Beyond Popping Corks, the Sounds of the New Year
Josh Haner/The New York Times
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings play Best Buy Theater on New Year’s Eve.
By AMANDA PETRUSICH, JON CARAMANICA, NATE CHINEN, JON PARELES, BEN RATLIFF, STEPHEN HOLDEN, and STEVE SMITH
Published: December 23, 2010
SALUTING the new year huddled around the hearth with family and friends — bedecked in sequins and plastic “2011” spectacles, spilling warm Champagne on the sofa — is good, old-fashioned fun. But wouldn’t you rather spend the night with Patti Smith?
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Bruno Mars is at Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel.
Willie Davis for The New York Times
Bad Plus, with Reid Anderson, is at Village Vanguard.
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Michael Angelakos and Passion Pit welcome in the new year at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J.
Rahav Segev for The New York Times
Marc Ribot will lead his band in a fervent rendition of Albert Ayler’s “Bells,” at the Stone in the East Village.
Chad Batka for The New York Times
The reunited jam band Phish has also resumed its tradition of year-end shows, and will play Madison Square Garden from Thursday through New Year’s Day.
Matthew Murphy for The New York Times
Michael Feinstein and Barbara Cook are teaming up for two shows on New Year’s Eve at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency.
Eric Gaillard/Reuters
The rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Berry will see out the year at B. B. King.
Whether you’re bidding 2010 a hearty, don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out farewell or commemorating its good tidings, live music is a memorable, often euphoric way to celebrate. At the very least, dancing your pants off with a room full of like-minded fans is more energizing than watching a ball sink slowly back to earth (again).
Below, the pop and jazz critics of The New York Times have compiled a selection of this year’s New Year’s Eveshows that is as eclectic as the city itself. The band Antibalas and the cast of “Fela!” are hosting a Felabration in Brooklyn; Ms. Smith (whose memoir “Just Kids” won aNational Book Award) will close out three nights at the Bowery Ballroom; the erstwhile jam band Phish will sprinkle Madison Square Garden with confetti; and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings will join the legendary New Orleans songwriter Allen Toussaint at Best Buy Theater. Expect exhilarating sets, wobbly renditions of “Auld Lang Syne” and maybe even a midnight peck from that stranger who knows all the words.
AMANDITITITA An Amandititita show is a quirky affair — not just because of the music, which is a cheeky take on traditional Mexican cumbia, but also because of what she builds around it, which is a stage show befitting a sharp-minded, eccentric child. She calls herself “La Reina de la Anarcumbia” — the Queen of Anarchic Cumbia — though she’s not quite anarchic. More like mischievous, with a keen sense of disruption. With Marcelo C, Ejival and Justin V. At 9 p.m., Hecho en Dumbo, 354 Bowery; (212) 937-4245; hechoendumbo.com; $75 for dinner, $95 for party, $150 for both. JON CARAMANICA
STEVE ANGELLO If you only submit to punishment by one brazen, bombastic, pummeling, house-music maximalist this year, make it Steve Angello, who’s been a force for almost a decade, but who’s mastered his sound in the last couple of years: clean, slick, thumping, even a bit arch at times. He’s also part of the production/D.J. collective Swedish House Mafia, responsible for one of the year’s best brute-force dance albums, “Until One.” At 9 p.m., Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street; (212) 247-0200; roselandballroom.com; various packages from $98.50 to $235. JON CARAMANICA
THE BAD PLUS With “Never Stop” (E1), an exemplary album released this year, the Bad Plus marked its 10-year anniversary in stout and unflagging style. The band — Reid Anderson on bass, Ethan Iverson on piano, David King on drums — has a rugged but supersensitive rapport that can transform any material it touches. This perennial New Year’s Eve show, which is part of a weeklong run at the Village Vanguard, seems likely to include “Auld Lang Syne,” though it could also conceivably mean U2’s “New Year’s Day.” At 9:30 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village; (212) 255-4037;villagevanguard.com; $150. NATE CHINEN
BELLS AT MIDNIGHT A musical event that calls itself a “ritual/jam” seems like a fittingly transformative way to close out a complicated year. Beginning around 11:15 p.m., the guitarist Marc Ribot will lead a pedigreed band (Roy Campbell Jr. on trumpet, Henry Grimes on bass, Chad Taylor on drums and John Zorn on saxophone) through a fervent rendition of Albert Ayler’s “Bells,” a free jazz classic from 1965 that is renowned for its spastic, improvised solos and repeating marches. A Champagne toast is promised, although the music is likely to be headier than anything you could ever pour into a glass. At 11 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village;thestonenyc.com; $40. AMANDA PETRUSICH
CHUCK BERRY The embodiment of his mythical Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry had rock ’n’ roll figured out from its inception: an R&B backbeat, some country twang, a signature guitar lick and songs about cars, girls and the gumption to tell Beethoven to roll over. More than half a century later, he’s still on the road. At 8 and 11 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan; (212) 997-4144; bbkingblues.com; 8 p.m. show, $98 advance, $100 at door, $560 for a four-person V.I.P. table; at 11 p.m. $120, $640 for a four-person VIP table. JON PARELES
BLACK 47 In Black 47, a band named after the worst year of Ireland’s 19th-century great potato famine, the jigs and reels of immigrant Irish tradition plunge into New York City’s multi-ethnic melee, emerging with modern and often politically minded tales set to rhythms that might dip into ska, hip-hop or rock. At 10:30 p.m. at Connolly’s Pub, 121 West 45th Street, Manhattan; (212) 597-5126; $23.75.JON PARELES
BLOODY BEETROOTS From Italy, the Bloody Beetroots make slap-happy electro house verging on big beat. It’s king-size and, outside the United States, unusually popular. Even a collaboration with the terminally chill indie rap outfit the Cool Kids did little to calm this duo, who spin music while wearing comic-book-character masks and pumping their fists, even more pleased with themselves than the crowd is. At 3:30 a.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village; (212) 353-1600; websterhall.com; $60. JON CARAMANICA
BUTTHOLE SURFERS Since the early 1980s Gibby Haynes — once voted accounting student of the year at Trinity University! — has fronted this Texas outfit, renowned for its perverse live performances and psychedelic noise-rock. Mr. Haynes and his band mates trade in depravity (they’ve conjured an array of unprintable song titles), marrying shock-rock tactics (expect smoke, fire and hallucinatory lighting) with avant-garde experimentalism. The band hasn’t released an album of new material since 2001, but the songs are practically incidental to the spectacle. With the Oakland, Calif., band Lumerians. At 10 p.m., Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 486-5400; musichallofwilliamsburg.com; $55. AMANDA PETRUSICH
CELEBRATION IN SWING The jazz pianists Cyrus Chestnut and Benny Green aren’t distracted by the notion that jazz is broken down, refracted, turned inside out; they believe in jazz as a refined African-American language, as shaped by perfectionists like Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal and Tommy Flanagan. They’ll swing through the evening with the saxophonist Jimmy Heath, the trumpeter Nicholas Payton, the bassist Dezron Douglas and the drummer Willie Jones III. At Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Broadway at 60th Street, (212) 258-9595; jalc.org; $150 for 7:30 set and three-course menu; $250 for the 11 p.m. show and four-course menu, Champagne toast and party favors.BEN RATLIFF
CLASS ACTRESS The great debut EP by Class Actress, “Journal of Ardency,” is an alluringly precise recapturing of the winning chill of early ’80s electro-pop, with some light hauteur keeping the mood severe, never optimistic. With Warm Ghost, Peephole and Phonetag. At 7:30 p.m., Spike Hill, 184-6 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 218-9737; spikehill.com; $10. JON CARAMANICA
GEORGE COLEMAN QUARTET Mr. Coleman, a tenor saxophonist who was raised in Memphis and matured in the late-1950s Chicago scene and in tenures with Max Roach and Miles Davis, plays the golden mean of post-bop jazz. Rather than being explosive or inward, he’s a moderate with sophisticated harmonic knowledge and a strong blues sensibility, and — on a good night — phrases full of eccentric wisdom. He’ll be playing at Smoke, which has booked him consistently for years, with his regular group, including the pianist Harold Mabern, a fellow Memphian; the bassist John Webber; and the drummer Joe Farnsworth. At 7 p.m., Smoke, 2751 Broadway at 106th Street, Upper West Side; (212) 864-6662; smokejazz.com; $100 at the bar or $128 at tables, with open bar, prix-fixe dinner and a set of music; and at 9:45, $195 at the bar or $228 at tables, with two sets of music and a New Year’s toast. BEN RATLIFF
DETROIT COBRAS So drowsy yet aggressive, the music of the Detroit Cobras, who do one thing over and over again, and well: rework typically obscure soul and rock sides in what has become a signature shaggy garage-rock-heavy style. Musically, it’s taut and entrancing, if not, exceptional. But the singer Rachel Nagy is ferocious, always sounding as if she’s just been offended, but isn’t the least bit surprised by it. With the Fleshtones. At 10:30 p.m., Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J.; (201) 653-1703;maxwellsnj.com; $20 in advance, $25 day of show. JON CARAMANICA
DFA RECORDS A night of pulsations from the roster of one of New York’s most important record labels of the last decade, the one that sneaked indie rock back onto the dance floor. The lineup features the fantastic disco revivalists Holy Ghost!, the house music revivalists House of House, Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem and as yet unnamed extra guests, which with any luck will include LCD Soundsystem’s primary engine, the DFA macher James Murphy, the battle-scarred nostalgist given to bubbly self-lacerations. At Le Bain at the Standard New York, 848 Washington Street, Meatpacking District;(212) 645-4646, standardhotels.com/new-york-city; $50 at the door only. JON CARAMANICA
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS The tensions and contradictions of the American South fill the songs of Drive-By Truckers, whose Southern rock bridges the multiple-guitar attack ofLynyrd Skynyrd and the high vocals and distortion-loving stomps of Neil Young with Crazy Horse. Their songs are character studies of unglamorous people, getting by as best they can, while the fuzz-toned riffs signal backbone. At 10 p.m., Terminal 5, 610 West 56th Street, Manhattan; (212) 265-4700; terminal5nyc.com; $45 and $55 until Dec. 29, then $60. JON PARELES
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN AND BARBARA COOK The team of the velvet-toned traditional crooner and intrepid pop archivist Mr. Feinstein and the still-great 83-year-old theatrical soprano Ms. Cook has warm musical chemistry. They are performing two shows at the club Mr. Feinstein founded, featuring classic pop standards and rarities from the American Songbook with an all-star band conducted by John Oddo. At 7 p.m., Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, 540 Park Avenue, at 61st Street, Manhattan; (212) 339-4095; feinsteinsattheregency.com; $175 cover, with $250 premium seats and $300 upfront seats, plus a $40 food and beverage minimum; at 10:45, $350 general seating, $495 premium and $600 upfront, with a three-course meal. STEPHEN HOLDEN
FELABRATION! The Broadway musical “Fela!,” which closes Jan. 2, escapes the cues and curfew of theater on New Year’s Eve, complete with its star, Sahr Ngaujah, and its unstoppable female dancers. The music sounds so richly African because the core of the band has been playing Fela Kuti’s music and his style, Afrobeat, since 1998 as Antibalas. In a club, that hard-nosed Nigerian funk, with its shuffling rhythm guitars and pushy horns, gets to stretch out for a dancing audience. At 10 p.m. at the Knitting Factory, 361 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (347) 529-6696; bk.knittingfactory.com; $60 to 70. JON PARELES
GOV’T MULE This Southern-fried jam band, led by the guitarist and singer Warren Haynes, has a tradition of sprawling New Year’s Eve shows at the Beacon Theater. This year’s edition, “Get Behind the Mule: Past, Present and Future,” comes with a twist: fans have been submitting set-list requests, with cover tunes alongside band staples (both classic and obscure). At 8 p.m. on Thursday and 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th Street; (800) 745-3000; beacontheatre.com; $60.25 to $80.70 on Thursday, $70.45 to $97.55 on Friday. NATE CHINEN
GUIDED BY VOICES The songwriter Robert Pollard has more band names than Lady Gaga has costume changes and writes songs so fast he puts out multiple albums each year, dipping into styles from power pop to sound collage. His best-known outlet, with the strongest quality control, is Guided by Voices. Formed in the early 1980s, Guided by Voices released a string of low-fi albums, built a nationwide indie-rock following in the 1990s and officially disbanded with a farewell tour in 2004. Now it’s reunited, with members and set lists from its mid-1990s heyday. At 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J.; (201) 653-1703; $75. At 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place at 15th Street, Union Square; (212)777-6800; $86.75. (Sold out) JON PARELES
KYLE HALL/MARTYN ET AL. Mister Saturday Night, the roaming, multileveled dance party hosted by the D.J.s Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin, puts on a New Year’s Eve event at an undisclosed location in Brooklyn. In different rooms will be the young Kyle Hall, the imaginative house-into-dubstep producer and D.J. from Detroit; and Martyn, the Dutch dubstep D.J. who grew out of drum-and-bass. At 9 p.m. until “late”; tickets are $50; location and details at residentadvisor.net/mistersaturdaynight. BEN RATLIF
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS Ms. Jones, the resolute queen of retro-soul, may be the perfect person to look back on a tough year: “I Learned the Hard Way” (Daptone), her most recent album with the Dap-Kings, is full of songs about eroded trust and wounded pride. But Ms. Jones never sounds defeated by her hardships, especially in concert, in which she becomes a dervish. These two shows will also feature the New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, whose urbane polish masks the grit in his songs, “Workin’ in a Coal Mine” chief among them. At 8 p.m. on Thursday and 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Best Buy Theater, 1515 Broadway at West 44th Street; (212) 930-1950;bestbuytheater.com; $39.50 on Thursday, $55 on Friday. NATE CHINEN
LOS LOBOS This long-running Mexican-American band from East Los Angeles has multiple guises. It can sound like a rock ’n’ roll band out of some 1960s sock hop or a breezy jam band or a traditionalist Mexican band or a thoughtful folk-rock band, or all of them at once. Deep respect for roots doesn’t rule out any of their eccentricities, and they’re all the better for that. At 7:30 and 11 p.m., New York City Winery, 155 Varick Street; (212) 608-0555; citywinery.com; $60 to $225. JON PARELES
ALEXANDER MARKOV There’s no questioning the violinist Alexander Markov’s classical bona fides, which include a gold medal from the Paganini International Violin Competition in 1982 and an Avery Fisher career grant in 1987. That side of Mr. Markov’s artistry no doubt will be evident during this tony private concert. But he will also perform his Rock Concerto, in which he summons the spirits of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbathwith a gold-plated six-string electric violin and a healthy dose of distortion. At 9 p.m., the Russian Tea Room, 150 West 57th Street, near Seventh Avenue; (212) 581-7100;russiantearoom.eventbrite.com; $750, with five-course dinner, open bar, dancing and dessert; at 10:30 p.m., $175, with open bar, dancing and dessert. STEVE SMITHMAROON 5 It will be hard to know where to turn to for solace — face Maroon 5 after a long night at the blackjack tables or run back to the gambling after a couple of hours of watching this band emote. Of late, Maroon 5 has been abandoning its blue-eyed soul roots in favor of a nominally rougher sound, but its commitment to lovelorn lyrics with hints of bad attitude remains. At 9 p.m., House of Blues, 801 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, N.J.; (609) 343-4000; houseofblues.com; $65 general admission, $75 for balcony seats. JON CARAMANICA
BRUNO MARS It’s been a terrific year for Bruno Mars, who helped genetically engineer a new strain of melodically-savvy crossover hip-hop as a collaborator with B.o.B, Travie McCoy and others. After that, Mr. Mars emerged as one of pop’s most refreshing new voices, thanks to his eclectic debut album “Doo-Wops & Hooligans.” On stage, he’s a showman in the old-school way: a permanent smile; slick, mature dance moves; and a huge desire to please any and all comers. At 9 p.m., Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel, 714 Seventh Avenue, Manhattan; (212) 765-7676;giltcity.com/newyork/newyearseve; packages from $950 to $5,000. JON CARAMANICA
NILSON MATTA’S SAMBA JAZZ /JAZZ LEGENDS OF THE GUITAR The Kitano Hotel, home to one of the most unassumingly elegant jazz rooms in the city, has two appealing options for ringing in the new year. In the main lounge, Mr. Matta, a bassist from Brazil, leads his polished Samba Jazz group, featuring Helio Alves on piano and Roni Ben-Hur on guitar. In the Garden Cafe, three other guitarists — Gene Bertoncini, Bucky Pizzarelli and Ed Laub — will hold court, with standard-songbook flair. Both shows at 9 p.m., Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Avenue at 38th Street; (212) 885-7119; kitano.com; cover, $85, with a $25 minimum. NATE CHINEN
OCHUN A well-drilled New York-based Latin dance-band — fronted by the singer Miguel Garcia, and playing Cuban songs and Puerto Rican salsa classics — Ochun keeps dancers moving. At 5 p.m., Havana Central Times Square, 151 West 46th Street, Manhattan; (212) 398-7440; havanacentral.com; $75, and $35 for children 12 and under; at 9 p.m., $195.BEN RATLIFF
JOHNNY O’NEAL ET AL. Originally from Detroit, Johnny O’Neal is a jazz singer and pianist, whose sets run through Fats Waller, Bill Evans and Blue Mitchell, sometimes putting words to instrumental compositions. He’s a swinger, upbeat, crowd-pleasing, leaning hard on stride and blues and soulful singing, and he’ll take the club from 10 to midnight. Preceding Mr. O’Neal will be the Smalls All-Stars New Year’s Eve Band, including the singer Marion Cowings, the vibraphonist Lennie Cuje, the saxophonist Ned Goold, the pianist Spike Wilner, the bassist Jon Roche and the drummer Clifford Barbaro. And from 1 a.m. on, there’s a party and jam session. At 8 p.m., Smalls, 183 West 10th Street, West Village; no telephone; smallsjazzclub.com; $40, including a Champagne toast; after midnight, $20. BEN RATLIFF
ANDERS OSBORNE Born in Sweden but gone native in New Orleans, Anders Osborne plays bluesy rock infused with second-line rhythms and the city’s wry survival instinct. With Hollis Brown. At 9 p.m., Sullivan Hall, 214 Sullivan Street, Greenwich Village; (212) 634-0427; opening; $40; at 1:30 a.m. $30. JON PARELES
PASSION PIT/SLICK RICK They become non-indie so fast these days. Two years ago, Passion Pit was a well-meaning disco-friendly electro-pop outfit with a small, warm EP. A year later, it already felt huge, with a debut album, “Manners,” that did little to mask the group’s shameless pop ambitions and its penchant for the anthemic. Comparisons to the Bee Gees wouldn’t have been out of line, give or take tens of millions records sold. Here it shares a bill with Slick Rick, the formative 1980s rapper who was pardoned by Gov. David A. Paterson of New York in 2008 for a 1991 conviction for attempted murder, freeing him up to enliven bills like this one. At 9.m., the Wellmont Theater, 5 Seymour Street, Montclair, N.J.; (973) 783-9500; wellmonttheatre.com; $45 to $70. JON CARAMANICA
PHISH The reunion of Phish has restored an annual New York City event: year-end shows by the Vermont jam band that can be virtuosic, silly, high-concept and downright surreal in the course of their nimble, sprawling sets. What stunt has it planned this year? At Madison Square Garden; (212) 465-6741; Thursday at 7:30, $72.30; New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m., $82.50; Jan. 1 at 7:30 p.m., $72.30. JON PARELES
ARIEL PINK For starters, the night is called Inverted Cosmos NYE 2011. Add to that the fact that the headliner is Ariel Pink, who’s specialized in shambolic psychedelia for almost a decade. And the flier (which advertises laser and light effects) is rendered in a gothic tie-dye naturalistic style. It all adds up to one big, spooky, hippie party. Based on his excellent 2010 album “Before Today,” though — which demonstrates a fluency in, and possibly even an affinity for classic song structure — Mr. Pink might be ready to move beyond the mystical vibes in 2011. In that case, zone out while you can. With Outer Limits Recordings, Autre Ne Veut, Steve Summers and others. At 8 p.m., 234 Starr Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn; dailyghost.net; $19.99. JON CARAMANICA
PUPPET’S NEW YEAR’S EVE EXTRAVAGANZA For the last five years, with a few interruptions, Puppet’s Jazz Bar has been meeting the modest needs of jazz lovers in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. The club has been struggling to stay afloat, but its New Year’s Eve package is typically generous: $25 for an all-night affair, featuring a free Champagne toast and music by house regulars like the vibraphonist Bill Ware. From 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., 481 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn; (718) 499-2622; puppetsjazz.com; $25, with a one-item minimum. NATE CHINEN
The Roots As the quick-thinking house band for “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” the Roots cultivated a certain comic affability this year (Mr. Fallon routinely recruits them for goofy skits), but the band is still a formidable musical force, artfully fusing soul, jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop. It released both its ninth studio album, “How I Got Over,” and “Wake Up!”, a collection of (mostly) soul covers with John Legend in 2010 and will be celebrating a fruitful year with three epic sets: Brooklyn Bowl has announced that it will stay open until 6 a.m. At 8 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (718) 963-3369; brooklynbowl.com; sold out. AMANDA PETRRUSICH
THE RUB Over the last few years, the Rub has developed into one of the city’s most reliable dance parties thanks to the catholic taste of its principals, D.J. Ayres, D.J. Eleven and Cosmo Baker. Expect an enthused blend of hip-hop, dancehall, electro, classic soul, Baltimore club, moombahton and other microgenres with increasingly odd appellations. Here, they’re joined by Prince Klassen and Rok One in the front room, the hip-hop classicist Evil Dee and the Afro-funk specialist Rich Medina in the back room, and in the loft, Michna, Nick Hook and the house-music stalwart Romanthony. At 9 p.m., Public Assembly, 70 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (718) 384-4586; itstherub.com; $25 to $40. JON CARAMANICA
DR. LONNIE SMITH BIG BAND The Hammond B-3 organ virtuoso Dr. Lonnie Smith has had a good year: “Spiral,” his most recent album, captures the graceful fire of his working trio with the guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and the drummer Jamire Williams. That trio will play the Jazz Standard next Tuesday and Wednesday, and then stay on as the rhythm section for a New Year’s Eve engagement featuring a 14-piece big band. Dr. Smith’s nimble brand of soul jazz, even in expanded form, should make a fine complement to the included three-course meal. At 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan; (212) 576-2232; jazzstandard.net; $125 and $195.NATE CHINEN
PATTI SMITH Taking her role as a rock shaman seriously, Patti Smith has an annual ritual of her own: year-end shows at the Bowery Ballroom, just a few blocks downtown from where CBGB used to be. Her mini-residency sends off the old year and blasts toward the new, likely with songs yet to be released. At 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side; (212) 533-2111; .boweryballroom.com; $55; sold out. JON PARELES
TITUS ANDRONICUS/REAL ESTATE The five members of Titus Andronicus aren’t teenagers, exactly, but they lash and wail with adolescent aplomb, churning out fiery screeds about the Civil War, getting drunk and living in New Jersey. The band closes “A More Perfect Union,” from its latest album, “The Monitor” (XL), by quoting the abolitionist William Lloyd Gibson: “I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.” That last bit, at least, is true: expect a glorious squall. Real Estate, also from New Jersey, plays scrappy, nostalgic psych-pop songs about growing up, or not (“You won’t be happy in your office on your phone,” Martin Courtney opines). With Andrew Cedermark and Julian Lynch. At 8 p.m., Ridgewood Masonic Temple, 1054 Bushwick Avenue, at Gates Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn; (718) 388-5087; toddpnyc.com; $15. AMANDA PETRUSICH
MARVA WHITNEY/BILLY PRINCE With a voice gutsy enough to top the frenetic funk of the James Brown Revue in the late 1960s, Marva Whitney sang and shouted songs like “I’m Tired, I’m Tired, I’m Tired (Things Better Change Before It’s Too Late)” and the much-sampled “Unwind Yourself.” Brown himself produced her 1969 album “It’s My Thing.” Billy Prince sang with the Detroit soul group the Precisions. Brought to New York by Brooklyn’s invaluable Dig Deeper series of rediscovered R&B performers, they’ll be backed by the opening act, the Sweet Divines. At 8 p.m., the Bell House, 149 Seventh Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn; (718) 643-6510; thebellhouseny.com; $30 in advance; $40 on New Year’s Eve. JON PARELES
YERBABUENA Not to be confused with the Afro-Latin pop band Yerba Buena, this is the Puerto Rican band from New York led by the singer Tato Torres. It’s Boricua roots music with some updating and flexibility: percussive bomba and plena, jíbaro folk songs and deep electric-bass grooves. The band has been playing it for years at the Nuyorican for years and grown a following. At 9 p.m., Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 East Third Street, between Avenue B and C, Lower East Side; (212) 780-9386; nuyorican.org; $25. BEN RATLIFF
