A band that got famous by turning pop songs into 1920s swing plays under the covered roof of the Pompano Beach Amphitheater this Sunday. Five days later, a free concert takes over the lawn behind an Old Town arts building. Between those two nights, Pompano Beach has a soul music night, a one-woman play and three new gallery shows that just opened. Most of it is a short drive from Atlantic Boulevard, and a good part of it is free or costs less than a movie ticket.

Here is what is worth leaving the house for in Pompano Beach from Saturday, October 10 through Saturday, October 17, 2026, and why.

Sunday: Postmodern Jukebox at the Amp

Scott Bradlee started Postmodern Jukebox in 2011, recording videos in a small New York apartment. The idea was to take whatever was on the radio and rearrange it as vintage jazz, swing or soul. The videos have since passed a billion views online. The group is now a rotating troupe of singers, dancers and players, and it tours with a full stage production. On Sunday, October 11, that tour stops at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater, 1801 NE 6th Street. Doors open at 7 PM and the show starts at 8.

Go because this is a show built to be seen live. The arrangements are clever on a screen, but the dancing and the back and forth between singers only come across in person. The set covers 1970s rock, 1980s Britpop, current hits, movie themes and video game music, so a mixed group of adults and teenagers will each hear songs they know. The city encourages fans to dress in vintage clothes, and plenty of people do. The Amp's seating area is fully covered, which takes the weather out of the equation in October. The city says to buy tickets only through AXS, because resale tickets may not get you in.

Sunday: Soulful Sundays at the Ali

If a big amphitheater show isn't your style, Soulful Sundays runs the same night from 6 to 9 PM at the historic Ali Cultural Arts Center, 353 Dr Martin Luther King Blvd. It happens every second Sunday, and the night celebrates the history and culture of the African American community through soul, R&B, jazz and funk. This month's band is Andrew Luv & The Franchise Players, a five-piece group from Central Florida that mixes soul, smooth jazz, hip hop and pop.

Tickets are $15 and sold online only, with nothing sold at the door, so this is not a night to decide on at the last minute. Tables for four are available near the stage. At that price, in that room, it is one of the best-value nights out in Broward County, and it shows a side of Pompano's history that the beach crowd rarely sees. If you miss this one, OSG Old Skool Gang plays November 8.

All week: three new shows in the galleries

Three exhibitions opened in the last two weeks, and you can see them on any weekday this week. At Bailey Contemporary Arts in Old Town, 41 NE 1st Street, Into Neverland fills the space with books, paintings and hanging installations. The work draws on small, specific memories: raking pecans at a grandfather's house, clothes tumbling in a laundromat dryer, late nights at cafes with strangers. It runs through December 17.

In the same building, Vetiver runs only through October 30, so it's the one to see first. Its title comes from a grass that grows in the Florida Everglades, with deep roots that hold soil in place and filter it. The artist, Edelman, uses that root system as a way to paint about the land and about womanhood. For anyone who has lived in South Florida long enough to know what the Everglades smell like after rain, the idea will make sense right away.

A few blocks away, the Pompano Beach Cultural Center at 50 W Atlantic Blvd opened Experiments & Accidents on October 9. The paintings begin as controlled experiments and then follow wherever the mistakes take them. It's a hopeful show about the detours that end up mattering more than the plan, and it stays up through January 6, 2027.

Friday: the free Backyard Jam in Old Town

This is the easiest yes of the week. On Friday, October 16, from 6 to 9 PM, Old Town's Backyard Jam fills the open space behind Bailey Contemporary Arts with live music, Southern food and craft cocktails. It costs nothing to get in. Bring chairs or a blanket. If you register ahead of time, you are entered in a monthly drawing for a ticket to a city event of your choice.

This month's band is Relentless, a Florida party band led by a singer named Claudette, playing dance music from the 1980s, 1990s and today. The Jam happens every third Friday, and November's band is the 1980s cover group MixTape. Parking near Bailey Contemporary Arts fills up quickly. The city points drivers to the lots at City Hall, 100 W Atlantic Blvd, and at the Cultural Center. Go a little early, walk through the galleries before the music starts, and you have seen half of this list in one evening.

Friday: Incompleta at the Cultural Center

Later the same night, at 8 PM, Paula Arcila brings her new play Incompleta to the Cultural Center. She plays four women who meet in a psychologist's waiting room. They differ in age and background, but each feels she is never quite enough. The play uses humor to get at things people rarely say out loud, including the pressure around motherhood, the choice not to have children, menopause and the constant search for approval. Tickets start at $53. Tiranube Entertainment is presenting the show in a privately rented city venue, and the city is not producing it. The city's listing is written in both Spanish and English, which tells you who the night is for: a full house of friends who will recognize themselves on stage.

What this week says about Pompano

Look at the whole list and a pattern shows up. Within about a mile of the Atlantic Boulevard and Dixie Highway intersection, Old Town now holds a working gallery, a performing arts center and a regular free concert. A few minutes away are the historic Ali and a covered amphitheater that books national acts. A Pompano Beach resident can plan a full night out this week without crossing into Fort Lauderdale. Pick one night, or, if you can, Friday's free jam followed by Arcila's play.