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So, you've waited til the last minute to make New Year's Eve plans...again. Not to fear, we've got you covered. Here are some terrific events that you can still get your procrastinatin' ass to if you act now. Or if you fancy yourself a high-roller or are super plugged-in, then check out our full list of best New Year's Eve parties (along with our New Year’s Eve concerts), all of which we'll be updating with more of the best parties in NYC as they get continue to pop up. Keep in mind that the prices quoted below are for advance tickets and many will probably be much pricier at the door, procrastinators!
Best (basically) FREE party that will actually be great
Bossa New Years Bossa Nova Civic Club, FREE before midnight ($10 after)
If there's something we learned about nightlife in 2015, it's that spending the holidays at Bossa Nova is always the right move. To ring in the new year, the club is hosting some of planet Earth's finest DJ talent—three artists who have, time and again, wreaked havoc on the famed (and fogged) dance floor at Bossa Nova Civic Club. Leave it to L.I.E.S. label-mates Vereker, Marcos Cabral and Shawn O'Sullivan to close out the year with a bang.
Best budget parties (from lowest to highest)
Mutual Dreaming Location TBA, $15-$25
The reliably experimental audio-visual party throws its hat into the NYE ring with Newworldaquarium, Young Male, Umfang, Ital & Aurora Halal and a special 2am live set from L.I.E.S. man Gunnar Haslam. As usual, expect the unexpected.
New Year's Eve with Kaviar Disco Club and Discovery Black Flamingo, $20
Three like-minded disco duos link up for—what else—a disco party! The long-running Kaviar Disco Club's Higgins and Beto Cravioto join forces with Discovery's Free Magic and Faso, with guest DJs John Barera and Will Martin in tow at Brooklyn's newest off-color bird: Black Flamingo (owned by fellow disco duo Soul Clap). With an intimate club downstairs, a lovely bar upstairs and delicious vegan grub.
Glitterballnyc.com NYE 2016 The Graham, $20
The top brass at Glitterballnyc.com must have forgone their holiday bonuses to put this local superstar bill together for their third annual East Williamsburg NYE celebration. Appearances from ‘90s rave vet The Horrorist (Things to Come), Alex from Queens (Capriccio), DJ Andi (Synthicide) and resident DJ/man-about-town Facets. It's really hard to go wrong for $20 though amirite?
Mister New Year's Eve Brooklyn location TBA, $40, $25 after 2am
Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin are back for the big holiday edition of their party devoted to the outer reaches of house, disco and techno. The guys are once again keeping it relatively simple—no big guests, just the residents themselves playing over a killer sound system—but on this overhyped night, we'd consider that a plus.
The Rub NYE The Bell House, $50
Resident DJs Ayres and Eleven, accompanied by Chances With Wolves and Prince Klassen, man the beats for the New Year’s Eve edition of their long-running party, which features a high-octane mix of hip-hop, house, soul and just about anything that’s got the funk. Complimentary champagne is available at the start of the midnight countdown.
Best combo deals
Justice (DJ set) + Gesaffelstein (DJ set) + Bob Moses + With You "Classified Brooklyn warehouse," $125-$145 for general admission, $170 with 4-hour open bar upgrade
Parisian duo Justice headline this New Year's Eve blowout with fellow French export Gesaffelstein and NYC's own Bob Moses (the oddly named team of Jimmy Vallance and Tom Howie). Justice's most recent album, 2011's Audio, Video, Disco, might have departed from headbanging electronica toward a prog-rock–informed take on DJ music. Still, experimental influences are practically irrelevant here; it’s all about the thump-thump-thumpin’ beats that will keep you dancing well into the night.
Holy Ghost! + Nancy Whang (LCD Soundsystem) + Teachers + Hannah Lucia Pioneer Works, $106.49-$159.24 with food and 5-hour open bar
The synth-boogie boys of DFA duo Holy Ghost! has won them many fans both at home in NYC and around the world. Tonight they help you ring in a new year with a DJ set at the Western-themed Pioneer Works. Support comes from LCD Soundsystem's Nancy Whang and DJ Aku as well as live performances from Kanye-collaborators Teachers and London's Hannah Lucia. Food, beer, wine and cocktails included with very specifically-priced entrance fee.
New Year’s Noir: Hot Since 82 + Julia Govor Verboten $60, $120 for entry into four separate Verboten events that weekend
Leeds, U.K., music-maker Daley "Hot Since 82" Padley, a house producer who walks the tightrope between underground credibility and big-room populism, hits Brooklyn for what Verboten is refering to as "New Year's Noir," so expect a lot of shadows and very little light we assume? He is joined in the revelry by former Russian military band singer–turned-DJ Julia Govor.
Best tropical-themed winter disco
Tiki Disco New Year's Eve Good Room, $100 with 5-hour premium open bar and champagne toast
Join the holy Tiki-trinity of Eli Escobar, Lloydski and Andy Pry as they bring their unstoppable Tiki Disco party out of the summer and into the dead of winter at Greenpoint's Good Room for the warmest NYE party you will find anywhere guaranteed. With extended club hours until 6am and an early morning buffet served, it really is paradise!
Best outer-borough warehouse parties
Rinsed 5: NYE 2016 Brooklyn location TBA, $60-$100
The Rinsed crew organizes another corker starring some of your favorite DJs like Dinamo Azari, Jacques Greene, Morgan Geist, Parris Mitchell, Todd Edwards, David Kiss, Luka Tacon, Jefferson909, Sophia MA, Lust Fund and residents Dan Wender and Blacky II. As per usual, it starts late and ends early, features a sound system by Foundation Audio and is a "proper warehouse" that refuses to let its location be known until the very last minute! Open bar for the first hour beginning at 9pm.
Resolute New Year's Eve and Day Extravaganza with [a:Rpia:r] Brooklyn location TBA, $80
Unless you happen to be sitting on any amazing 50-hour parties that still have tickets available, we're just going to go ahead and recommend Resolute's. It features DJ sets from Rhadoo, Petre Inspirescu, Praslea, Raresh, Vlada and Praslesh with visuals by dreamrec. For location RSVP to arpiar.resolute@gmail.com.
Best nerd-vana NYE show
They Might Be Giants Music Hall of Williamsburg, $35
The latest single from quirk-rock notables They Might Be Giants is just a call away. The band has had a prolific year, releasing a new song every week through its recently revived "Dial-A-Song" service in which the duo records songs onto an answering machine and advertises the number online. But make no mistake—the new material sounds even better on stage than after the beep.
Best early ‘00s indie rock throwback
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah + Surf Rock is Dead + Monograms Rough Trade, $30
It's been nearly a decade since Clap Your Hands Say Yeah exploded out of nowhere with a wildly acclaimed self-released debut. These days, frontman Alec Ounsworth is the only member left from those heady mid-aughts days; the David Byrne–esque singer and his current band turn up at this year-end show to support 2014's Only Run, which runs the gamut from soaring electropop to hard-hitting garage-psych.
Best psy-trance jam band option!
The Disco Biscuits PlayStation Theater, $69.50
It's easy to poke fun at the Disco Biscuits (trance fusion? ugh). Still, bisco music (as they call it) remains a huge hit among the jammy throngs, and apparently the fan base is growing (they've got enough cred, in fact, to host their own festival: Camp Bisco). The prolific band Philly settles in for a quartet of NYE-pegged shows at the venue formerly-known-as the Best Buy Theater, culminating in a three-set Dec 31 performance.
Best party to get a "classic hot dog brunch" in Coney Island at Nathan's afterwards
The Last New Year's Eve Disco Extravaganza El Dorado, $100
New Yorkers who remember the wild, outrageous New Years Eves of the 1970s will rapture in this night of unrelenting disco revival in Coney Island. Enjoy performances by Soul Train–era divas Rochelle Fleming and Melba Moore, then nod you head and get to steppin' with vinyl classics from DJ Nicky Siano. If Coney Island is the last bastion of the old New York, then this may be one of its purest throwback nights in history.
Best parties to "kick it old school"
Frank Sinatra's 100th Birthday New Year's Eve Celebration Hudson Hotel Bar, $150-$200 with 4-hour open bar
Celebrate what would have been Ol' Blue Eyes's centennial birthday with DJs Sinatra & Zen Freeman, Champagne toast at midnight and complementary coat check (which Sinatra definitely always swore by).
Joe Battaglia and the New York Big Band: New Year’s Eve Gala Edison Hotel Ballroom, $350 with dinner
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 knowledge of actual dance steps (steps that have names, dammit) to good use while Joe Battaglia and his brassy crew dole out swing classics.
The Count Meets the Duke: The Andersons Play Basie and Ellington 59E59 Theater, $35
Identical twins Peter and Will Anderson, talented young jazz woodwinders both, returns to their wailing grounds at 59E59 with a show that explores the legacies of big bandleaders Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
A Very Natalie New Year with Natalie Douglas and Mark Hartman The Duplex, $55 (7:30 show), $85 (10:45 show), both with two-drink minimum
Award-winning chanteuse Natalie Douglas returns to the Duplex for her annual two-part New Year’s cabaret show with accompanist Mark Hartman. (Both sets include a champagne toast.)