New Year’s Eve in Nashville

 

It’s almost New Year’s Eve in Nashville, and there’s no better place to be!

Here is everything you need to know to enjoy an amazing night of celebration to ring in the New Year for 2018.

The Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville event on Sunday, Dec. 31 will feature a Music Note Drop at midnight, headliner Keith Urban, a multi-genre concert lineup of Nashville-based talent and a 6 p.m. Nashville-time countdown to celebrate the New Year in the U.K. in support of the new British Airlines flight to London. This is the ninth annual celebration and the second year at a new location at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.

Also on the lineup: CMA New Artist of the Year Maren Morris, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Cheap Trick, 2017 country music breakout artist Carly Pearce, R&B artist Jonny P, roots rockers Larkin Poe and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The concert is free and open to the public.

Don’t miss: Two countdowns to midnight. Two chances to win a pair of airline tickets to London. In partnership with British Airways, Music City Midnight will host a London countdown at 6 p.m. Nashville time led by Mayor Megan Barry and Grammy-winning legendary English rocker Peter Frampton, who is now a Nashville resident. The special countdown is to celebrate nonstop service between Nashville and London that begins May 2018 on British Airways. Enjoy British spirits and more in a pop-up British Airways Pub, which will be located in a tented area at Sixth Avenue and opens at 4 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Enter to win one of two pairs of airline tickets to London. Winner of one pair of tickets will be announced at 6 p.m., and Keith Urban will announce the other winner later that night.

Recently announced: Earlier this month, Nashville was named the No. 1 destination in the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Top Ten Best Place to Ring in the New Year travel contest.

Event night photography/videography: Please note that videography of Cheap Trick from riser is first two minutes from one of their first three songs and photography for Cheap Trick from pit area in front of the stage is limited to first three songs (no flash). No pit access for Keith Urban, and there will be a two-song limit from the media riser during Urban’s set. The media riser will be tented. Artist photos at this link.

New This Year

Team USA WinterFest: The U.S. Olympic Committee is bringing the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to Nashville with Team USA WinterFest presented by HERSHEY’S. The festival, which is in partnership with Music City Midnight, will take place Dec. 30-31 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Music City Walk of Fame Park. It is free and open to the public. Activities include HERSHEY’S S’mores mobile and Bobsled Boomerang, along with OREO’s Team USA Curling Challenge and Social Truck. Team USA athletes scheduled to appear include Amy Purdy, Paralympic gold medalist and Dancing with the Stars contestant, and Olympic swimming medalists Allison Schmitt and Elizabeth Beisel. There will be performances from Lewis Brice, Maggie Rose and Canaan Smith. In addition, Team USA athletes will sign autographs at 7 p.m. at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Harrison Street at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park during Music City Midnight activities on Dec. 31. Athlete photos at this link. visitmusiccity.com/winterfest

Craft Beer Tent: Local craft brews will be available for purchase in a tented area on Harrison Street between Sixth and Seventh. Picnic tables in the beer tent, as well as in the food court, will provide new seating areas. Hot chicken will be available nearby.

2018 Photo Prop: Located near the Bell Carillon, a giant 2018 sign is 10-feet tall and includes 1,000 LED puck lights – the perfect place to take a photo. The sign was designed and constructed by MadeFirst, a local design and fabrication company. They also built the bright red Music City and Music Note signs.

Highlights and Fun Facts

• Nashville will be a featured location as part of CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.” Correspondent Sara Sidner will be in Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park for a live interview and performance with Keith Urban.
• Fireworks over the State Capitol: The location will showcase the State Capitol during a one-minute fireworks show at 6 p.m. when the Music Note is raised and a five-minute display at the stroke of midnight. 
• Seven bands: Nashville’s New Year’s Eve concert will be headlined by GRAMMY-winner Keith Urban and features a diverse lineup of Nashville-based talent that includes CMA New Artist of the Year Maren Morris, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Cheap Trick, 2017 country music breakout artist Carly Pearce, R&B artist Jonny P., roots rockers Larkin Poe and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Sirius XM host Storme Warren will serve as emcee on stage. “Today In Nashville” personality Kelly Sutton will be hosting from the crowd.
• Music Note Tower: The tower will be 145-feet tall. The Music Note is 15-feet tall.
• Biodegradable Confetti: 100 pounds of confetti will shower down on revelers at the stroke of midnight. The rice paper confetti will be cleaned up immediately after the event concludes. Any confetti that is missed during cleanup should dissolve within two rainfalls. 
• Production: The event will use more than 4,500 linear feet of cable ramps, over 800 lighting fixtures, 85,000 square feet of flooring and more than 100 audio speakers. The production crew includes approximately 200 people.
• Logistics: Video screens, food trucks, beverage stands, portable toilets and merchandise booths will be available to attendees.

• Safety and Security: The event’s perimeter will be fenced and include eight entry points conveniently located around the site. Attendees should expect to walk through metal detectors as they enter. Bags and purses will be searched. There will be five public first aid tents.
• Video Screens and Message Boards: 18 throughout the event site, including four within the concert viewing area – two at the stage, one behind the front of house stand and one near Seventh Avenue.
• Food trucks: Clustered at Sixth and Harrison, along with beverage stands and bars; picnic tables; event and artist merchandise; sponsor activations; and a selfie station. Food trucks include: 313 Coney, City Kitchen, Crimson Witch, Music City Brisket, Bob’s Fish Fry, Smokin Butts, Paradise Ridge BBQ, ML Rose, Doxie’s Pizza, So Yum, Smoke Et Al, Hoss Burgers, Grilled Cheeserie and Cousin’s Maine Lobster. Located on Harrison Street: Prince’s Hot Chicken and Bolton’s Chicken & Fish.
• Portable toilets: More than 200 will be located at four locations – Seventh Avenue, Jackson Street, Sixth Avenue and Sixth and Harrison.
• Nashville Farmers’ Market: The building will be closed to the public for a private, ticketed event. It is sold out.
• Info Street Teams: Teams will be roaming the event site to answer questions and assist guests.

Live Stream

Make sure to download the Nashville New Year’s Eve app from the App Store or Google Play to get the most up-to-date information on the event, the music, official merchandise and everything else Music City Midnight has to offer. visitmusiccity.com/newyearseve will livestream the raising of the Music Note at 6 p.m. and the countdown to midnight, Music Note Drop and fireworks.

WKRN-Channel 2 will live broadcast the Music Note Drop from about 11:45 p.m. to 12:15 a.m.

Event Schedule for Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017

(Artists and times subject to change)

4:00 p.m.                   Event site activated DJ Robert Luke

5:45 p.m.                    Emcee Storme Warren opens the program

5:50 p.m.                    Mayor Megan Barry remarks

5:55 p.m.                    London Countdown to Midnight with Mayor Megan Barry and Peter Frampton; Music Note raised at Jack Daniel’s Stage; 1-minute fireworks show.

6:05 p.m.                   Fisk Jubilee Singers®

6:15 p.m.                    Storme Warren remarks

6:17 p.m.                    Larkin Poe

6:37 p.m.                    Team USA athletes introduced from the stage; DJ Robert Luke

6:50 p.m.                    Carly Pearce

7:30 p.m.                    DJ Robert Luke

7:45 p.m.                    Jonny P

8:25 p.m.                    DJ Robert Luke

8:40 p.m.                    Maren Morris

9:20 p.m.                    DJ Robert Luke

9:40 p.m.                    Cheap Trick

10:30 p.m.                  DJ Robert Luke

10:50 p.m.                  Keith Urban

Midnight                    Countdown and Music Note Drop with pyrotechnics and confetti. Five-minute fireworks show at midnight.

12:05 a.m.                  Keith Urban will continue until approximately 12:35 a.m.

Parking and Transportation

Attendees will have a variety of safe, affordable transportation options. The Tennessee Highway Safety Office reminds everyone to drive safely this New Year’s Eve. For those who will be drinking, please plan ahead to have a sober ride home. Law enforcement partners will be out in full force during the Booze It & Lose It campaign to keep impaired drivers off the roadways.

Downtown parking

To locate parking downtown, visit www.parkitdowntown.com.

Sober Ride

The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office will offer Sober Ride service to anyone needing a free ride home from the event. They should go to the Sober Ride tent located at Fourth Avenue North at Harrison Street from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Transit

MTA Buses: Nashville MTA bus service will be extended on 15 bus routes until 2:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 1. Additionally, MTA will offer free Downtown Music City Circuit service and shuttles to the event site at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.

Bus Service

All buses will be operating on detours downtown but will travel their regular routes, picking up passengers at all bus stops once out of the downtown area. Passengers may exit the bus at any stop downtown or at Music City Central, which is approximately a two-block walk from Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. A detailed schedule of bus operations through downtown is available on nashvillemta.org.

Listed below are the routes operating extended service:

3 – West End/White Bridge	15 – Murfreesboro Pike	26 – Gallatin Pike
4 – Shelby	18 – Airport/Downtown Hotels	34 – Opry Mills
7 – Hillsboro	19 – Herman	52 – Nolensville Pike BRT lite
10 – Charlotte	22 – Bordeaux	60 – Music City Blue Circuit
14 – Whites Creek	23 – Dickerson Road	61 – Music City Green Circuit

Free Circuit Service

Effective 6:15 p.m., both Blue and Green Circuits will operate between Commerce Street and the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Customers may board at any bus stop along Commerce Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. The bus will stop at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, James Robertson Parkway between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. It will return to Commerce Street via Rosa L. Parks/Eighth Avenue, with stops at Music City Central in between. Buses will run continuously and leave approximately every 10 minutes.

Park & Ride

Another option is to park your car and ride an MTA bus into downtown from an area Park & Ride:

Vanderbilt University parking lots on Natchez Trace (Routes 3, 5)	Kmart on Gallatin Pike at Walton Land and Briley Pkwy (Routes 26, 34)
Hillwood at Nashville West (Route 10)	Dollar General at Hickory Plaza (Route 52)
Hickory Hollow at Global Mall at The Crossings (Route 15)

 

Route information is available at nashvillemta.org. Customers can also get more information by using MTA’s real-time information, which will be available until midnight on Dec. 31, or by calling MTA Customer Care at 615-862-5950. For additional information about Nashville MTA and any of its services, please visit nashvillemta.org or call Customer Care at 615-862-5950.  To assist customers on New Year’s Eve, the Customer Care call center will be open until 12:30 a.m. January 1.

Music City Star: For the fifth straight year, the Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee (RTA) will operate a special Music City Star excursion train. An allotment of 400 tickets is now available to the general public. Round-trip tickets cost $15 plus a $1 processing fee and are available for purchase at ticketsnashville.com with a credit card. Tickets will be on sale until 24 hours prior to departure or until they are sold out, whichever comes first. The New Year’s Eve excursion train is scheduled to depart Lebanon Station (334 W. Baddour Parkway) at 6 p.m., Martha (65 Martha Circle) at 6:15 p.m., Mt. Juliet (22 E. Division St.) at 6:29 p.m., Hermitage (4121 Andrew Jackson Parkway) at 6:41 p.m., Donelson (2705 Lebanon Pike) at 6:54 p.m. and arrive at Riverfront Station at 7:09 p.m. Upon arrival at Riverfront Station, buses will depart from the rear turnaround and take customers to Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Customers wanting to arrive at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park later in the evening may catch a Blue Circuit bus at Fifth and Commerce, get on an MTA bus on Second Avenue or walk to Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. From Downtown, shuttles will run from the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park back to Riverfront Station between midnight and 1 a.m. These buses will load at the state map area on James Robertson between Sixth and Seventh Avenues and will proceed directly to the Riverfront Station. MTA staff will be on hand to assist and direct passengers.  The Music City Star will depart at 1:30 a.m.  For more information, contact Customer Care at 615-862-5950 or visit the RTA website at musiccitystar.org.

Road Closures

A complete list of road closures is available from Metro Public Works and Metro Police.

Guidelines and Security Procedures

The NCVC is planning for more than 100,000 attendees. Event goers should be aware of the following guidelines that will be strictly enforced by event personnel. The event’s perimeter will be fenced and include eight entry points conveniently located around the site. Attendees should expect to walk through metal detectors as they enter. Bags and purses will be searched. A complete list of House Rules is available.

Permitted items

• Small bags with maximum measurement of 16” by 10” by 4”
• Handheld, personal-sized umbrellas (up to 36 inches)
• Personal cameras

Prohibited items

• No chairs of any type
• No guns, knives, other weapons or dangerous devices of any kind
• No coolers
• No backpacks or luggage
• No outside alcoholic beverages (only alcoholic beverages purchased from a designated official event vendor are permitted)
• No illegal substances, drugs or drug paraphernalia
• No fireworks
• No laser pointers
• No pets (service animals are permitted)
• No pop-up tents
• No beach or pole-style umbrellas
• No blankets or ground tarps
• No wagons or pull-carts
• No drones or other remote-controlled aerial or ground-based devices
• No inserting stakes, poles or any other objects into the ground or use of ropes, cords, tape, etc. to reserve space
• No unauthorized vending, sales, sampling, solicitation or distribution of materials including handbills, flyers, stickers, beach balls, giveaways, etc. (event credentials required)
• No unauthorized personal transport devices, including bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards, Segways, golf carts, mopeds, or any personal motorized vehicles other than wheelchairs or ADA devices (event-credentialed golf carts and other transport devices permitted)
• No pedicabs or pedal taverns
• No unauthorized amplification devices that would disrupt event production, including handheld megaphones
• No performances or demonstrations of any type unless previously authorized by event (event credentials required)
• No hammocks or attaching anything to any park structures or trees
• No audio recorders or video cameras
• No noisemakers (musical instruments, bullhorns, air horns, whistles, etc.)
• No camera stands, monopods, tripods, attachment sticks or selfie sticks
• No aerosol containers of any kind
• No sealed containers of any kind
• No signs, flags on sticks or poles
• No throwing objects
• No smoking, e-cigs or vaping devices outside of designated smoking area
• No professional-grade radios or walkie-talkies
• No large chains or spiked jewelry