New Year’s Eve may be second only to Halloween for nights of the year when people are out looking for live music and big parties. But unlike Halloween, New Year’s is not a great night for spontaneous wandering from place to place.
A lot of venues fill up, and some of them have high covers, so you’re better off making a plan and sticking to it. A lot of live music events are in places that aren’t typically venues, so I gathered up some of the more interesting options for the night.
We’ll start with the three big gala events. These all have high ticket prices in return for top-notch entertainment, food and drinks. The longest-running and typically biggest event in Bellingham is the Firefighter’s Community Ball, celebrating its 123rd edition this year in the ballroom at the Hotel Leo. This year’s version is country themed, with live music by County Rose and line dance lessons. County Rose is an all-star group of local musicians playing a mix of classic and modern country.
The Whatcom Museum is getting on board this year with a fundraiser taking place at Old City Hall, with funk, R&B and pop covers by Baby Cakes. This one starts and ends early (6:30-9:30 p.m.), so if you wanted to go big you could make this the first stop in a doubleheader. If you want to keep on partying in a funky vein, two great options would be to head from there over to Storia Cucina for a late-night show with Cardova, or to Bar Two Eleven for SpaceBand.
If you’re a blues fan, the place to be is going to be the ballroom of the Four Points by Sheraton on Lakeway. They’ve got the Chris Eger Band plus Midlife Crisis and the Alimony Horns, two of the biggest regional blues/rock acts.
Then, of course, all the major venues are hosting big shows. Many of them seem to have booked the acts that are most representative of their general vibe. For example, Warp Detour and Green Daze PNW will be doing punk covers at The Shakedown, Whalien will be laying down funky jams at Boundary Bay Brewery and Wild Geese of the West will play Grateful Dead tunes at Ramble Tamble. Marla Hooch and Hippies With Money are at The Blue Room, while Wild Buffalo features the superb Seattle-based Queen tribute band known as Queen Mother. The Odd Fellows Temple Room at the Orion will have their flagship Odd Fellows Big Band if you’re looking for a chance to get out on the dance floor and swing to the classic big band sound.
Spreading our net a little wider, there are two cool events in southern Skagit County.
Maple Hall in LaConner is hosting BroHamM, a Motown and soul cover band led by three brothers. The Conway Muse has an excellent and varied four-band bill including Nurhachi, Sour Fuzz, Biff Got Killed, and Nick Vigarino & Nightshift. To the north, Neon Shadows will be covering ’80s pop hits at the Main Street Bar and Grill in Ferndale, and the Jack Benson Band will play blues and rock at the Beach Bar up in Birch Bay.
Add it all up, and you’ve got a lot of great options for how you want to ring in the New Year. It’s been a great year for local music, so why not try to catch one more great live show?
2024 local releases
Longtime readers will know I have a strong distaste for setting music into competition, especially when it’s coming from totally different genres. So please: Don’t call this a top 10 list. But since it’s the end of the year, I can’t resist the urge to share some of my favorite local releases one more time, and to give you an overview of what you might want to check out. I’ve narrowed it to 10 notable local albums from 10 different styles, plus some extra picks from some of the more crowded genres. My hope is to give just about any music fan some idea of a local band to follow into the new year.
- Jazz: BJ Block Trio, “Antiphony”
- “Apocalyptic doom-folk”: Three for Silver, “Modern Man”
- Bluegrass: Kian Dye, “Self-Titled”
- Instrumental rock: Energy Pyramid, “Levels”
- Rock: Spine Readers, “Lab Results” (but also make sure to check out this year’s releases by Full Color Dream, Checker Bloom, Biff Got Killed, and Drayton)
- Pop-punk: Lipstitch, “Let’s Talk”
- Folk/Americana: The Enthusiasts, “To Rest A Field” (a packed category, with other strong albums from Nobody’s Peach, North Country Highway, and Morgan McHugh)
- Hip-hop: The Rhetorician, “Imprinted Rhythms” (other great stuff out this year included the self-titled album by CHRVNS, the Sudden Valley Drive compilation, and the stream of EPs and singles by Dank Zavala)
- Electronic: Willdabeast, “Beneath the Surface”
- Metal: Venenosum, “Influence of Spells” (Also try MEM//BRANE if you’re looking for hardcore, or Triacs if you’re looking for something more technical)
Jesse Stanton's music column, The Beat Goes On, appears weekly. Reach him at jsbhammusic@gmail.com; @JSBhamMusic. Check with individual venues to make sure events are still taking place as scheduled. Live music events in Whatcom County: http://www.cascadiadaily.com/category/living/arts-and-entertainment/music/music-calendar
