Morning. The clocks go back on Sunday, which is nature's way of saying: get out this weekend while you've still got the daylight. And there's plenty on. Judge Jules and Tall Paul are turning Inverness Leisure Centre into a trance venue on Saturday afternoon (a sentence I did not expect to type), MacMuse are upstairs the same night, Shaun the Sheep's doing Halloween on the big screen on Sunday morning, and the trees along the Ness are, by all accounts, putting on a show. Here's the weekend.

This Weekend

Something for everyone, from a Higher Drama showcase to techno at midnight.

Friday

• The Crucible: Higher Drama showcase: Eden Court, Fri 23 Oct, 19:00. Local Higher Drama students performing extracts from Arthur Miller's play. Low-key, and the kind of thing that's always worth turning up for.
• Mark Cox: British Legion Inverness, Fri 23 Oct, 18:30, from £25. A night of stand-up at the Legion.
• Bad Apples: Eden Court, Fri 23 Oct, 19:00 (also Sun 15:00). Saoirse Ronan as a primary school teacher trying to inspire a class of 11-year-olds and running into one chaotic student. Looks sharp.
• David Byrne's American Utopia: Eden Court, Fri 23 Oct, 19:30 (also Sun 19:45). Spike Lee's film of the former Talking Heads frontman's Broadway show. If you've not seen it, you're in for a treat.
• The Social Reckoning: Eden Court, Fri 23 Oct, 16:30 and 20:00 (also Sat 19:45, Sun 17:30). Aaron Sorkin on the whistleblower who kicked off the social media reckoning. Sorkin doing Sorkin, basically.
• Resident Evil: Eden Court, Fri 23 Oct, 18:00 (also Sat 19:00 and 20:00). Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) reinventing the franchise. One for the horror crowd.

Saturday

• Inverness Goes Large!: Inverness Leisure Centre, Sat 24 Oct, 15:00, from £22.50. Judge Jules, Tall Paul, Agnelli & Nelson and Lost Witness headlining a proper old-school trance line-up. Bar and food truck on site, running till 23:00. Still mildly amused this is happening at the leisure centre.
• MacMuse: Upstairs Inverness, Sat 24 Oct, 19:00, from £12. Flagged on Monday and worth saying again: small room, Muse classics plus the newer stuff. If you're going, you'll have your ticket already.
• Revive presents: Locals: Upstairs Inverness, Sat 24 Oct, 23:00, from £5. Local DJs doing techno and bounce into the small hours. A fiver on the door.

Sunday

• Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom: Eden Court, Sun 25 Oct, 11:00. The Flock's pumpkin patch gets trashed, Shaun turns mad scientist, chaos ensues. Perfect Sunday-morning cinema if you've got kids (or just like Shaun the Sheep, which, let's be honest).
• Cairngorms Farmers Market: Gynack Gardens, Kingussie, Sun 25 Oct, 10:00. Craft beer and fruit liqueurs among the stalls. Worth the drive down the A9 if you're after a proper Sunday wander.
• Hope: Eden Court, Sun 25 Oct, 19:00. South Korean film with Hwang Jung-min as a village police chief called out to find a mysterious creature. Subtitled, atmospheric, and the sort of thing that works best on a dark October evening.

Worth Doing

A walk along the Ness while the trees are doing their thing

This is the week for it. The riverside and the Ness Islands turn properly spectacular in late October, and the mix of yellows, oranges and the water catching the low autumn light is the kind of thing people drive hours to see. We've got it on the doorstep. When locals get asked what to do in Inverness this time of year, this is the answer that keeps coming back, and the Islands get a particular shout for photos. Costs nothing, takes an hour or three depending on how far you go, and the clocks going back on Sunday means you'll want to go early.

Reader Question

A solo visitor was asking for pub recommendations recently and got a flood back. The crawl answer was Castle Tavern, Gellions, Johnny Foxes, Hootanannys and Black Isle Bar. For folk and trad music, Gellions, MacGregors, Highlander and Hootanannys came up. Tooth and Claw and Market Bar for the rock crowd. Lauders, MacCallums and The Keg for a quieter pint.

Which one would you send a friend to first, and why? Hit reply and tell me, I'll round up the best in a future issue.

That's your weekend. Enjoy the colours, mind the clocks, and I'll see you Monday.

Cheers, Colin