New Year's Eve in New York 2012
Plan New Year's Eve in NYC and ring in 2013 in style with our guide to the best parties, bars, shows, free things to do and the ball drop in Times Square.
Thu Dec 27 2012
Gemini & Scorpio's Glitter Ball Photograph: Jena Cumbo
The pressure is always immense to have a good time on New Year's Eve—and have a good time you will. Ring in 2013 with an all-night party, a raucous concert, dinner and a show, an open bar with a champagne toast, a fireworks display or a relaxed yoga session (yes, these exist). You'll find these celebrations and more with our essential guide to New Year's Eve in New York. Keep checking back for ticket announcements—we'll be updating this page with new events from now through December 31.
New Year's Eve parties in New York
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Irondale Center 85 S Oxford St, between Fulton St and Lafayette Ave
- Until Tue Jan 1
New Year's Eve concerts in New York
Coldplay
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Say what you like about Coldplay’s unabashedly anthemic brand of rock, this group of Londoners has its live shows locked down, all the tightly honed hits delivered with a winning mix of sincerity and
- Barclays Center 620 Atlantic Ave, at Flatbush Ave
- Mon Jan 6
Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra
- Critics choice
- Free
Former Dresden Doll and cult pinup Amanda Palmer—who managed to drum up $1.2 million from fans to help fund her latest record, Theatre Is Evil—ushers in 2013 by playing Prince's Purple Rain in its
- Terminal 5 610 W 56th St, at Eleventh Ave
- Fri Aug 9
Punch Brothers
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
If you're in the mood for an uplifting end to 2012, you could hardly go wrong with the Punch Brothers: Newly minted MacArthur "genius" Chris Thile and his bandmates have plenty to celebrate following
- Bowery Ballroom 6 Delancey St, between Bowery and Chrystie St
- Mon Jan 6
Pretty Lights
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Producer Derek Vincent Smith, better known as Pretty Lights, mixes so many flavors—Portishead atmospherics, early-’90s rave, gangsta rap and big beat, to name a handful—it’s a little like eating 20
- Roseland Ballroom 239 W 52nd St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
- Mon Jan 6
New Year's Eve shows in New York
Bootlegger's Ball: An Ars Nova New Year's Eve Spectacular
- Price band: 4/4
- Critics choice
The Off Broadway theater complex Ars Nova offers two floors of live music, burlesque and circus acts—plus food and booze, natch—in an evening of debauched revelry.
The Fab Faux
- Price band: 3/4
The Fab Faux, Manhattan's premier Beatles tribute band, gets the sound down pretty well, which is not surprising given its members' considerable chops: Bassist Will Lee has played with all four real
- City Winery 155 Varick St, at Vandam St
- Until Mon Dec 31
Floating Kabarette: A 1920s Paris New Year's Eve
- Price band: 4/4
- Critics choice
Galapagos's weekly variety show sees out 2012 with a best-of-the-year blowout. Host Bastard Keith introduces an eyeful of burlesque dancers including Mr. Gorgeous, Go-Go Harder and Madame Rosebud,
- Galapagos Art Space 16 Main St, at Water St
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
Joe Battaglia and the New York Big Band: New Year's Eve Gala
- Price band: 4/4
Escape those tweetbooking whippersnappers with dinner and dancing in the expansive Art Deco grandeur of the Edison Ballroom. Every ticket includes a four-course meal and the chance to put your
- Edison Ballroom 240 W 47th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
New Year's Eve in Times Square
New Year's Eve at Times Square
- Critics choice
- Free
Since 1907, a sparkly sphere has been lowered in Times Square, and even though the rest of the country has adopted the tradition, New York can still lay proud claim to it. Last year's event boasted
- Times Square Broadway, between 42nd and 47th Sts
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
New Year's Eve at R Lounge
- Price band: 4/4
If you don't mind starting off 2013 in the red, catch a (literally) thousand-dollar view of the Times Square festivities from the third floor of the Renaissance Hotel. The floor-to-ceiling windows
Times Square Ball Drop Party
- Price band: 4/4
If you want to see the Times Square festivities up close, but aren’t willing to forgo food, booze and bathrooms, this gussied-up fete hosted by French Culture Nights is your best bet. In addition to
- Novotel Hotel 226 W 52nd St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
New Year's Eve Spectacular
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
For those who want to be in Times Square but would rather laugh than freeze, Carolines is the way to go. The evening's comics are a crew of great, young voices Joe DeRosa, Mark Normand, Dan Soder,
- Carolines on Broadway 1626 Broadway, between 49th and 50th Sts
- Until Mon Dec 31
New Year's Eve fireworks in New York
Emerald Nuts Midnight Run
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
- Free
- Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park 72nd St, at Fifth Ave
- Until Mon Dec 31
New Year's Eve Fireworks
- Critics choice
- Free
- Grand Army Plaza enter at Flatbush Ave and Prospect Park West
- Until Mon Dec 31
Time’s Up Annual New Year’s Eve Ride
- Critics choice
- Free
- Washington Square Park W 4th St to Waverly Pl, between MacDougal St and University Pl
- Mon Dec 31 - Tue Jan 1
Dr. Phil’s Brooklyn Bridge Walk Into the New Year
- Price band: 2/4
- Location TBA
- Until Mon Dec 31
New Year's Eve dinner
Empellón Taqueria
- Price band: 2/4
Chef Alex Stupak puts a refined South of the Border twist on New Year’s Eve with this six-course menu. The meal kicks off with smoked Shigoku oysters with salsify, chipotle and caviar, followed by
- 230 W 4th St, (at 10th St), 10014
Má Pêche
- Price band: 4/4
Gather your crew for a large-format, four-course chicken meal at the midtown branch of David Chang’s empire. Two whole chickens—cooked sous vide and then deep-fried—arrive to the table with your
- Chambers Hotel, 15 W 56th St, (between Fifth and Sixth Aves)
DBGB Kitchen and Bar
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Daniel Boulud’s raucous brasserie puts on a French-inflected celebration for New Year’s. A DJ spins world tunes in the front tavern, where you can grab a seat and uncork a bottle of velvety burgundy
- 299 Bowery, (at E Houston St)
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
Ditch the competitive NYE reservation hunt and head to Harlem for a down-home meal. Comfort food includes a Memphis-style BBQ pork sandwich, served with homemade coleslaw (sandwich $8.50, platter
- 700 W 125th St, (at Twelfth Ave)
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New Year's Eve in NYC ticket alerts
New Year's Eve in NYC photos
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New Year's Eve 2011 (NSFW)
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New Year's Eve Masked Ball 2011 (NSFW)
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girlNATIONnyc New Year's Eve Bash 2011
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NSFW photos from Floating Kabarette, Gemini & Scorpio's Bootleggers' Ball and more (2010)
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Black & White Ball and Big Apple Ranch's New Year's Ball (2010)
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The Bana New Year's Eve Pool Party (2010)
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