by Lynne Ramsay (“You Were Never Really Here,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin”), is also one I’m excited to watch this week. Lawrence and Pattinson play a young couple who recently became parents, as Lawrence’s character, Grace, struggles with post-partum depression; but the first trailer — a jaunty montage of the couple’s fighting, loving and dancing — promises a visceral performance from Lawrence. (And Pattinson, but really, I’m more excited to see JLaw.) Playing at Metro Cinemas. 
  • I can’t not note “Predator: Badlands” coming to theaters this week. I’m not a big “Predator” franchise person, having seen none of them, but this is the big studio release of this week. Though Elle Fanning is a great addition to any project, I’m thinking this will be a fairly enjoyable but not groundbreaking addition to the franchise … but really, does another “Predator” movie in 2025 need to be much more than that? Playing at Metro Cinemas, Cinemark Eugene Springfield and Regal Valley River Center.

Annie Aguiar is the Arts and Culture Correspondent. She has reported arts news and features for national and local newsrooms, including at the Seattle Times, the Washington Post and most recently as a reporting fellow for the New York Times’ Culture desk covering arts and entertainment.