New Year's Eve parties in New York: Party like it’s 2013
These are the best New Year's Eve parties in NYC to see out 2012 in style, from sophisticated soirees to club nights and warehouse raves.
Fri Dec 7 2012
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Photograph: Filip Wolak
New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
New Year's Eve with Holy Ghost!
Holy Ghost!, the aptly-named (for a band who's playing a New Year's Eve show, anyway) Midnight Magic and guest DJs burn up pleasure palace Brooklyn Bowl.
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New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
The Black and White Masked Ball
Gemini & Scorpio take revellers back to Truman Capote's legendary 1966 masquerade. Dress to the nines and have a withering put down ready.
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Photograph: Syd London
New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
Union Hall and Karaoke Killed the Kat $5 NYE Spectacular
It's fun, it's raucous, you get to sing, it costs five smackers—a Lincoln for pete's sake.
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Photograph: Kenny Rodriquez
New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
The Rub New Year's Eve Party
Meanwhile, over at the Bell House, these two fellows will be twisting the dance floor around their funky little fingers.Pictured: The Rub's DJ Ayres, left, and Eleven
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Photograph: Alexey Yurenev
New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
Dances of Vice: New Year's Eve 2012
DofV's Shien Lee has recruited Gin Minsky and Dandy Wellington (pictured), along with a list of talent as long as your arm, for a retro, era-spanning shindig.
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Photograph: Loren Wohl
New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
New Year's Eve: Built by MeanRed
The powerhouse promoters keep things intimate for their fete, with Parisian producer Onra and Nick Catchdubs (pictured) spinning.
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Photograph: 1996-98 AccuSoft Inc., All right
New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
Unicorn Meat NYC Presents the Wanderer: A Cosmopolitan Experience
Catch Moby (pictured) turning in a DJ set at this Unicorn Meat throwdown, somewhere in the wilds of Bushwick (probably). Bonus: All Day I Dream's Lee Burridge gets in on the action, too.
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Photograph: Keetja Allard
New Year's Eve parties in NYC: Time Out's top picks
New Year's Eve at Le Bain: Matthew Dear + Superpitcher
The rooftop boite of the Standard Hotel boasts a great pair of DJs, a fantastic view and a high probablity that you will end up cavorting in the pool.
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Photograph: Virginia Rollison
Back to the ’80s Show New Year's Eve
There's a certain kind of mental state that can be attained by singing along to '80s hit after '80s hit. It's called joy, and you will find it at the Canal Room this New Year's Eve.
Praise be to the party gods, for they have graced us with plenty of New Year's Eve parties to mark the arrival of 2013. There are spectacular balls with orchestras and burlesque, retro-minded wingdings by Shien Lee's Dances of Vice crew, huge blowouts on the waterfront with superstar EDM DJs, intimate fetes with critically-acclaimed spinners, no-nonsense dance parties at the Bell House and Cielo, and more to choose from.
RECOMMENDED: New Year's Eve in New York guide
Blkmarket Membership New Year's Eve Party
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Blkmarket's Taimur & Fahad cap off another phenomenal year of underground electronics with—what else?—a night of top techno tomfoolery. The fab lineup includes Alexi Delano, one of house and techno's unsung heroes, who's been in dance music's vanguard since the mid-’90s; Sweden's Joel Mull, one of the main men of the Drumcode Records roster; Butane, the Alphahouse boss man who's also contributed nicely skewed house and techno to such labels as Dumb Unit and Num Records; New-Yorker-turned-Berliner Bill Patrick, from the much-missed Robots affair; and, of course, Taimur & Fahad themselves.
- Location TBA
- Until Mon Dec 31
ReSolute and Wolf + Lamb Present Crew Love
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
And what a crew to love at this night-into-day-into-night! Hosted by the party-tossing ReSolute team and the world-conquering Wolf + Lamb gang, the lengthy lineup, spread out over the party's 24 hours, includes Wolf + Lamb themselves, Soul Clap, PillowTalk, Tanner Ross, Slow Hands, No Regular Play, Voices of Black, Navid Izadi, Cielo's Nicolas Matar, Elon and Connie, playing all manner of underground house, disco and techno.
- Location TBA
- Until Fri Apr 19
New York Night Train Annual Dusk Till Dawn New Year's Ball
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
Jonathan Toubin tosses an early-starting, late-ending end-of-year throwdown in his longtime abode, Home Sweet Home. As always, Toubin will be spinning a selection of first-rate funk and soul, largely exquisite obscurities from the mid-’60s; he'll be aided in the effort by an ace lineup that includes Josh Styles from the Smashed! Blocked! affair and the Dirtbombs' Mick Collins. There'll be plenty of band action as well, with Kid Congo Powers and the K-Holes, Andy Animal Family Band and Call of the Wild among those taking the stage. Bonus: It's one of the least wallet-thinning wingdings of the night.
- Home Sweet Home 131 Chrystie St, between Broome and Delancey Sts
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
Ian Pooley + Ron Morelli + Pat Mahoney
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Cameo teams up with Let's Play House and the Dog & Pony Show for a New Year's Eve bash that, as the saying goes, is all about the music—specifically, in this case, adventurous, top-of-the-line house music. The headliner is Ian Pooley, the veteran German spinner and producer whose sound runs the range from driving, dubby techno to beautifully shimmering disco. NYC's Ron Morelli, meanwhile, heads up the envelope-pushing L.I.E.S. imprint, which just beat out all those fancy-pants Berlin organizations for Resident Advisor's label of the year, while Pat Mahoney (pictured) is the former LCD Soundsystem drummer who doubles as a fabulous DJ. Add the Dog & Pony Show's Paul Raffaele and Aqua-Booty's Greg "Deep Woods" Cuoco to the mix, and you're talking one hell of a night.
Mister Saturday Night Does New Year's Eve
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Sure, it's Monday, not Saturday—but that won't keep Mister Saturday Night's Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin from marking the end of the year by selecting from the outer reaches of house, disco and techno in the reliably fun House of Yes.
- House of Yes 342 Maujer St, between Morgan Ave and Waterbury St
- Until Mon Dec 31
New Year's Eve with Holy Ghost!
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Brooklyn Bowl rolls into the New Year to the sounds of nu-disco, care of local hotshot DFA duo Holy Ghost! and their former tour mates Midnight Magic, a Billyburg-based disco revivalist band. There are VIP lane packages available, which include an open bar and unlimited Blue Ribbon grub—but it'll only distract you from burning up the dance floor.
- Brooklyn Bowl 61 Wythe Ave, at North 11th St
- Until Mon Dec 31
Dances of Vice: New Year's Eve 2012
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Shien Lee and her retro-minded Dances of Vice crew host a glitzy gala that promises to transport revelers through the ages, from the jazz age to what they're calling "The Rebel Age" (we're thinking leather jackets and rockabilly rhythms). Albert Cadabra serves as the MC; Veronica Varlow, Gin Minsky and Bettina May are among the soiree's burlesque artists; live music comes courtesy of the Gelber & Manning Sextet, Dandy Wellington, Morricone Youth and others; and the night's DJs include Miss Bliss and Rebel Night's DJ Sei.
- SRB Brooklyn 177 Second Ave, between 13th and 14th Sts
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
The Black and White Masked Ball
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Party throwers par excellence Gemini & Scorpio riff on Truman Capote's legendary 1966 masquerade, adding a dash of daring with aerialists, a soupçon of swing music and, via a bevy of burlesque artists, a pinch of bottom to the writer's original recipe. Thankfully, free-flowing champagne remains (for the first hour). Don't think that this update means you can arrive in your modern duds; formal, ideally elaborate, dress will help guarantee a swift entrance (although ragamuffins can wait until after 2am, when the dress code relaxes). Visit geminiandscorpio.com for more information. Advance tickets available at bwball.brownpapertickets.com.
- Irondale Center 85 S Oxford St, between Fulton St and Lafayette Ave
- Until Tue Jan 1
Union Hall and Karaoke Killed the Kat $5 NYE Spectacular
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
The weekly basement bash of impresarios, MCs and hype men Chris Goldteeth and Lord Easy is perhaps the one party in NYC we can call off-the-hook without cringing—so this bargain NYE option featuring champagne specials should be epic. If you’re planning to perform, just remember: it’s not quality but wild energy that counts.
- Union Hall 702 Union St, between Fifth and Sixth Aves
- Until Mon Dec 31
The Rub New Year's Eve Party
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Avoid the price-jacking trappings of some NYE shindigs at this straight-up, no-nonsense party where resident DJs Ayres and Eleven, along with guest DJ Wonder, will spin their eclectic good-time selection of soul, hip-hop, dancehall, disco, house, rock and just about anything that’s got the funk. For more than ten years the party's attracted a legitimately diverse, fun-loving crowd who will keep the dance floor hot and heaving from about 11pm to close.
- The Bell House 149 7th St, between Second and Third Aves
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
New Year's Eve: Built by MeanRed
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Spend amateur night in the hands of professionals. The powerhouse promoters take a relatively low-key approach to the biggest night of the year (TM)—which means a well-run, reliably fun end-of-year affair. Parisian producer Onra headlines, and is joined on the wheels of steel by Fools Gold cofounder Nick Catchdubs and the West Coast's Samo Sound Boy. Arrive early to the 400-person, ex-warehouse event space to pregame with an hour-long open bar. Visit ticketfly.com for advance tickets (recommended).
New Year's Eve at Le Bain: Matthew Dear + Superpitcher
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
The lounge above the Meatpacking District's outpost of the Standard has two great electronic-music producers in its DJ booth on this night of nights. Matthew Dear, the man otherwise known as Audion (not to mention False and Jabberjaw), is one of the major talents of the electronic-music realm; the Kompakt label's Aksel Schaufler produces atmospheric music under the Superpitcher moniker. Bonus: The view is amazing.
Unicorn Meat NYC Presents the Wanderer: A Cosmopolitan Experience
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
The Unicorn Meat crew, never content to toss a regular old party, is framing its New Year's Eve excursion as a wanderlust sort of affair, with Moroccan belly dancers here, a Malian kora player there, the ancient pyramids (or reasonable facsimiles thereof) right behind you…you get the idea. But that's not to say it won't be a red-hot dance party as well, with Moby, All Day I Dream's Lee Burridge and Spectral Sounds' Matthew Dear among those spinning the electronic rhythms. The secret location (which we have on good authority is a warehouse in Bushwick) will be announced a bit before the shindig.
- Location TBA
- Until Mon Dec 31
Back to the ’80s Show New Year's Eve
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Check your inhibitions at door for this party dedicated to the decade that modesty and irony forgot. The five-hour open bar starts pouring at 9pm while DJs Pete Bones and Ricky Rick spin '80s Top 40 hits. That gives you plenty of time to achieve a well-lubricated state by the time covers band Jessie's Girl takes the stage at 10:30pm. The energetic seven-piece can be relied upon to whip the crowd into a frenzy of singing along to Journey, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and more pop gods. By the time the free booze stops flowing at 2am, we predict you'll be scratching your poodle-permed head, wondering how you ended up in neon animal-print leggings. Sometimes, it's better not to ask.
- Canal Room 285 West Broadway, at Canal St
- Until Mon Dec 31
Cielo New Year’s Eve: François K + Tedd Patterson
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Cielo keeps it simple for its year-ending bash—but that doesn't mean the music won't be fab, with a pair from the club's top-notch lineup of residents, Deep Space's François K and Vibal's Tedd Patterson, supplying the rhythms.
Bembe's New Year's Eve
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
The reliably fun (and reliably tiny) South Williamsburg bar serves up a night of tropical rhythms, with iBomba's DJ Betro spinning cumbia, salsa, tropical bass, Brazilian beats, soukous, dancehall and more. Chauncey Yearwood revs up the action with live percussion; and your admission fee buys you an early open bar, running from 8:30 till 10pm.
The Empire Ball New Year's Eve
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
This affair focuses on goth, postpunk, synth material, industrial and all manner of wave, with DJ sets coming from Red Party's Sean Templar, Salvation's Cyn, Disko Nouveaux's Patrick, Jet from Vampire Freaks, Stimulate's Xris SMack!, Underworld's V-Christ and Havok's Echo. As a bonus, the night features the U.S. debut of the black-clad, ’80s-worshipping Swedish band known as the Exploding Boy; the alluring Mandana Banshie serves as host.
- Sullivan Hall 214 Sullivan St, between Bleecker and W 3rd Sts
- Until Mon Dec 31
New Year's Eve in Dada Land
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Olle Cornéer and Stefan Engblom, better known as the ascendant Swedish EDM duo Dada Life, rock the year-ending beats in a massive edge-of-Williamsburg warehouse space at an event they're describing as "a cross between Santa's workshop, a butcher and the Playboy Mansion's infamous grotto." (A butcher?) Deniz Koyu and Bassjackers add their own bangs to the bash.
- The Compound 15 Rewe St, at Vandervoort Ave
- Until Mon Dec 31
Evolve Presents the Future
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Brooklyn's Electric Circus hosts a Fellini-in-outer-space kind of affair featuring circus acts, aerialists, carnival dancers, interactive art installations and a dress code that reads thusly: "Bionic, cyborg, artificial intelligence, edgy, high fashion, futuristic, evolution." Oh, there's also a lineup stuffed with underground-dance-music talent; Elite Force, Crosstown Rebels' Amirali, San Fran's Atish, Reality Engine and a big chunk of the Disorient gang are among those slinging the tunes.
- The Electric Warehouse 1428 Fulton St, at Tompkins Ave
- Until Mon Dec 31
Macao Trading Co. New Year's Eve Party
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
The Tribeca eatery-lounge does up the big night in 007 style, with roulette and blackjack tables, burlesque and cabaret performances, DJs, a three-hour open bar and tons of exotic atmosphere.
- Macao Trading Co. 311 Church St, between Lispenard and Walker Sts
- Until Mon Dec 31
New Year's Eve Masked Ball
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
For those looking for more than a peck on the lips at midnight, sleazemeister Daniel Nardicio's annual men-only, clothing-optional masquerade offers plenty of action in a Manhattan loft. Eight go-go men will strut their stuff au naturel as nude servers sling hors d’oeuvres and man the open bar (10pm–1am). Join them in the buff for the naked midnight toast or go all in and enter the Stroke of Midnight contest (e-mail info@dworld.us for rules and to register). The Playgirl Mansion, 30 Lexington Ave between 23rd and 24th Sts, fifth floor (danielnardicio.com)
- Location TBA
- Until Mon Dec 31
#OccupyNightlife: Steve Lawler + Carlo Lio
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
The #OccupyNightlife crew occupies Long Island City's System for its year-ending affair, with veteran Viva Music mastermind Steve Lawler playing his dark, driving rhythms alongside Toronto tech-house champion Carlo Lio.
Rebirth
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
The party tossers at BangOn! NYC got their hands on a 30,000-square-foot warehouse space in Bushwick–and what better way to make use of it than by tossing a major-league New Year's Eve bash? The wide-ranging lineup of spinners includes the Dim Mak label's Felix Cartal, Chris Keating of Yeasayer, dreamy disco duo Chordashian (pictured) and Cheeky Bastard's Alex English. Live acts feature as well, with Carousel and Suntalk among those taking the stage. Interactive art, an inflatable obstacle course, food trucks and more add to the appeal. Go to bangon-nyc.com/rsvp to find out about the event's location.
- Location TBA
- Until Mon Dec 31
Jacked NYE: Afrojack + R3hab + Shermanology + Quintino + Bobby Burns
- Price band: 3/4
The RPM crew heads to the edge of the Hudson for a night of bigger-than-big electronic dance music, with the young superstars Nick van de Wall—better known as Afrojack—and R3hab joined by the Shermanology trio, Laidback Luke protégé Quintino and Bobby Burns. By the way, all of these artists are from the Netherlands—so we're guessing that jenever might be the inebriant of choice.
Pacha New Year's Eve: Sander van Doorn
- Price band: 3/4
We've always liked Sander van Doorn; his name looks like van Doom if you stare at it long enough, which you must admit would be a pretty cool moniker. Others are drawn to the Dutch producer on account of his big-room, tech-house-meets-trance beats, which he'll be spinning on Pacha's main floor for its New Year's Eve affair. Julian Jordan plays the opening set.
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