Broadway actress Jen Sánchez will debut her new music video for “Heartbeat” live in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The music video for the pandemic-inspired song of resilience features real New Yorkers whose lives have been affected by the coronavirus and shutdowns.
The song was selected as a finalist and the Audience Choice Award winner in the Times Square Alliance’s Songs for Our City songwriting competition in June.
“Heartbeat” is a tribute to those working to keep their lives and cities afloat, as well as those who have been lost to COVID-19, while sharing an empowering and uplifting message of strength and solidarity.
The music video depicts scenes from Times Square and features real New Yorkers who are working each day to keep New York City running amid the pandemic, including Jason Clark, Co-Owner of Hold Fast Kitchen and Spirits; Ruth Levy, a Nurse Practitioner at Mount Sinai Hospital who worked in one of the hospital’s COVID wards; and Rob White, a Times Square Alliance Sanitation Maintenance Worker. The video was directed and choreographed by Broadway veteran Yani Marin and features performances by Broadway dancers Angelica Beliard, Natalie Caruncho, Albert Guerzon, Yani Marin, NaTonia Monét, Fredric Odgaard, and Brett Sturgis.
Viewers are encouraged to donate to NYCNext, an organization working to help the city we love recover and rebuild, and to energize and inspire others to act.
“Heartbeat” is written and performed by Jen Sánchez, directed and choreographed by Yani Marin, edited and filmed by Gregg Monteith, and produced by Jen Sánchez and Sophie Aung, for Times Square Alliance.
Billy Joel welcomed 2019 with a 26 song, 160 minute set at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island. It was the first time in 25 years that Billy Joel played a New Year’s show at the Coliseum. At midnight he played the traditional “Auld Lang Syne” paired with “Only the Good Die Young.” The Coliseum was sold out and Billy really seemed to be having a good time, while he wore a New Year’s top hat.
Billy Joel kept New Year’s spirit by playing New Year’s themed songs like “This is the Time,” “I Loved These Days” and “Souvenir.” As it got close to midnight, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve with Ryan Seacrest appeared on the screens and the crowd counted down to 2019. As confetti exploded and Billy sang “Auld Lang Syne,” a banner reading “Billy Joel: 34 Sold Out Shows” was unraveled from the ceiling of the Coliseum, commemorating the milestone.
The setlist included all the usual hits. He threw in a couple of breaks throughout the show like Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla.” He also did a cover of Joe Cocker’s take on The Beatles “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Kevin James made an appearance during “Uptown Girl” and Gavin DeGraw, who opened the show, joined Billy on stage for the final song “You May Be Right.”
Setlist: Big Shot, Miami 2017, The Entertainer, Vienna, The Downeaster Alexa, Big Man on Mulberry Street, This is the Time, Movin Out, New York State of Mind, Don’t Ask Me Why, The Ballad of Billy the Kid, I’ve Loved These Days, Allentown, She’s Always A Woman, Auld Lang Syne, Only the Good Die Young, My Life, The River of Dreams, With a Little Help From My Friends, Nessun dorma, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man.
Encore: We Didn’t Start the Fire, Uptown Girl, It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me, Souvenir, You May Be Right (with Gavin Degraw).
After weeks of anticipation, Phish has announced plans for the NYE edition of their ‘Dinner and a Movie’ stream series. They’ll revisit their famed 12/31/95 performance at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve starting at 8:30pm, with a twist – they’ll be bringing back the Band v Audience chess match for the stream.
Taking place over two tours in the mid-90s, Band v Audience chess matches are a testament to the high level of nerdiness both shared. The band would start the show with a chess move, and fans would then have the duration of the first set to contemplate their move, meeting at the Greenpeace table (prior to The Waterwheel Foundation‘s founding), debate the move at setbreak and make their move collectively. A fan (usually a local) would be invited to go on stage before Set 2 began to make the move on the chess board.
Phish’s New Year’s Eve performances are legendary to say the least, and for the first time since 2008, the band will not perform live due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether they’ve created an aquarium on stage, flown in on a hot dog, created their own time factory, put on Broadway scale productions, turned MSG into an ocean or moved the stage to the other end of the venue, Phish’s New Year’s performances continue to raise the bar. This year, phans will be celebrating from home but still have a way to engage with their favorite band.
From the Fall 95 Doniac Schvice
On 12/31/95, the audience tied the band, and fans have always speculated if the matches would return. The band has teamed up with Chess.com to host the Band vs. Audience online chess game which will start right at the top of the show and move ‘at a decent clip.’ Fans will have 5 minutes to move their piece (the band will have no more than that as well), and at the end of 5 minutes, whichever move has the most votes is the ‘audience’ move.
During set breaks, the band will join fans from their various homes, playing a few moves and providing scintillating commentary on the game. To join the audience in voting for moves against the band, register for free at Chess.com. After verifying your account, join the official club for the . Phish will post and send out the actual game link on December 31.
The dinner part of Dinner and a Movie will feature two chess cheese board recipes for extended grazing. Marissa Mullen has put together two options for fans – “Olive Cheese Dreams” and “Billy Bries” – with an easy ‘cheese by numbers’ guide. And for dessert, chessboard cookies! Recipes are available here.
While the streams for Dinner and a Movie have been free all year, charities have been the focus with each edition. The beneficiary for the Phish NYE stream will the band’s charitable wing, The WaterWheel Foundation. Since 1997, the band and their fans have collaborated on a nationwide charitable endeavor by raising funds and donating the proceeds across the country. This year alone, collectively we have raised and donated nearly $750,000 to 27 different nonprofits during the Dinner And A Movie series. Join the band in continuing to support those in need. Donate at phish.com/waterwheel.
The String Cheese Incident has announced a ‘New Years Cheese’ stream for their final “Friday Night Cheese” broadcast of the year for New Year’s Eve. Airing on Thursday, December 31 starting at 8pm ET, the Colorado jamgrass band will stream a special 20-year anniversary airing of their Evolution Concert Film which filmed around the 2000-2001 Portland NYE Incidents, featuring performances and behind-the-scenes interviews.
Following Evolution, at approximately 10pm ET, String Cheese Incident will air their three set New Years Eve performance from December 31, 2016 at at 1STBANK in Broomfield, Colorado. Home to six of the last seven New Year’s runs, 1STBANK has been SCI’s hometown venue for the better part of the 2010’s.
The band said in a statement:
We love seeing friends and family gather with us in CO to ring in the New Year, and even though we can’t be there with you in person this year, we are REALLY looking forward to saying goodbye to 2020 and welcoming 2021, when we can hopefully get back to playing live Incidents again!
The broadcast has been timed perfectly so that the Midnight Balloon Drop will line up with 12am MT. Master of Ceremonies Jason Hann will be the host for the evening and promises surprises in store. Get the stream here.
On New Year Eve, Producer Entertainment Group (PEG) will host PEG Presents “New Year’s Queens: Goodbye 2020,” with the top sixteen artists from RuPaul’s Drag Race to count down the wild year. Sessions Live will stream the concert event on their website. PEG is a management and creative company behind the world’s biggest drag queens and LGBTQ artists. The broadcast will livestream the countdown from New York and Los Angeles on December 31 at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET on the Sessions Live platform.
The 11-hour event will be hosted by Miz Cracker & Peppermint (New York City), Alaska & Bob The Drag Queen (Los Angeles), and Trixie Mattel & Katya (Los Angeles). The following New Year’s Eve performers include BeBe Zahara Benet, BenDeLaCreme, Boulet Brothers, Divina De Campo, Ginger Minj, Jinkx Monsoon, Jujubee, Manila Luzon, and Sharon Needles.
We are thrilled to be the exclusive host for The Marathon New Year’s Eve Livestream. This promises to be the most interactive, most global and certainly the most colorful party across every continent and every time zone to ring in the new year. Audiences everywhere will have the opportunity to enjoy and engage with a talented lineup of drag artists from around the world.
Tim Westergren, Co-Founder of Sessions
RuPaul’s Drag Race is a competition show that crowns “America’s Next Drag Superstar” through unique challenges each season. RuPaul along with Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, and other celebrity guest judges measure each of the contenders. RuPaul’s Drag Race has won a total of 19 Primetime Emmy Awards, including six this year including “Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Competition Program” and “Outstanding Competition Program.” The 12th season of the show concluded this May with Jaida Essence Hall as the winner. Ticket prices for “New Year’s Queens: Goodbye 2020” start at $39 with interactive VIP Package options with 11 out of the 16 artists from the show.
For the second year in a row, Queen City prog-rockers Aqueous performed at The Town Ballroom for the final two nights of the year, selling out both December 30 and 31 with musical themes for each night. The 30th had an “Almost Dazed and Confused” theme, while New Year’s Eve was “Fast Times at The BreAQfast Club.” Fans dressed with the themes for the nights, adding to the festive feel of the end of the year run that celebrated the music of the ’70s and ’80s.
The first night featured covers from 1970’s bands Led Zeppelin, Stillwater (from Almost Famous) Black Sabbath and the Bee Gees and a first set closing “Random Company.” An encore of “Eon Don” > “Tiny Gantzer” brought the house down, with David Loss singing Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” as “Tiny Gantzer.” Earlier in the night, a VIP set found Aqueous performing five songs acoustically that had previously never been performed in that style. The overall debut of “Spirit and Soul” was found among new arrangments for “Say it Again,” “They’re Calling For Ya” and “On the Edge.”
For New Year’s Eve, a theme of “Fast Times at The BreAQfast Club” combined the music of two great 80s films, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Breakfast Club with some Aqueous thrown in for good measure. Songs by The Cars, Prince, Duran Duran, Simple Minds and Flock of Seagulls were performed near-flawlessly by the band, who wore outfits from their recent music video “Come and Go.” An up-tempo/ska version of “Marty” stood out among the mang covers in the first set, which ended with “Strange Times.”
Appropriately, Aqueous performed “20/20” to ring in 2020, following the traditional “Auld Lang Syne,” and closed the set with fan favorite “Origami.” The encore held one last surprise for the night though as drummer Rob Houk took a wireless microphone and sang the closing song from The Breakfast Club, “Don’t You Forget About Me.” During the song, the lights were kept low and before the fans could realize it, Houk was on the bar behind the crowd and walked up to the rail through the crowd singing. If this is how the ’20s begin for Aqueous, this might be their best year yet.
Set 1 (VIP): Say It Again (1,2) > They’re Calling For Ya (1,2), America (1,4), Spirit and Soul (1,3), On the Edge (1,2)
Set 2: Fever Dog (3,5) > Paranoid (3,6), Burn It Down, The Median, Gordon’s Mule, Slow Ride (3,7,8) > Misty Mountain Hop (3,8) Random Company
Set 3: Dave’s Song > Sweet Emotion (9,10), Little Something To Me, You Should Be Dancing (3,11) > Don’t Do It, All In > Do You Feel Like We Do (3,12) > All In
Encore: Eon Don (13) > Tiny Gantzer (14)
1- AQoustic Debut 2- New arrangement 3- Debut 4- Simon & Garfunkel 5- Stillwater 6- Black Sabbath 7- Foghat 8- ft. Travis Gray (Wild Adriatic) on vocals 9- ft. Ryan John Nogle (Funktional Flow) on triangle 10- Mega Bustout, LTP: 11/24/10 (870 shows) 11- Bee Gees 12- Peter Frampton 13- Neon Don 14- Mega Bustout, LTP: 9/21/13 (632 shows)
Set 1: Come and Go¹, I Ran (So Far Away)² ³ > Warren in the Window, Moving In Stereo⁴ ² > Second Sight > Marty⁵, Hungry Like The Wolf² ⁶ > Strange Times⁷
Set 2: Let’s Go Crazy² ⁸, Skyway, I Melt With You² ⁹, On The Edge, Don’t You Want Me² @@ > Be The Same > Auld Lang Syne, 20/20 > Origami
Encore: Don’t You Forget About Me² @@@ Notes:
¹ Band came out dressed in their outfits from the music video. ² Debut ³ Flock of Seagulls cover ⁴ Cars cover, Included Spicoli pizza delivery skit from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (By The Cars) ⁵ Ska ⁶ Duran Duran cover ⁷ Life in the Fast Lane (Eagles) tease ⁸ Prince cover ⁹ Modern English cover @@ Human League cover @@@ Simple Minds cover, Rob on lead vocals, Ryan Nogle on drums, sang end of song in the crowd
Jam rockers Phish executed their annual New Years Eve show and gag, albeit with unexpected turns and clones. The show took place at Madison Square Garden to a sold-out crowd. The gag is an annual tradition where the band attempts to fool the audience during the third set. Over the years, the gags have become more theatrical, but this one included an unplanned element of surprise.
The first set included a notably-funky jam “Halley’s Comet,” and the setlist delight, “Fluffhead.” Additionally, after “Axilla,” the band continued a story that was started on 12/30, and eventually referenced a pan flute player named Zamfir. Fishman was able to conjure up Zamfir, played by Richard Glasgow their tour manager, by saying his name.
The second set was a non-stop jam that prepared the fans for the gag to come. Notable songs included “Punch You In the Eye” and “Mercury.” As the set ended, the crew removed all instruments from the stage, and left eight large covered cubes.
Set three began with the band talking behind stage without realizing the audience was listening. Guitarist Trey Anastasio mentions that the band will finally give the people what they want, and play an entire set of jazz ballads, a cappella, for new years eve. That is of course, until Zamfir made another appearance, unleashed his pan on the band, and effectively started the annual gag.
The band appeared wearing wacky colorful jumpsuits during a piano solo for “Send in the Clowns.” Fishman wore a pink inverted version of his usual donut muumuu. The band then changed the lyrics from “Clowns” to “Clones,” and by the end of the song, Anastasio proclaimed “Send in the clones,” and with that, an entire dance troupe dressed in the same outfits as the band, complete with wigs, paraded onto the stage. The band members blended in and were soon cast into the air above the stage, with color-coded platforms suspended above the stage with their respective instruments.
To end 2019, Phish launched into a rocking “First Tube” from the air, with their clones performing choreographed dance sequences on the ground and on color coordinated risers. At midnight, the band played the traditional “Auld Lang Syne,” followed by “Sand,” reminiscent of the incredible “Sand” played twenty years ago at Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in Florida. The band members were toggled up and down in the air on their platforms, as the clones dance beneath them.
At the end of “Sand,” Anastasio was noticeably still suspended in the air, while the other three band members were on the stage. Anastasio tried to ease the audience with quipps like “Well, I guess if I’m about to fall to my death, I might as well tell you guys all how much I love you.” A long pause followed, where he found out that the crew was unable to move his broken platform to the ground. The show must go on, and Anastasio played from his hobbled platform for the rest of the set. The audience stood in near silence watching Anastasio’s platform swaying ever so slightly, as the pops of thousands of balloons echoed in Madison Square Garden, with the clones laying down on the platforms, waiting patiently for the next song to begin.
Trey Anastasio is lowered to safety via the Rescue Squad
Despite being stuck, the show continued with Page, Jon and Mike moving up and down on their platforms, with Anastasio’s static, 30 feet above the stage. During the quintessential “You Enjoy Myself,” the clones participated in an exceptional vocal jam. At the end, Anastasio awkwardly declared that the encore was starting, because there was no way for him to exit his platform, and asked the audience to pretend that they had gone off stage and come back on. The band gave the fans one final song of the night, “Tweezer Reprise,” and all left the stage, except Anastasio, who remained on his hobbled platform, and sang an impromptu ode to the “Rescue Squad” of crew who safely brought the Bad Lieutenant down. Using Fishman’s platform to safely bridge Anastasio to safety, Anastasio continued the “Rescue Squad” jam on his way down, utilizing Fishman’s drumkit for a final thank you to the Rescue Squad.
Trey Anastasio
Was it all part of the gag? Was this part of the plan? Fans continue to debate this days later, all the while reveling in one of Phish’s most impressive New Year’s Eve stunts to date.
