Tucson rocks, rolls and loses it head as it rings in 2024

Once upon a New Year’s Eve lifetime ago, Tucson Symphony Orchestra hosted a fancy black-tie dinner and dance with its musicians performing those great Big Band hits while elegantly dressed folks took to the dance floor at the Arizona Inn.

It was the closest we got to hosting a big city formal New Year’s Eve shindig.

But for the last decade, we have had some semblance of big city New Year’s Eve taking place downtown.

OK, so we don’t have New York’s gigantic crystal ball covered in 2,688 glittering Waterford Crystal panels that they drop at the stroke of midnight in Times Square for literally gazillions to witness on live TV.

We’ve got a giant taco.

Actually two of them — a gigantic piñata version that will drop at the stroke of midnight as the finale of the Arizona Bowl’s Taco Bell New Year’s Eve Downtown Bowl Bash; and the original 15-foot wide, 8-foot tall wood and metal taco that Hotel Congress created for the first-ever taco drop in 2014.

Hotel Congress turned over the official taco drop duties to the Arizona Bowl for its inaugural event held in the MLK Lot next to the historic hotel in 2019, but it never relinquished the actual taco, said Hotel Congress Entertainment Director David Slutes.

Slutes said people can get a photo with the taco, now painted gold, while it’s on display at Hotel Congress during the hotel’s New Year’s Eve shenanigans.

That’s the only way, really, to describe what Slutes and the staff at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St., have in store for Sunday, Dec. 31, with the first-ever “New Year’s Eve: Let Them Eat Cake!”

Picture it: The regal Court of Versailles where palace intrigue hangs heavy in the air, almost as heavy as the powder on those dusty powder wigs you’ll see worn by the court royalty strolling the hotel lobby and courtyard looking for friends of foes. The setting is the night before the French Revolution and surely among the guests will be enemies of the fight posing as decadent royalty or friends thereof.

“We have a giant guillotine and at midnight we will be lopping off the head of somebody,” Slutes said with a mischievous giggle. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

For the record, we’re pretty sure no one will actually lose their head at midnight.

You can also take a selfie with the guillotine or visit the Marquis de Sade Lounge set up in Club Congress for a little French burlesque. Live music includes a string quartet performing waltzes and minuets.

General admission, which includes the midnight toast and cake, is $60 through hotelcongress.com. There also are a limited number of VIP packages for $125 and $500.

Down the street from Congress, 1980s glam rockers Warrant will headline the fifth annual Taco Bell New Year’s Eve Downtown Bowl Bash in its new home at the Mural Lot, 41 E. Congress St., across from The Monica. The party starts at 6 p.m. and in addition to live entertainment with Warrant and Tucson bands Sophia Rankin & The Sound and 80’s and Gentlemen, there also will be a Silent Disco and food trucks and beer stations set up in the lot.

Kym Adair, executive director of the Barstool Arizona Bowl, said the New Year’s Eve party in its first year in 2019 went viral nationally because of the taco drop. With this year’s move, the organizers decided to use a giant taco pinata; no, nothing will come out of it once the so-called “Taco Touchdown” ends its descent.

“It will be a really beautiful, fun, exciting countdown,” she said.

Fireworks shot off from the top of the Hexagon building will follow the taco drop. Admission is free. For more information, visit thearizonabowl.com.

Other downtown New Year’s Eve happenings include:

A taste of Havana

Hotel Congress’s Century Room is channeling the ritzy Havana night club El Tropicana with its Caribbean New Year’s Eve featuring the Gabriel Evan Orchestra. This is a chance to dress to the nines as if you were about to rub shoulders with Brando, Hemingway or Hayworth, and be prepared to dance. This music is infectious.

This is a New Year’s Eve encore for the New York saxophonist Evan and his Tucson bandmates — trombone player Max Goldschmid, pianist Sly Slipetski, Matt Mitchell on guitar, Colin McIlrath on bass, with drummer Arthur Vint and percussionist Miguel Melgoza. Last year, they focused on early mambo, calypso and mid-century Exotica, according to the Century Room.

The band performs at 9 and 11:30 p.m. at the Century Room at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Tickets start at $45 through hotelcongress.com and admission includes the East Coast toast at 10 p.m. and a New Year’s Eve toast at the late show.

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Head-banging into 2024

Rialto Theatre is going to rock in the new year with “Tucson’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve Concert” featuring the head-banging Tucson cover bands Mr. Skynyrd, The Jack and The Dirt.

It’s the first time all three bands, which have strong local followings, will share the stage.

The Dirt, which covers a variety of 1980s big-hair rock from Mötley Crüe and Poison to Ratt, Guns N’ Roses, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi and Warrant, has played with Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band Mr. Skynyrd, but Sunday’s show will be its first with The Jack, the hugely popular Tucson AC/DC cover band.

“Mr. Skynyrd has a big draw. The Jack has a big draw. The Dirt has a big draw. I’m thinking the combination of the three will be pretty awesome,” said the Dirt’s Andy Saenz.

Saenz, who also is a member of the pop cover band Hit Rewind and the new country band Buckshot and Bellbottoms, said the New Year’s gig was the brainchild of The Jack frontman Scott Hamilton.

The concert starts at 8 p.m. at the Rialto, 318 E. Congress St., and ends well before the giant taco drop at the Taco Bell New Year’s Eve Downtown Bowl Bash just up Congress. Saenz said that was intentional. This gives fans plenty of time to see the taco drop and maybe catch a song or two from headliner Warrant, who should go on stage at 10:30 p.m.

Tickets for “Rockin’ New Year’s Eve” are $20-$35 through rialtotheatre.com. It’s an 18-and-older show and doors open at 7.

Queer Year’s Eve

If you’re looking for a party — with live music, dancing off the walls and a safe space to be whoever you want to be — Queer Year’s Eve at 191 Toole is calling you.

Presented by Tucson LGBTQ+ community arts organization Fluxx Productions, Queer Year’s Eve features live music and entertainment by DJ MizSkoden, DJ Motion, DJ Mijito and Hot Gogo’s; a photo booth; giveaways; food trucks; and vendors.

It all starts at 9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 31, at 191 Toole, 191 E. Toole Ave., and it’s a 21-and-older event. Tickets are $12 in advance through rialtotheatre.com or $15 at the door.

Also happening downtown:

Noctivision & Desert Runners, in association with The Techno Alliance, Tru Vibe Collective, Goth Events AZ and Arizona Rave Scene, is hosting an evening of dark revelry with “Rapture,” billed as Tucson’s biggest New Year’s Eve party. The event at Solar Culture Gallery, 31 E. Toole Ave., features 10 DJs from Tucson, Phoenix and Denver spinning songs that cross genres from cyberpunk and goth to industrial rock, dubstep and techno. Tickets for the all-ages event, which begins at 8 p.m., are $10-$20 through tucne.ws/1ox0. Details at solarculture.org.

The Playground, 278 E. Congress St., is hosting “Electric Desert Disco New Years” with DJ Apprentice, Manny Fresh, Melohyype and Walters the Don beginning at 7 p.m. Admission is $35. Details at playgroundtucson.com.

Elsewhere in Tucson

Blues rocker Connie Brannock and her Little House of Funk will ring in 2024 at Monterey Court‘s annual New Year’s Eve bash. It kicks off with an optional four-course dinner before the party begins.

The dinner opens off with a trio of appetizer options including breaded shrimp with a Cajun remoulade; two salad choices including one that has chickpeas, capers and Kalamata olives tossed in a sundried tomato dressing; choice of seabass, cornish game hen, prime rib or mushroom moussaka with zucchini and eggplant; capped off with dessert — choice of pistachio ricotta cake, horchata liquor mousse with Mexican chocolate chip or a chocolate decadence flourless tort with a raspberry drizzle.

On the main stage, Brannock and her very fine ensemble will make it hard to concentrate on dessert. They play hard-driving, high-energy blues rock with a rockabilly twist, the kind of music that lures folks to the dance floors and elicits loud cheers and booming applause from the audience. The band will take a break at 10 p.m. when Monterey Court will host the East Coast champagne toast to ring in 2024 so folks can make it home before midnight.

Sunday’s party runs from 7 to 11 p.m. at Monterey Court, 505 W. Miracle Mile. Admission is $30, $70 for dinner and concert, and everyone gets the complementary toast. For reservations, visit montereycourtaz.com.

If you’re not partied out after the giant taco drop, live shows and midnight toasts, head over to 620 N. Stone Ave. for “NYE After Midnight @ Blondies,” featuring gogo dancers, DJs spinning weird music and food. The party, featuring music by Jay Bailey, Cecilia, Walters The Don, Posis8n, ADM and Nocturnol, starts at 1 a.m. Monday, Jan. 1, and runs until 4 for anyone 21 and older. Tickets are $15-$20.24 through eventbrite.com.