Live Music in NYC & Environs for New Year's Eve - Who's Playing?

Patti Smith & band continue their annual run of New Year's Eve shows  in NYC this year. Shown here is their New Year's Eve 2007 show at Bowery Ballroom. Photo: Kimberly Smith

For me, seeing live music is the best way to ring in the new year. And all things considered, you can get more entertainment bang for your buck with a concert than with a pricey cocktail party or other New Year's Eve option.

Here's a look at some of the live music shows, large and small, taking place in New York City and the nearby area on Friday, December 31st. (Note: Tickets may not be available for all events at the time you're reading this; make sure to check the venue's website for details.)

• Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings & Allen Toussaint, Best Buy Theater (formerly Nokia Times Square), 8 p.m., $55
  
• Patti Smith and Band, Bowery Ballroom 8 p.m., $55
  
• Los Lobos, City Winery, two shows: 7:30 p.m., $60 to $175 (11 p.m. show sold out)
  
• Mike Doughty, Maxwell's (Hoboken, NJ), 7:30 p.m., $25
  
• The Detroit Cobras & The Fleshtones, Maxwell's, 10:30, $20 advance/$25 d.o.s.
  
• Chuck Berry, B.B. King's, 8 p.m. ($98 advance/$100 d.o.s.) & 11 p.m. ($120)
  
• The Butthole Surfers & Lumerians, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 9 p.m., $55
  
• Titus Andronicus, Real Estate, Andrew Cedermark, & Julian Lynch, Ridgewood Masonic Temple (Brooklyn), 8 p.m., $15
  
• Drive-By Truckers, Terminal 5, 9 p.m., $35
  
• Passion Pit & Slick Rick, Wellmont Theatre (Montclair, NJ), 8 p.m., $70
  
• Ms. Lauryn Hill, Bowery Ballroom, 8 p.m., $75
  
• Gov't Mule, Beacon Theatre, 9 p.m., $59.50 to $84 plus fees
  
• Phish, Madison Square Garden, 8 p.m., $70 plus fees
  

Big Week at Maxwell's: Mike Doughty, Detroit Cobras & Fleshtones, & The English Beat Roll into Hoboken

The Detroit Cobras (shown here in Santa Fe in 2008) play a New Year's Eve show at Maxwell's. Photo: Steve Terrell.

The old year is ending with a bang, and the one's beginning the same way, at Maxwell's in Hoboken. The club has two shows on New Year's Eve, with Mike Doughty (formerly of Soul Coughing) performing at 7:30 ($25) and then a year-spanning garage-rock show with Detroit Cobras and The Fleshtones starting at 10:30 p.m. ($20 advance; $25 day of show). According to the Maxwell's website, tickets are still available for both shows.

Maxwell's starts off 2011 with The English Beat on New Year's Day (tickets are $20, and still available).  And the great shows keep coming in January: Dean Wareham (of Galaxie 500 and Luna) plays Galaxie 500 on Jan. 13th; Evan Dando & Juliana Hatfield play on Jan. 20th; Mission of Burma performs on the 28th; and one of my favorites, The Muffs, plays on Jan. 29th.

I haven't even mentioned that fact that the Guided by Voices reunion tour is coming to Maxwell's on Dec. 30th (because tickets seem to be sold out, at least on Ticketfly). But the show isn't listed as sold out, so tickets may be available at Other Music or Tunes (in Hoboken). Or, if you go to the club on the day of the show there might be folks looking to unload extra tickets that they can't use.

GbV sold out a couple of shows in NYC in short order, so a chance to see them at the intimate confines of Maxwell's would be a treat indeed.