New Year’s Eve weekend in NYC: shows & party guide

Most of us are ready to put 2016 behind us and, as usual, there are no shortage of show and party options for New Year’s Eve here in NYC. This year it’s maybe even moreso, with New Year’s Day falling on a Sunday. We’ve rounded up this year’s notable New Year’s Weekend happenings:

We’d love to see you at one of the two Rainer Maria shows BrooklynVegan is presenting at Saint Vitus on New Year’s Eve (with Snail Mail) and New Year’s Day (with Olivia Neutron John). Tickets for both are still available.

If you’re looking to dance into 2017, arguably the biggest option is Disclosure‘s New Year’s Eve ‘Wild Life’ bash at a secret Brooklyn warehouse with Tiga, Kenny Larkin, and Eli Escobar (tickets). The night before (12/30) at Pier 94 in Manhattan, you can catch DJ sets from Justice and Hot Chip as well as a live performance from Crystal Castles (tickets). You can also catch John Digweed‘s eight-hour set at Output (tickets)

Before that, Get Real (Green Velvet & Claude VonStroke) are playing a secret Brooklyn location on Friday, 12/29.

At Brooklyn’s Good Room, there’s The Range and Jim-E-Stack DJing on December 28 (tickets); and on New Year’s Eve it’s the “NYE Love Bomb” with Soul Clap, No Regular Play, Justin Strauss & Billy Caldwell (tickets).

Over at House of Yes, on December 30 it’s ‘Cyber Sx’ which will feature Waze & Odyssey DJing, as well as a “cyber strip club,” “cuddle puddles & changing stations,” “Ties & Wires, Leather, Metal, Latex and Vinyl” and more (tickets); and then on 12/31 it’s “Future Perfect: New Year’s Eve Gala” with a live performance by Escort, plus DJ sets from Tony Humphries, David Kiss, Zephyr Ann and DJ Bruce, plus a open bar from 9-10 PM
(tickets)

At Queens’ massive Knockdown Center on NYE it’s “Club Glow” featuring Katie Got Bandz, Juliana Huxtable, LE1F, Ezra Marcus, DJ DJ De Se, SCRAAATCH, and Sadaf (tickets).

If you’d rather dance to classic soul, R&B and rock n’ roll, there’s Jonathan Toubin‘s annual NY Night Train NYE party at Home Sweet Home with live performances from The Baby Shakes, The Ar-kaics and more TBA ($10 at the door).

If you’d like to party like it’s 1999 Williamsburg, Rubulad is throwing a Y2K Flashback party at an undisclosed North Brooklyn location, with Friend Roulette, Preachermann and the Revival, Les Sans Culottes, Morricone Youth, and Emcee/Magician Tanya Solomon. There’s also going to be a Leonard Cohen singalong, tarot readings, projections, a silent disco tent and more. More info is here.

Speaking of old-school Williamsburg, Daddy’s closes on NYE (but the last night open to the public is Friday, December 30).

Also closing NYE weekend is LES staple Cake Shop. On Friday, it’s a whole bunch of mystery acts, regulars from the venue’s late-’00s heyday, and word is caUSE co-MOTION are reuniting for the occasion; Saturday is the last hurrah New Year’s Eve Party, a free event that also has a surprise lineup. Can Crystal Stilts please play? Cake Shop was one of the great NYC spots of the last 10 years, we will be very sad to see it go.

On the NYE indie rock tip, Guided by Voices are playing Music Hall of Williamsburg  with The Moles (tickets);  Black Lips play Baby’s All Right with PMS & the Moodswings, Daisy Glaze, Winstons, and a post-ball-drop set by Chances With Wolves (tickets); DIIV are playing Villain with Palm and Honduras (tickets)

Still more: Caveman are playing East Village Club Berlin with Dirty Fences, and Bob Mann & Rolling Thunder (tickets); and Peelander-Z, TORANAVOX, and Gunfight will play an all-ages early show at Sunnyvale (tickets) before the bar turns into a Lit City Rave with Nadus, J-Cush, DJ Tiga, DJ Irresistible, Vjuan Allure, and Durban.

More guitars: Titus Andronicus are playing Brooklyn Bazaar with Toys in Trouble, plus DJ sets by Michael Tee, Cousin Cole, Loki Da Trixta, DJ Nique and Mario Bee. (tickets); The Hotelier play Mercury Lounge with Oso Oso and Born Without Bones (tickets) ; and California hardcore band DANGERS (ft. Justin Smith of Graf Orlock and Ghostlimb) play Goldsounds with Taking Meds (tickets); and Handsome Dick Manitoba’s version of The Dictators have two shows —  Berlin on 12/28 where they’ll play Go Girl Crazy in full (tickets) and Bowery Electric on 12/30 where they’ll perform Bloodbrothers in full (tickets).

Speaking of Baby’s, sister venue Elvis Guesthouse has its final night on New Year’s Eve.

Speaking of Mercury Lounge, Cymbals Eat Guitars play Merc the night before (12/30) Hotelier do, with Haybaby also on the bill (tickets).

If you’re in an experimental, old-school New York mood, Thurston Moore and John Zorn will be performing an improv set at The Stone on New Year’s Eve with Okkyung Lee (cello), Ikue Mori (electronics), and William Winant (percussion). That’s an early show (8 PM, $30) and there’s also an 11 PM show at The Stone with Bill Laswell (bass) Milford Graves (drums) and special guest John Zorn (sax) which is $40.

Marc Ribot will play 22 Boerum Place on NYE with Billy Martin (as a duo), and then as a trio with Henry Grimes & Chad Taylor (tickets).

Kamasi Washington is playing Brooklyn Bowl on December 30 & 31 with Budos Band (tickets); after Kamasi’s 12/30 set, Sleigh Bells will DJ (tickets); after his NYE set Animal Collective (Avey Tare and DEAKIN) will DJ late night with Image Man (tickets).

Phish are once again doing a New Year’s Run at Madison Square Garden on December 28 – 31 (tickets); and on a similar, jammy note Gov’t Mule is doing a New Year’s run at Beacon Theatre from December 30 & 31 (tickets).

Phish afterparties (and pre-parties) are happening all over the city, including a late-late show with Snarky Puppy at Irving Plaza on Sunday morning.

Rapper Meek Mill is at Highline Ballroom on 12/30.

DJ Stretch Armstrong will be spinning at ACE Hotel’s Liberty Hall on New Year’s Eve (tickets).

More: Savoir Adore play Knitting Factory on New Year’s Eve with a DJ set from Juan Maclean , plus Panama Wedding, Luxxury, and Paperwhite (tickets); Fred Thomas, who was James Brown’s bassist in the JB’s for 36 years, is playing Union Pool (tickets); and Smiths tribute band The Sons and Heirs play Littlefield (tickets); and Brazilian Girls play Rough Trade on December 30 & 31 (tickets).

There’s nothing going on at Barclays Center NYE Weekend, as Kanye West canceled 12/30 and NYE shows there (along with the rest of his tour).

The UK’s most successful ’90 grunge band, Bush, will play NJ’s Wellmont Theatre on 12/29  and Long Island’s The Paramount on NYE (tickets).

Not on New Year’s Eve: Kurt Vile & The Violators play Terminal 5 on December 28 with Woods and Nathan Bowles (tickets); Thursday are playing reunion shows at Starland Ballroom on December 29 & 30 (sold out); and Joseph Arthur has his annual New Year’s Day show at City Winery (tickets).

Where will you be? What did we miss?