Celebrate 2017

These are the best ways to party on New Year's Eve in Dallas-Fort Worth

Whether you had a good or bad year in 2016, the dawn of 2017 brings the promise of a fresh start. End the year with a bang by taking in one of the best New Year's Eve events in Dallas-Fort Worth— presented in alphabetical order — most of which encompass more than just drinking, dancing, and counting down until midnight.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Reliant Lights Your Holidays
After being postponed due to weather, Reliant Lights Your Holidays is now taking place on New Year's Eve. AT&T Performing Arts Center's iconic venues and trees will be illuminated by hundreds of thousands of dazzling LED lights, and visitors can also enjoy a gigantic New Year's Eve fireworks show; a holiday concert featuring A.B. Quintanilla y Elektro Kumbia; a performance by the cast of The Book of Mormon; and community performances from South Grand Prairie High School Ballet Folklorico, the Tap Dazzlers, and Studio One Dance Center's Elite Competition Team.

Dallas NYE Ball
Organizers of the seventh annual Dallas NYE Ball expect a big crowd, so they've divided the party into two levels at Crowne Plaza. The Las Vegas Room in the grand ballroom hosts a massive dance floor where partygoers can enjoy a mix of pop, hip-hop, and electronic music; multiple bars; and the annual Beer Pong Tournament, among other things. The Times Square room in the upstairs ballroom offers a more intimate setting, with DJs spinning a mix of the best songs from the '80s, '90s, and '00s.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents New Year's Eve Celebration
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra rings in the New Year with your favorite Strauss waltzes and Viennese-inspired revelry, led by conductor Andrew Grams. The majesty of Meyerson Symphony Center and a free champagne toast at intermission ensure that the annual concert is one of the best places to be for New Year's Eve.

Fort Worth Symphony presents New Year's Eve Celebration
A strike by the musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra wiped out their entire fall schedule, but they are putting that in the past by returning for their annual New Year's Eve concert. Ring in 2017 at Bass Performance Hall with a performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, a few other surprises, and a balloon drop at midnight set to "Auld Lang Syne."

Lights All Night
Taking place December 30 and 31, the two-day Lights All Night festival draws tens of thousands for the ultimate party experience. For its seventh annual celebration and second turn at Dallas Market Hall, Lights All Night features headliners deadmau5, Above & Beyond, Zedd, A$AP Ferg, Nero, RL Grime, and Tchami, among many other acts.

Marvelous Nerd Year's Eve
The inaugural Marvelous Nerd Year's Eve is a new kind of New Year's celebration: a four-day geek expo at Sheraton Dallas featuring over 30 celebrity guests, artists, and authors. Celebrities include Stan Lee, Michael Rooker, Nichelle Nichols, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran, Sean Gunn, Robert Picardo, Maurice LaMarche, Glenn Morshower, and more. The event, taking place December 29-January 1, also includes an attempt to break the world record for largest gathering of people dressed as comic book characters.

New Year's Eve at Billy Bob's Texas: Eli Young Band with Green River Ordinance
The Eli Young Band, which started in Denton before heading to Nashville, returns to their roots with this special New Year's Eve concert at Billy Bob's. The group hit it big with their 2014 album, 10,000 Towns, and they're getting ready to release their sixth album in 2017. They're joined by another hometown band, Green River Ordinance.

Reunion Tower presents New Year's Eve Fireworks
You can't actually go to or around Reunion Tower to watch its fireworks, unless you're attending Cloud Nine's masquerade-themed party, but the best views are from a distance anyway. There's a watch party at the Old Red Museum, as well as the New Year No Rules party at W Dallas Victory. Or just find a nice parking spot within sight of the tower, and enjoy the show at midnight.

The Rustic presents NYE Bash
Singer Charley Crockett headlines The Rustic's New Year’s Eve Bash. Crockett, who has a unique sound blending a rich and diverse heritage of both new and traditional music, is joined by The Voice's Dana Harper and Medicine Man. Tickets to the event are free, but special tickets that include complimentary appetizers and a reserved seat on The Rustic’s outdoor patio are being given away by KXT 91.7.

South Side Ballroom '80s NYE Bash
We may be going into 2017, but you can flashback to the 1980s at South Side Ballroom this NYE. The concert features a bunch of '80s tribute bands, including Strangelove, a Depeche Mode tribute; The Cured, a Cure tribute; Panic, a tribute to The Smiths and Morrissey; Electric Duke, a tribute to David Bowie; and DJ PFM spinning '80s before and between sets.

Reunion Tower is launching fireworks at midnight to welcome the beginning of 2017.

Photo courtesy of Reunion Tower

Reunion Tower is launching fireworks at midnight to welcome the beginning of 2017.

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Listen up

Underground hi-fi 'listening bar' Shyboy opens in downtown Dallas

Photo courtesy of Shyboy

Shyboy lounge is new on Main Street in downtown Dallas.

A new lounge is turning up the volume beneath the streets of downtown Dallas: Shyboy, billed as Dallas' first "hi fi bar," will debut at 1313 Main St., in the subterranean level of The Drakestone building.

According to a release, opening weekend events will take place March 4-7.

The new nightlife concept comes from The Headington Companies, the folks behind the Joule hotel and other Main Street developments.

"Inspired by hi-fi listening bars around the world, with roots in Tokyo’s post-WWII 'jazz kissas,' Shyboy offers a social and listening experience unlike any other nightlife space, with progressive, genre-bending programming, signature hi-balls and cocktails, and two state-of-the-art OJAS sound systems, designed by Devon Turnbull," says the release. (Turnbull's speakers have been used in projects with Mark Ronson, Public Records in Brooklyn, and more.)

Jazz kissas are cafes that specialize in the playing of and listening to recorded jazz music; here, jazz is played for active listening rather than as background serenade.

Piggybacking on that idea, Shyboy will offer "an immersive environment where design, lighting, and atmosphere are treated as essential elements of the performance, inviting guests into a unique experience that blurs the line between listener and participant," they say.

The 3,000-square-foot underground space, once a bank vault in the historic Davis Building (renovated and rebranded as The Drakestone residential building in 2017), will house one of the most advanced sound systems in the city within its historic concrete "bones." Interiors were designed by acclaimed Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative.

The venue includes two distinct spaces. The main room functions as a social listening environment, where towering speakers double as sculptural focal points beneath curved underground ceilings.

A second chamber, called The Vault, is designed as a more intimate lounge for private events, sound classes, performances, and art exhibitions. The Vault’s entrance features an installation from artist Lachlan Turczan’s Optical Resonance series, which uses water and light to visibly respond to sound waves, the release says. The room also includes a newly commissioned reflective sculpture by Florentine artist Duccio Maria Gambi.

Shyboy’s inaugural month will include a lineup spanning house, deep grooves, soul, and global dance sounds. Opening weekend, March 4-7, will welcome talent like JT Donaldson (Shyboy music director), Dallas legend Red Eye, Sound Advice Vol. 1, Skeme Richards, Patrice Scott + Brandon Epocha, and Wamono Nights.

The calendar later in the year will feature appearances by celebrated DJs and producers such as Theo Parrish, Derrick Carter, Eli Escobar, Kai Alcé, and the Los Angeles-based listening collective In Sheep’s Clothing.

Shyboy’s cocktail menu starts at $13, and the bar will serve soft-serve ice cream.

Throughout March, there will be no cover charge for entry; for more information, visit the venue's website.

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