Coconut Club (Photo by Jana Birchum)
NYE 2023: The Last Dance
Coconut Club, Saturday 31, 9pm, $20
Fourth Street’s double-decked Coconut Club is the closest Austin gets to an adult playhouse. The winding complex of four vibrant spaces, however, has been sold to incoming developers, who are poaching the lot for a 40-level high-rise. As historic landmark status was ultimately denied for the block’s stretch of LGBTQIA nightlife, Coco’s NYE programming doubles as a hello and a goodbye, bolstered by a bill of DJ mainstays. Y2K’s Cyber Queen showcase helms the electric Neon Grotto, while Afrobeat and funk command the Laser Pit via the Brothers Groove. Downstairs, Cuatro Gato hosts all-star spinners Rue and SouLarreal, while longstanding collective Peligrosa injects bass into Latin folk on the rooftop. Though the $20 all-access event is branded as Coco’s last dance, the club has yet to announce a closing date. Whether a countdown to eventual demolition or the last minutes of 2022, Coconut Club always promises a celebration of life. – Laiken Neumann
Glitter’s Eve: Trash Disco, Glam Rock n Roll Dance Party
Hotel Vegas, 7pm, $30.66
Pilgrimage to the “trash disco, glam rock n roll dance party” at Hotel Vegas and the Volstead Danceteria is a sacred rite, showcasing a powerhouse lineup of local punk and psychedelia to cleanse your soul with a baptismal wash of classic covers. Ferocious guitar licks howl to the tunes of the Damned (represented by Austin’s Gus Baldwin & the Sketch), Black Sabbath (je’Texas), and the Sex Pistols (Chepo). Glitzy tributes to Blondie (Moving Panoramas) and Olivia Newton-John (Leslie Sisson & Sabrina Ellis) promise to pour chic vocal melodies as incantations to the year ahead, while Big Star (Rusty Dusty) and Steely Dan (Billy Glitter) shred all negative vibes with a wave of their whammy bars. David Bowie (Moonage Daydreams), Todd Rundgren (Nolan Potter), and Lynyrd Skynyrd (Jim Campo) odes round out the stellar exaltation. – Mars Salazar
Cumbia NYE ft. Grupo Fantasma, Superfónicos
Far Out Lounge, 7pm, $25
“Austin’s Grupo Fantasma remains not only unique in the American music landscape, but uniquely Americano.” So opined this pub pre-pandemic on the occasion of the local Latin orchestra’s most recent long-player, American Music Vol. VII. The Grammy-winning nonet – Gilbert Elorreaga (trumpet), Kino Esparza (singer), José Galeano (timbales, vocals), Greg Gonzalez (bass), Mark “Speedy” Gonzales (trombone), Matt Holmes (congas), Josh Levy (baritone sax), Beto Martínez (guitar), and John Speice (drums) – combines here with the nucleus of the state capital’s new Colombian scene: Superfónicos’ thrilling psych Latinate. Homegrown label Trucha Soul (Como Las Movies) spins cumbias. Vol. VIII for 2023? ¡Ojalá! – Raoul Hernandez
Blackillac, Mama Duke, TheBrosFresh
Antone’s, 8pm, $28
Knock that hustle, slow down the grind, mute your phone, and splurge on some good bubbly. If you’re looking to shake booty to a carefree tempo that’ll nevertheless keep your feet on the ground, head to Antone’s. The iconic blues venue has assembled a peerless roster of Austin hip-hop/soul-funk superstars (each celebrating banner 2022s) in Blackillac, Mama Duke, and TheBrosFresh. All work reality into their rhythms, honoring daily strife even as they transcend it. Austin stand-up Ashley Barnill’s dark wit and DJ Buck Rogers’ live remixes join the party. – Julian Towers
Daikaiju, Die Spitz, Narrow Haunts, Marry Cherry
Hole in the Wall, 8pm, $20
Need a holi-date? Tall, energetic, fiery – Daikaiju hatched in Alabama, steeled in Houston, and purportedly features an Austin tailwhip. The fourpiece surf punks live up to the translation of their name from Japanese: roughly “great strange beast.” Following up a Halloween detonation at Kick Butt Coffee, the sonic spectacle will have to set off its NYE fireworks on the sidewalk outside either side of the Drag’s live music colossus. Locals still talk about Daikaiju’s Austin Terror Fest showcase of 2019: “Daikaiju delivered ATF’s most scorching experience,” reported Rachel Rascoe. “Set up on the floor of Empire Garage, the fiery spectacle turned into pyrotechnic mayhem while fans acted as human drum risers.” A trio of locals lights the fuse. – Raoul Hernandez
NYE Africa Night
Sahara Lounge, 7pm, $12
Looking to avoid off-key karaoke singers and cheesy cover bands this NYE? East Austin’s Sahara Lounge is your best bet to find mind-blowingly talented African musicians combined with all-around good vibes. Afro Jazz churns out hypnotic waves of sound on the kora and the balafon, two traditional West African instruments, while eightpiece System Positif fuses punk, funk, and reggae into their own brand of energetic Afrorock. Led by multi-instrumentalist Ibrahim Aminou, Zoumountchi keeps their home venue’s dance floor full with their lively rhythm and horn sections. Make up for calories lost while moving and grooving with the venue’s delicious free buffet. – Genevieve Wood
NYC at CUC: DiscoTexxx Masqueerade
Cheer Up Charlies, 9pm, $10
“It’s been a year full of homemade fantasy x reality x celebrity x anonymity x everything in between here at Cheer Up Charlies,” reads the venue’s Instagram announcement for their NYE masqueerade bash. What better way for the drag hot spot to celebrate another whirlwind year of creating space for Austin’s queer community than with a showcase of frequent local collaborators? Resident queen Brigitte Bandit hosts the night’s festivities, which include outdoor sets by Orya and three-time Chronicle Readers Poll Best DJ winner Boyfriend ATX, plus Perreo room performances by p1nkstar and Scam Likely. Costumes encouraged, so make like The Phantom of the Opera and bring that old mask of yours out of the closet. – Genevieve Wood
Ramsay Midwood, Rattlesnake Milk, Garrett T. Capps
Sam’s Town Point, 7pm
It’s time to stop pretending you’re going to that fancy Downtown gala for NYE and admit you’ll instead spend it the way you spent every other weekend this past year: at Sam’s Town Point. San Antonio scenemaker Garrett T. Capps rings in the New Year’s lineup with psychedelic honky-tonk romps, his branded NASA Country lifting off behind 2022’s People Are Beautiful LP. Rattlesnake Milk snuck in a last-minute album-of-the-year contender with this month’s Chicken Fried Snake, a low-down, road-hauling LP of exquisitely dusty ballads. STP proprietor Ramsay Midwood brings all back home at the end of the night. – Doug Freeman
Holy Wave, Christian Bland & the Revelators, Hidden Ritual
The 13th Floor, 8pm, $20
Clinking glasses as they proudly swap New Year’s resolutions, Austin partygoers will say goodbye to 2022 hoping to transcend it. But come next morning, most will awake trapped inside a roaring hangover. While we’re not necessarily advocating swapping your open tab for acid tabs, watching Austin’s trippiest bands play its most psychedelic venue (recently relocated into a new body of its own in Red River’s former Beerland location) might just disassociate your mind right into 2023. Alongside longtime local dreamcatchers Hidden Ritual, Holy Wave unearths sole 2022 ode “Chaparral” and the Black Angels’ Christian Bland leads his troupe of Revelators to a midnight toast. For transcendental ego death, there’s simply no better ticket in town. – Julian Towers
A DeadEye New Year’s Eve
The ABGB, 7pm, $25
Almost every Jan. 31 between 1966 and 1991, the Grateful Dead rang in New Year with a Bay Area bash where promoter Bill Graham would float in on a joint or emerge from an enormous mushroom dressed as Father Time. Expect no such histrionics from ABGB booker Paul Minor, but local GD trib DeadEye – anchored by drummer Shadd Scott and guitarist Joe Faulhaber – might transport attendees to a smoke-filled Winterland. – Kevin Curtin
