Pep Love

Say Goodbye to 2016 (Finally)

A roundup of New Year’s Eve live music and dance

However much we’d all like to tell 2016: “Go home, you’re drunk,” New Year’s Eve in Eugene offers plenty of options to get (responsibly) rowdy and dance away the woes of the weird year-that-was.

The Hi-Fi Music Hall downtown hosts a crackerjack lineup of Eugene favorites: Medium Troy and Bohemian Dub Orchestra, Sol Seed, Soul Vibrator and Pancho + The Factory. Festivities kick off at 8 pm; $20 adv, $25 door, 21-plus.

Just up Willamette Street at McDonald Theatre, Candy Apply Bleu, the world’s greatest wedding band, works out impeccably smooth yet danceable covers of yacht-rock classics. Think: Hall & Oats, Air Supply and many more. 

Joining Candy Apple Bleu is Eugene’s beloved Americana dance-folk outfit The Sugar Beets. The party starts 9 pm; $17, all ages.

Also downtown, catch the horn-powered Alvin Johnson Collective 9 pm at Luckey’s Cigar Club; $5, 21-plus. Or head to Cozmic Productions’ Pep Love New Year’s Eve Party featuring the Oakland producer and emcee at 8 pm at Whirled Pies (formerly Cozmic Pizza); $12-$15, all ages.

The Wayward Lamb is going all out with a “Neon Jungle” dance party theme, featuring DJ Sassy Mouff and a performance by Work Dance Company, starting at 7 pm; $6, 21-plus.

Over in the Whiteaker, Sam Bond’s Garage welcomes the New Year with Eugene’s terminally peppy alt-funk-rock act Fortune’s Folly. Joining Fortune’s Folly is DJ Evergreen. The show starts 9:30 pm; $10, 21-plus. 

Also in the Whit, travel back in time at Old Nick’s with a Prohibition-themed dance party complete with jazzy tunes and snazzy duds. The party starts 9 pm Saturday; $5, 21-plus.

And if your end-of-year tastes tend toward the finer things, consider Eugene Opera’s New Year’s Eve Party at the Hult Center (it’s also a celebration of the opera’s 40th-anniversary season). Ticket price covers tasty treats from Marché Provisions and a champagne toast. And just because you like opera doesn’t mean you can’t dance. Eugene Opera’s event features the music of Marc Siegel and Le BopHot. Get to the Hult by 10:30 pm; $25-$27.50, all ages.