Right then, what's going off on the last day of the year? A duck-ton of bleddy parties, that's what. We've got the lowdown on all the places worth gerrin' to as midnight chimes its way into 2017...
The Crystal Maze
The Irish Centre
10pm - 8am
£12.50/£15
Event link
Forget Christmas. We’re no longer interested in the turkey feast, and we’re bored with the telly. The reason for this sudden change of heart? Our bodies, minds and souls have found a new calling – NYE at The Irish Centre. Someone, somewhere, has answered our prayers, and has decided to host a Crystal Maze-inspired party at the Wilford Street venue. There’ll be four themed rooms, four sound systems, you’ve all gotta wear fancy dress, and fifteen of the biggest and baddest Nottingham crews will play host throughout the night. Inside the Futuristic room, RubberDub, Tumble Audio and Pond Life Nottingham will bring you the best garage and bassline shwangerz, or pop into the Aztec room to catch Mimm and Caramello busting out the best in the funk, soul and hip hop biz. When you’ve had your fill of that, feast your ears upon the reggae, ragga and jungle sounds of Um Kongo and Dreadwise Music, or swim up into the Ocean room and let the likes of Trent Bass and DJ Soc serenade you with some glitchy techno and acid house. Outside, Clash Money Battles will be the entertainment to your fag break. There’ll be set design, interactive games and walkabout performers to boot. Also, anyone who shaves their head in the spirit of Richard O’Brien wins a prize. Oi.
DirtyFilthySexy Masquerade Extravaganza
Spanky Van Dyke’s
9pm - 3am
£8
Event link
An evening of excess and extravagance, decadence and drag queens. DirtyFilthySexy are gearing up to host one of the most glamorous events Nottingham has ever laid its beady eyes on. This New Year’s Eve, you’re invited to dress up to the nines, don a mask and get down to Spanky’s to dance away until the early hours. The evening will be hosted by London’s craziest drag queen, Cybil War, and will see you entertained with live drag performances by residents Nana, Glitterhawk and Nottingham’s Tom Jaja Hunter, aka Jaja Riot. There’ll be lip-sync battles and a midnight balloon drop with prizes to be won. Fabulous, darling. Not only that, there’s a free glass of bubbly for the first fifty folks through the door. If that’s not incentive enough to get your gladrags on early, we don't know what is. The night is billed as an open, safe space for the entire LGBTQ community and their straight allies – so whatever floats your boat, dig out your best garmz and party on down with the best of ‘em. You can buy your tickets on the door, but there’s NUS discount available using a special secret code found only on the Facebook event page, so buy ‘em online and save yourself a nice couple o’pahnd. It’ll come in handy on the night.
Bamalamasingsong
Southbank City Bar
7pm - 2am
£15/£20
Event link
Like a game of Trivial Pursuit while your dinner goes down, or tekkin’ the dog for a walk when the street lights come on, Bamalamasingsong is proper one of them festive traditions we now couldn’t live without. I’m Not From London never fail to deliver a NYE bash that’s well beyond bonkers, with a live band fully versed in all the songs you love and the ones you never knew you did. There’s only one catch – you’re the singer. Well, you and every other Tom, Dick and Harriet who made the decision to rock up to the Southbank City Bar on this the final night of the year. It’s basically a mass karaoke, where you share the embarrassment, bum notes and wrong words in equal measure. How very British of us. Following the sing song, you can catch the Doodle Crew DJs on the ones and twos, seeing you through till closing time.
Family Fireworks
Nottingham Castle
8pm - 12.10am
Free
Event link
If you’re more likely to see the sunrise on a school run than after a hectic night on the tiles, wrap up the sprogs in their fresh Christmas woolies, bundle ‘em in the back of the car and see in the New Year at the Castle. There’ll be live music on the bandstand from the get-go, so grab yoursens a snack from one of the many eateries that’ll be setting up shop and have a gander before the kids’ fireworks begin at 9.15pm. It won’t be a lairy night out, but there will be a couple of bars up and at ‘em, so you can warm the cockles while watching fire jugglers and performers do their thing throughout the night. Make sure you stick around for the main event – a spectacular fireworks display to see in the new year starting at 12am sharp. Then it’s off to bed for the nippers and a nightcap for the grown-ups. Sorted.
Wigflex Cage Party
Venue TBA
10pm - 6am
£12 - £20
Event link
If the idea of heading home at 2am on the biggest night out of the year fills you with dread, then you wanna cancel that family dinner on the first, get an early night on the thirtieth, and cut shapes at Wigflex on the 31st. They’ve gone all-out this year, and are pitting three yet-to-be-announced heavyweight DJs against each other in the ultimate battle for glory. A giant, caged wrestling ring will be sunk into the centre of the dance floor, where the DJs will spin their stuff surrounded on all sides by party people – that’s you and your crew. There’s still so much more to be announced – including the venue and all three of the headline acts – so keep your eyes peeled for more info on the Facebook event page. And make sure you bag a ticket. Sharpish.
Kold Chillin’
Rough Trade
7pm - 3am
Free
Event link
New Year's Eve can proper rinse your bank account before you’ve even left the yard. Your regular haunts will have upped their normal entrance fees for your countdown to be accompanied by the same YouTube DJ that serenades you every Saturday night. Even your local will have got in on the cash-money action. One joint not having any of it is Rough Trade, and they’ve decided to team up with the masters of reggae, funk and hip hop – Kold Chillin’ – to bring you a monster free NYE bash. That’s right. It’s free. Kemet FM’s DJ Archive and Mi-Soul Radio’s Keith Lawrence will be just two of the music maestros on the decks, soundtracking your new year to perfection. All you’ll need to take with yer is pocket money for pints and a generous helping of beef brisket from the one and only Smiffy’s Smoke Shack. Get there early, it’s bound to fill up pretty sharpish. Free
Electric Jalaba
Malt Cross
8pm - 2am
£12/£15
Event link
Us Brits have a pretty naff reputation when it comes to partying. Our nights out revolve around necking as much cheap lager as we possibly can, before chucking it up at the bus stop and swallowing a donner kebab in one go. Not a pretty sight to behold, it’s one of them traditions we can afford to lose. Inject a bit of culture into your NYE celebrations and start the year as you mean to go on, all without leaving the confines of your beloved city. Sound like a bit of you? Malt Cross are hosting a psychedelic, Moroccan groovefest to see you through until 2am, complete with live music from the Electric Jalaba and a whole bunch of DJs preparing to play you everything from seventies Nigerian funk to tropicalia Brazilian. No idea what that sounds like? Us neither, but we can’t bleddy wait to find out.
Deeper Than Roots
The Maze
8pm - 3am
£12.50
Event link
Doing what they do best, The Maze are hosting a right sweaty bash so you can see in 2017 with a can of Red Stripe and hella good vibes. Few things in life are better than that there combination. They’re teaming up with Deeper Than Roots to bring the ultimate party, complete with three rooms packed to the rafters with the best bands to skank to this side of anywhere. Catch the likes of Riddimtion, Motormouf, and Ashmore and Friends in the main room, plus an incredible one-off reunion performance from 25 Past The Skank. You what!? Upstairs, the Origin One lot are gearing up to see your night through to the end, as is Fel Dem. Even the front bar is in on the action, with Hannibal Selekta and Hypnotoad setting the scene. It’s gonna be a mucky countdown, that’s for sure.
Stealth Present New Year's Eve
Stealth, Rock City and Rescue Rooms
8pm - 6am
£35.75
Event link
Most venues around the city go all out for New Year's Eve. And quite rightly so, it's the biggest bleddy bash of the year. But none of 'em go quite as ham as the three biggest DHP venues Nottingham has to offer. Once again, the might forces of Stealth, Rock City and Rescue Rooms have aligned to bring old and new ravers alike the chance to get jiggy with it until the early hours - 6am, to be precise. Catch big names in the biz including the likes of My Nu Leng, Bicep, Artwork, Monki and DJ Q on the ones and twos, spinning decks as you see in a year that'll hopefully be a damn sight better than 2016. Make sure you follow the link posted above and bag yourselves tickets sharpish, as the event is almost entirely sold out...
For the full motherload of Nottingham events, check out our What's On section
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
