The best things to do in NYC this weekend come with an asterisk, and the asterisk is the weather. A nor'easter is moving up the coast, and the National Weather Service has a Wind Advisory up through early Sunday and a Coastal Flood Advisory through Sunday evening. The forecast calls for steady rain both days and gusts in the 40s. The Atlantic Antic has already moved to October 4. The good news is that most of the best things on the calendar this weekend are indoors: Harry Styles at the Garden, Phoebe Bridgers closing her Barclays run, opening weekend of the New York Film Festival, and a Jim Henson birthday party in Astoria. Here's what's worth the trip from Long Island, and how to get there without spending the night soaked on a train platform.

Harry Styles at Madison Square Garden

Saturday, September 26, the "Together, Together" residency continues at Madison Square Garden, with Jamie xx opening. Styles has been playing Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at the Garden since late August, and the run goes through October. Saturday nights are the hottest ticket of the week.

A roof over your head is the whole point this weekend. The trouble is getting to it and away from it. Twenty thousand people leaving Seventh Avenue at once, in wind-driven rain, all heading for the same LIRR platforms or the same few rideshare pins on 33rd Street, is not how you want the night to end. On a normal Saturday I'd tell you the car is waiting on a side street when the house lights come up. On a storm Saturday, that matters a lot more. Your driver is parked close by before the encore and walks over with an umbrella if you want one.

Phoebe Bridgers at Barclays Center

Saturday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. is the third and last night of Phoebe Bridgers and Alex G at Barclays Center, on the tour behind her new album. It's a phone-free show. Your phone and smartwatch go into a locked Yondr pouch at the door and stay there until you walk out.

Think about what that means for getting home. You can't check on a ride during the show, and when the pouches unlock you're one of 17,000 people standing on Flatbush Avenue at the same moment, all opening the same apps. Atlantic Avenue gets jammed on a dry night. In a nor'easter it's worse. A chauffeur who already knows your pickup spot, and is watching the actual end of the show instead of the scheduled one, fixes that problem before it starts. From Barclays it's a straight shot home on the BQE and the LIE, or the Belt if the Kosciuszko is backed up.

Opening Weekend of the New York Film Festival

The 64th New York Film Festival opened Friday night at Lincoln Center with the U.S. premiere of James Gray's "Paper Tiger," starring Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, and Miles Teller. The festival runs through October 12, with screenings at Lincoln Center and four other venues around the city. The first weekend is usually the busiest, with the main slate premieres and filmmaker Q&As.

For film people on the Island, NYFF is the best reason of the fall to come into the city, and it happens to be the ideal plan for a rainy weekend. It's dinner on the Upper West Side, a premiere in Alice Tully Hall, and a car out front at Broadway and 65th. Parking near Lincoln Center on a festival night is expensive and slow to get out of, and Columbus Avenue in the rain is a mess of taxis all fighting for the same curb. If you're making a day of it with two screenings, our hourly service keeps one driver with you between shows.

Jim Henson's 90th Birthday at the Museum of the Moving Image

Jim Henson would have turned 90 on September 24, and the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is marking it with a four-day celebration through Sunday, September 27. There are Muppet Show screenings, puppet workshops, a collectibles swap meet, a costume contest, panels, and live music. Many programs are free, and a few need an advance RSVP. The permanent Jim Henson Exhibition, with Kermit, Miss Piggy, and dozens of original puppets, is right upstairs.

If you have kids and a rained-out Saturday, this is the answer. Astoria is also closer than people from Nassau tend to think, about 30 minutes from Great Neck when the Grand Central is moving. Parking around 35th Avenue is all street parking and it's tight. Get dropped at the door, spend the afternoon inside, and nobody has to circle the block in a downpour with a car full of kids.

Giants vs. Titans at MetLife, Sunday 1 p.m.

The Giants host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, September 27 at 1:00 p.m. at MetLife Stadium. MetLife has no roof, and the forecast for Sunday is rain all day with strong north winds, so dress for it and expect slower lots.

MetLife is hard to leave even when it's 70 and sunny. Eighty thousand people push into a handful of exits onto Route 3 and the Turnpike, and after that you still have to cross back over the Hudson to get home to Nassau or Suffolk. On a wet afternoon, add fender benders on the approaches and slower traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel and the GW. We know where to stage so you're walking to a warm car instead of standing in the rain waiting for a lot to empty. Our Giants season opener guide goes through MetLife timing from Long Island in detail.

Global Citizen Festival in Central Park (Check Before You Go)

Saturday, September 26 on the Great Lawn. Gates open at 2 p.m., music from 4 to about 10, and the lineup includes Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Lainey Wilson, and Shaboozey. Organizers say it goes on rain or shine and there is no rain date, but the Parks Department makes the final call on safety. In 2023, Tropical Storm Ophelia did more than $600,000 in damage to the lawn during this same festival, so the city is watching closely.

If you have tickets, check the festival's app Saturday morning before you leave the house. If it's on, think hard about how you're getting home. Sixty thousand people leaving the Great Lawn at 10 p.m. with the transverses closed, in the rain, is exactly the kind of exit that goes bad. We can set a pickup on Central Park West or Fifth Avenue, a few blocks away from the crowd. We wrote more about the festival in our Global Citizen Festival guide.

If the Weather Breaks

The 100th Feast of San Gennaro is scheduled to wrap up Sunday on Mulberry Street, and the Brooklyn Book Festival's big Festival Day is set for Sunday around Borough Hall. Both are outdoors, and both are worth a look if the rain eases up. Check their sites before you go. The Atlantic Antic is officially off until Sunday, October 4.

Getting Around in a Nor'easter

This is a weekend when the plan you make is only half the job, and the other half is getting there. The LIRR has had weather delays and signal trouble in past nor'easters. Some low-lying roads flood with a coastal flood advisory, especially near the water on the South Shore and in parts of Queens, and the Belt Parkway near the bays is always the first to have trouble. Rideshare prices surge exactly when everybody decides at the same time that they don't want to walk.

We're a Long Island chauffeur service, not a rideshare. Your driver is assigned ahead of time and knows which routes stay dry. They watch your show or game for the real finish time and will be at the curb when you walk out. No surge pricing because it's pouring. No cancellation four minutes before pickup. We've been driving these roads for 20 years, through a lot worse weather than this. Our NYC events transportation page has the venue-by-venue details, and if you're flying out of JFK this weekend, the JFK car service page has terminal timing. With wind like this, check your flight status before you leave.

Whether it's the Garden, Barclays, Lincoln Center, or a wet Sunday in the Meadowlands, request a quote and let us handle the driving this weekend. You shouldn't have to think about the weather too.

Best Things To Do in NYC This Weekend — September 26–27, 2026