Contributing Writer
Ring in the New Year in vintage-style with Retro Atlanta! Come celebrate what once was in 2013 and welcome with open arms what will be in 2014! Start your new year off with a bang with all the swell happenings we’ve found for you!
1. Red Hot Jazz & Dixieland. There’s nothing like gettin’ brassy, super early 20th century-style, to ring in the New Year! So, head on over to Alpharetta, grab a few cocktails and celebrate the year with New Orleans Jon at The Atlantic Seafood Company at 7pm! His Been One Hell of a Year event will have you crooning for more! Or improvise and make your way to The Village Theatre in Decatur for their hilarious Hollabration 6 event with an after party featuring the ever jazzy New Orleans brass of the Wasted Potential Brass Band at 9 pm! Cover is $35 which gets you a drink ticket plus champagne to toast 2014, a world-famous improv comedy show, an after party with the band and more!
2. Puttin’ on the Ritz. Roar into 2014 at STK Atlanta for their Great Gatsby-themed celebration! The party kicks off at 5 pm in the lounge with 2 seating options, if you so desire! 5:30 for the early birds where $85 gets you a 3-course meal, 9:30 for the rest, where $115 gets you a 3-course meal with a complimentary champagne toast! And for those who want to party the night away flapper-style, an open bar option is available for $75! So, get glitzy and ring in the New Year in vintage style with the sounds of DJ London Thomas along with 20s-era performers, party favors and many more surprises! If you’ve got rhythm, then get ritzy and make your way to the Atlanta Symphony Hall and join the biggest band of them all, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as they head to Broadway to ring in the New Year! Get glamorous 1930s-style and roll into the New Year to the tune of George and Ira Gershwin! The ASO along with guest conductor, Jack Everly, vocalist Judy McLane and pianist Michael Chertock, lead the way to bring you your favorite Gershwin favorites including ‘I’ve Got Rhythm,’ and ‘They Can’t Take That Away from Me’! Tickets range from $31 to $69 and show begins at 8 pm!
3. Deep Roots. Ponder 2013 by getting to the root of it all! For a New Year’s Eve filled with grit and soul, make your way to The Earl as they dispense a foot stompin’ night of celebration with Gringo Star, Turf War and MammaBear! Or get sultry and spend New Year’s Eve with Michelle Malone and her old-school Americana and soul at Eddie’s Attic! The Variety Playhouse hosts those infamous sons of Atlanta, Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ as they deliver some real rock, folk and country punk with special guests Ed Roland & The Sweet Tea Project! And for a cornucopia of rooty rock styles, swing on by Red Light Café for their New Year’s Eve party with Copious Jones, The Jugtime Ragband, Mary Lynn Buchanan and The Last Gonzo at 8pm!
4. That’s Why They Call it the Blues. For some classic blues and jazz, shimmy on down to Blind Willie’s for their New Year’s Eve Party with the powerhouse vocals of Francine Reed & The Shadows! Doors at 7pm and $50 gets you guaranteed seating, party favors and a champagne toast at midnight! And the Atlanta tradition continues at the Northside Tavern with Mudcat’s 20th New Year’s Eve Fiesta featuring Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck, Eddie Tigner, Lola, the BluesDude and the Atlanta Horns! $20 cover includes party favors and champagne with doors at 9pm!
5. It’s a Beach Party! Spend New Year’s Eve in paradise, Mai-Tai style at Trader Vic’s with the rockin’ surf, beach party tunes of Kool Kat Joshua Longino and Andrew & the Disapyramids! $60 gets you a four-course dinner and admission to the party! Or, come for the show only which is $10 in advance or $15 at the door. You won’t want to miss this island-style extravaganza!
6. Rock Across the Pond. Kick off 2014 with Atlanta’s favorite Rolling Stones’ tribute band, The Jagged Stones with special guests The Big Chicken Beatles Band, paying homage to the Beatles, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the British Invasion at The Strand Theater! Doors at 9pm!
7. Groovin’ Up Slowly. Get funky and ring in the New Year with a little psychedelic soul! Toast the New Year at the Clermont Lounge, the seedy land of debauchery as they bring you a rockin’ celebration with Halls of Jupiter, the Kris Bell Band and Ledfoot Messiah at their New Year’s Eve Bash, where $15 gets you a groovin’ good time, party favors and a midnight champagne toast! Or come on out to Smith’s Olde Bar and rock out with Zack Deputy, joined by the father of madness and absurdity himself, Col. Bruce Hampton along with Johnny Awesome and Voodoo Visionary! Groove on over to Philips Arena and get psychedelic with Widespread Panic and their New Year’s Eve music and food-drive, ‘feeding people through music’ event! Rock over to Terminal West and groove into the new year with Washed Out and the Mood Rings! And join The Georgia Soul Council at The Family Dog for a funk-filled holiday fiesta!
8. We’re Stayin’ Alive! In Retro Atlanta that is! Boogie on down to Mary’s in East Atlanta for their annual Attack of the New Year’s Eve Party Monster event, featuring DJ Bendito & DJ Sam Rothstein spinning your favorite disco, indie, house and rock! There’s no cover and a complimentary champagne toast at midnight! Celebration begins at 9 pm!
9. The Cure for Bananarama. New-Wave is the epitome of 80’s pop culture, so celebrate 2013 while toasting 2014 by making your way to The Shelter for their 5th Annual New Wave New Year’s Eve Retro Party! Dress New-Wave, win prizes! The festivities begin at 9pm and $10 gets you party favors, a champagne toast at midnight, a ton of super rare New-Wave music videos and a bunch more surprises! Or for some New-Wave inspired synth-pop and a New-Wave revolution, slink on over to Noni’s Bar & Deli in the Old Fourth Ward for New Year’s Eve with Sonen! Free cover, free champagne toast at midnight!
10. Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! Get rebellious and rock into the New Year with some old school punk and plain ol’ retro-inspired rock-n-roll and metal! Punk it up at the The Star Bar with The Biters, The Booze, The Forty-Fives’ MC45s, their all MC5 tribute, Fiend Without A Face, the Zoners and Dasher! $10 cover. Doors at 8pm! Or spend New Year’s Eve in Hell hosted by the dynamic duo and circus side-show pair, Captain & Maybelle at The Masquerade featuring a gritty, rockin’ good time with The Six Shot Revival, Beitthemeans, the rockin’ all-female Elvis tribute band, the Pelvis Breastlies and Gunpowder Gray! $10 cover; Doors at 8pm.