Tag: 241226

Where to bid farewell to 2024

New Year’s Eve parties with music, dancing and more

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

There are many ways to mark year’s end and ring in 2025, from an early dinner with music to a full-scale bash that ends with confetti blasts at midnight. Here’s a list of options available.

815 Cocktails & Provisions (815 Elm St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. $140 — Rodeo Ball is this year’s theme, with cowboy boots, fringe, and bedazzled attire encouraged for a night filled with music, passed hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, Siren of the Circle burlesque, Magic by Benjamin, unlimited photobooth and more.

Alan’s (133 N. Main St., Boscawen, 753-6631) 8 p.m. $30 — Freddie Partridge Band plays dance music, preceded by a special NYE menu.

American Legion Auxiliary Unit 4 (797 Court St., Keene, 352-9703) 7 p.m. $25 — MV19 rocks in the new year, includes hors d’oeuvres, sandwich station, midnight toast and party favors.

American Legion Post 47 (551 Foundry St., Rollinsford, 742-5833) 7:30 p.m. $10 — Aunt Peg Band plays the hits at this party. Bring an appetizer to share; pizza will be served.

American Legion Post 6 (96 Islington St., Portsmouth, 436-7575) 8 p.m. — Karaoke with DJ Darlene.

American Legion Post 8 (640 Central Ave., Dover, 742-9710) 8 p.m. — Live music by Dancing Madly Backwards, full bar, food and snacks, dance floor.

Artisan Hotel at Tuscan Village (17 Via Toscana, Salem, tuscanbrands.com) 6 p.m. $300 — Four-course dinner with Pear Burrata Salad, Surf & Turf and Chocolate Espresso Torte for dessert, followed by Dueling Pianos with The Flying Ivories, dinner kicks off at 7 p.m. (seating begins at 6 p.m.).

Ash Cigar Lounge (92 Route 125, Kingston, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m. $50 — Red Carpet Hollywood Glam New Year’s Eve Celebration with Frank Sinatra tribute singer, cigar specials and midnight toast. Dress code: Hollywood Glam — red carpet elegance encouraged.

Ashworth by the Sea (295 Ocean Blvd., Hampton, 926-6762) 8 p.m. $30 and up — Choose the laid-back Breakers Party or get dolled up for the Masquerade Gala with plated surf & turf dinner.

Auspicious Brew (2 Washington St., Dover, 953-7240) 9 p.m. $15 at the door — all-ages house party with Citizen Kane and Liz Ridgely. Vinyl sets, dance hits, performance art and a community ritual to mark the end of the year.

Averill House Vineyard (21 Averill Road, Brookline, exploretock.com) 7 p.m. $89 — Celebrate the new year on Brazil Time with a complimentary wine pairing and five-course Brazilian dinner.

Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St., Concord, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. $50-$70 — Moulin Rouge meets Bourbon Street as the Catnip Junkies perform in the lounge while DJ BegBlack spins a range of hits. Aerialists, drag performers, and a confetti blast at midnight.

Belknap Mill (25 Beacon St., Laconia, 524-8813) 8 p.m. $201 per pair — Mayor’s Ball to support Belknap Mill with speakeasy theme, hors d’oeuvres, music, dancing and open bar.

Birch on Elm (968 Elm St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 7:30 p.m. $200 — an evening of elegant indulgence with unlimited hors d’oeuvres, raw bar, two drinks and bubbly when the ball drops.

BLEND603 (82 Fleet St., Portsmouth, eventbrite.com) 7 and 9 p.m. $30 — Underground Comedy Club has two shows, each with a Champagne toast.

Brickhouse Restaurant & Brewery (241 Union Square, Milford, 672-2270) 7 p.m. — Recently reopened with a new name and theme, with beloved cover band The Slakas welcoming the new year.

Bridgewater Inn (367 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater, 744-3518) 8 p.m. — Classic rock band Horsepower performs downstairs, with DJ Di upstairs spinning all night long. $55 per person includes buffet (8:30-10:30 p.m.) and party; hats and tiaras, noisemakers, beads and Champagne toast.

Buckey’s (240 Governor Wentworth Hwy., Moultonborough, 476-5485) 9 p.m. — The tradition continues with the Red Hat Band performing.

Cercle National Club (550 Rockland Ave., Manchester, 623-8243) 7:30 p.m. — Potluck dinner and appetizers with Mixtape Heroez playing rock covers at this members club. Champagne at midnight.

Chop Shop (920 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, 760-7706) 6:30 p.m. — The AC/DC Experience tribute band performs at this party.

Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester, 232-4794) 7 p.m. $30 — at 7:30 and 9 p.m. it’s a comedy show starring Steve Scarfo, Kyle Crawford and Dan Crohn. Separately, there’s a drag show hosted by Karisma & Larissa Montes at 10 p.m. for $30.

City Hall Pub (8 Hanover St., Manchester) 8 p.m. Party with The Trio.

Common Man (88 Range Road, Windham, 898-0088) 6 p.m. — Singer-songwriter Karen Grenier performs an early set.

Copper Door (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677) 3 p.m. — Clint Lapointe plays from 4 to 7 p.m., and the restaurant stays open until 11 p.m., with a special menu: two-course $76, three-course $86 and four-course $96.

Copper Door (42 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033) 3 p.m. — Jodee Frawlee plays from 4 to 7 p.m., and the restaurant stays open until 11 a.m., with a special menu: two-course $76, three-course $86 and four-course $96.

Derryfield (625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-2880) 7 p.m. $30 — once again the Chad LaMarsh Band, a high-energy dance combo with male and female lead vocals, entertains with tunes from the ’60s to now, with Champagne toast at midnight and party favors.

Doubletree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) 6 p.m. $35 and up — Headliners Comedy with Will Noonan, Dan Crohn, Amy Tee, Tim McKeever, Annie Powell, Joe Espi and Dave Decker, also separate Dueling Pianos show, dinner/hotel packages available at headlinersnh.com.

Eagles Club (36 S. Main St., Concord, 228-8922) 8 p.m. — Dave Graham performs, prime rib $15 per person and chicken cordon bleu $12 per person, full bar, 50/50 raffle.

East Side Club (786 Massabesic St., Manchester, 669-1802) 9 p.m. — NYE party with DJ Keith.

Flying Monkey Movie House (39 Main St., Plymouth, 536-2551) 7:30 p.m. $35 and up — Cathedral offers the only tribute to Van Halen that performs both Roth & Hagar material in their setlist.

Fratello’s (155 Dow St., Manchester, 624-2022) 5:30 p.m. — Tim Kierstead plays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Governors Inn Hotel & Restaurant (76 Wakefield Road, Rochester, 332-0107) 8 p.m. $95 includes four-course dinner with prime rib buffet, along with dancing to classic rock and pop cover band Bad Penny.

Gusto (18 Main St., Center Harbor, eventbrite.com) 5:30 p.m. $25 and $45 — Italian dinner includes wild boar, pappardelle and filet mignon with a dessert buffet and glass of Moscato to close the night. Ring in the new year early live from Italy.

Hen House (85 S. Main St., Newton, 382-1705) 9 p.m. — New Year’s Eve Bash w/ Stumpy Joe Band again hosting the party, along with Diamond Edge and The Moonlighters.

Hermit Woods Winery & Eatery (72 Main St., Meredith, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m. $95 and up — begin with passed appetizers, then enjoy jazz singer Ashley Warwick, accompanied by Paul Bourgeois, CJ Poole and Rick Erwin.

Homestead (641 DW Highway, Merrimack, 429-2022) 5:30 p.m. — Jeff Mrozek performs.

Kama Fly Fitness (250 S. Commercial St., Suite 3007, Manchester, eventbrite.com) 6:30 p.m. — New Year’s Eve ceremony and sound bath to begin the new year with clarity, purpose and peace.

Keys Piano Bar (1087 Elm St., Manchester, 836-7796) 7 p.m. $50 — Sequin Party with DJ music, on-stage dance and limbo contests, karaoke and other games. Ticket includes two premium drinks, hors d’oeuvres and a Champagne toast at midnight.

L Street Tavern (17 L St., Hampton, 967-4777) 9 p.m. — There’s a party here, but details aren’t available.

LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst, 672-9898) 9 p.m. $120 — three-course plated dinner, followed by dance music from Freese Brothers Big Band, in its 42nd year of keeping the sounds of swing and classic Big Band music alive.

Lakeport Opera House (781 Union Ave., Laconia, 519-7506) 7:30 p.m. $20 — Eric Grant Band plays top 40 hits, themed cocktails and midnight ball drop.

Loon Mountain (60 Loon Mountain Road, Lincoln, 745-8111) 6 p.m. $40 — Grateful Dead tribute band Alligator Wine hosts this party, with hors d’oeuvres and a midnight toast included.

Lynn’s 102 Tavern (76 Derry Road, Hudson, 943-7832) 8 p.m. — Rock Junk the stage with special guests Ken Stiles and Bill Janiero.

Martingale Wharf (99 Bow St., Suite W, Portsmouth, 431-0901) 6 p.m. $20 special event fee for reservations after 8 p.m. as Michael Troy Trio and special three-course NYE menu served and late night bar food from 10 p.m. to midnight.

McCue’s Comedy Club (580 Route 1 Bypass, Portsmouth, portsmouthnhtickets.com) 8 p.m. $30 -— Standup from Nick Gordon, Sara Poulin, Liam Hales and Jack Lynch.

Murphy’s Taproom & Carriage House (393 Route 101, Bedford, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. $40 — Comedy show with Mark Riley, Jody Sloane, Bill Douglas and Jolanda Logan.

Murphy’s Taproom (494 Elm St., Manchester, scampscomedy.com) 10 p.m. $30 — Comedy show in the back room with Eric Hurst, Klia Ververidis, Bryan Muenzer and Tyler Hittner.

Music Hall Loft (131 Congress St., Portsmouth, 433-3100) 7:30 p.m. $42 and up — After outdoor First Night festivities, high-energy string band Rockspring performs, with a midnight Champagne toast.

Nan King Restaurant (222 Central St., Hudson, 882-1911) 5 and 8 p.m. Patty’s Energizer Karaoke rings in the new year. Have dinner and sing your favorite song.

Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, etix.com) 7 p.m. $39 — Juston McKinney’s Year in Review returns to bid a laughing farewell to 2024.

Nova Arts/Brewbakers Café (48 Emerald St., Keene, eventbrite.com) 3 p.m. $20 — Hug The Dog, a four-piece Granite State band, plays a unique fusion of indie rock, soul and lyrical rock.

Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester, 668-5588) 6 p.m. Recycled Percussion is again home for the holidays. Ring in 2025 with junk rock — two shows, 3 and 7 p.m.

Pats Peak Ski Area (686 Flanders Road, Henniker, 728-7732) 7 p.m. — New Year’s fireworks at 9:20 p.m., ski, ride and tube (lifts open until 8:45 p.m.) and dancing to Dave & Wally in the Sled Pub from 6 to 9 p.m. No traditional NYE party this year.

Pembroke Pines Country Club (42 Whittemore Road, Pembroke, eventbrite.com) 9 p.m. $125 — live music from Taylor Hughes, laughter with comedians from Mike’s Comedy Club.

Penuche’s Ale House (9 Pleasant St., Concord) 8 p.m. $10 at the door — Power pop from Donaher, with New Norde, Lovewell and Jay the Barber.

Portsmouth Gas Light (64 Market St., Portsmouth, 430-9122) 9 p.m. $50 and up — Midnight Masquerade party on the third floor, passed hors d’oeuvres, Champagne toast, late night buffet, giveaways, with VIP packages available.

Press Room (77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 431-5186) 8:30 p.m. $20 and up — New Year’s Eve Ski Party w/ DJ Chad Banks, D-Rowe Beatz & DJ Tuggboat.

Red’s Kitchen & Tavern (530 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, 760-0030) 8 p.m. Masquerade party with live music from DNA.

Remix Skate Center (725 Huse Road, Manchester, skateremix.com) 8 p.m. $30 — all-ages party hosted by DJ Darrey Roy, with unlimited skating, swag bags, bar specials and confetti countdown.

Revo Casino (1279 S. Willow St., Manchester, revocasino.com) 9 p.m. — George Cox hosts karaoke, with free party favors and a Champagne toast at midnight, late night menu, casino open until 4 a.m.

Revo Casino (887b Central Ave., Dover, revocasino.com) 7:30 p.m. — Madhouse Party Band performs.

Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St., Manchester, 668-5588) 8 p.m. $30 — Comedian Jimmy Dunn takes the stage for end-of-year laughs.

Rockingham Ballroom (22 Ash Swamp Road, Newmarket, eventbrite.com) 9 p.m. $40 — With a theme of Fantasy Formal, it’s dancing all night on the area’s largest dance floor. DJ host Johnny B Groovy and Soul Sister Pam. Party favors, healthy late-night food and dessert table, midnight glass of Champagne.

Rooftop at The Envio (299 Vaughan St., Portsmouth, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. $110 — ticket includes a selection of passed hors d’oeuvres, an iced seafood raw bar, and a variety of appetizers to savor throughout the evening. Plus, enjoy two sparkling toasts — one to kick off the celebration as you arrive, and another at midnight. DJ Darwin Almonte from Get Down Tonight Entertainment will be on hand to keep you dancing all night long.

Rumors Sports Bar & Bowling (22 N. Main St., Newmarket, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. $10 — Multiple live performances, pizza, calzones and snacks, midnight toast.

Saddle Up Saloon (92 Route 125, Kingston, 369-6962) 9 p.m. $80 — three-course dinner included (6 and 7:30 seatings) at this event, with All That ’90s playing memorable hits and a pizza buffet as midnight approaches.

Salt hill Pub Lebanon (2 West Park St., Lebanon, 448-4532) 9 p.m. $10 — The Gully Boys, local legends playing the music of the Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Phish and other legendary acts.

Salt hill Pub Newport (58 Main St., Newport, 863-7774) 10 p.m. — 19th annual NYE party with the Loonz playing classic rock.

Sawtooth Kitchen (33 South Main St., Hanover, toasttab.com) 8 p.m. $15 — psychedelic debauchery from Canopy, ticket includes a Champagne toast at midnight.

Shaskeen (909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246) 6 p.m. $60 — DJ Myth hosts an all-inclusive Epic New Year’s Bash with 200 tickets sold covering a dinner buffet, midnight Champagne toast, live DJ and open bar (no shots). The club will be closed to anyone without tickets (21+ only).

Sheraton Hotel (2 Somerset Parkway, Nashua, eventbrite.com) 9 p.m. $60 and up — Dueling Pianos provide entertainment with NY strip steak or roasted farm chicken dinner, one of two big events presented by Headliners Comedy Club.

Side Bar (845 Lafayette Road, Hampton, thecommunityoven.com) 6:30 p.m. $10, $15 at the door — live DJ, Champagne toast, all-night drink specials at this party.

Sky Meadow Country Club (6 Mountain Laurels Drive, Nashua, headlinersnh.com) 7 p.m. $25 — Bash in the Grotto with a la carte food and complimentary Champagne toast.

Smitty’s Cinema (630 W. Main St., Tilton, smittyscinema.com) 9 p.m. $20 — comedy show starring Rodney Norman.

Soho Bistro (20 Old Granite St., Manchester, 222-1677) 6 p.m. $10 — masquerade ball at this downtown spot.

South Church UUC (292 State St., Portsmouth, portsmouthnhtickets.com) 6 p.m. $25 — Last Blast NYE concert with The Reconstructed and Natalia Rothwell.

Stone Church (5 Granite St., Newmarket, 659-7700) 7 p.m. $50 — Neighbor closes out a three-night run with a NYE party.

Stoned Wall Bar & Grill (37 Manchester St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. $50 ticket includes two drink tickets, glass for midnight toast, appetizers at this New Year’s Eve party. $20 cover after 8 p.m.

Strand Ballroom (20 Third St., Dover, 343-1899) 6 p.m. $45 and up — Comedy with Scott Marcoux, followed by The Dancing Yetis playing classic rock, blues, funk and disco, with finger foods and midnight toast.

Sweeney Post #2 (251 Maple St., Manchester) 7:30 p.m. — Live music from Stray Dogs, with a potluck dinner, so bring an app, favorite dish or dessert to share.

Tenney Mountain Ski Resort (151 Tenney Mountain Road, Plymouth, 238-9567) 9 p.m. $90 — Charcuterie station at 6 p.m., buffet with carving station from 7 to 9 p.m. Fireworks show with DJ entertainment and dancing starts at 8 p.m. Party favors and Champagne toast included, with the 2025 countdown ball drop playing live from Times Square! Cash bar.

The Brook Casino (319 New Zealand Road, Seabrook, eventbrite.com) 9 p.m. $40 and up — Ring in the new year with Doug Ferony and the best of Frank Sinatra.

The Goat MHT (50 Old Granite St., Manchester, 603-4628) 5:30 p.m. NYE Party with Seven Day Weekend is reprised.

Thirsty Moose (21 Congress St., Portsmouth, 427-8645) 8 p.m. Woodland Protocol performs downstairs with DJ Millzy spinning upstairs.

Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, 437-5100) noon — Adam Ezra Group and opening duo dynamo Sirsy play with a four-course dinner at 5:30 p.m. for $95; 9 p.m. show only is $45, and all tickets include a Champagne toast.

Tuscan Market & Village (9 Via Toscana, Salem, tuscanbrands.com) 9 p.m. — Ring in the new year at The Veranda with a DJ, exclusive views of the midnight fireworks show, and special featured entertainment.

Twins Smoke Shop (80 Perkins Road, Londonderry, 421-0242) 8 p.m. — Welcome the new year with cigars and cocktails in the shop’s 7-20-4 Lounge.

Wally’s Pub (144 Ashworth Ave., Hampton, 926-6954) 7:30 p.m. — Fast Times plays music from the 1980s.

Winona Social Club (168 Manchester St., Manchester, 623-9248) 8:30 p.m. — Music from DJ Joe with potluck food and Jell-o shots.

WSCA Radio (909 Islington St., Suite 1, Portsmouth, 430-9722) 8:30 p.m. $45 — NYE with Adrienne Mack-Davis, 32 French, Sound Around Us, DJ Skooch, & DJ Mam, includes food, Champagne toast 21+.

Bourbon Street bubbly

N’awlins New Year in Concord

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Mix the effervescent nightclub at the heart of Moulin Rouge with Dixieland style and light it up in a disco inferno for a sense of what will be happening at BNH Stage on the final night of 2024. The Big Easy New Year’s Eve reprises elements that elevated two previous First Night events presented by Boston’s Shuttavac Productions, while adding a few new ones.

The prevailing theme is dress to impress, Shuttavac’s Beth McGurr explained recently. “New Year’s is that day where it’s easier to get people to participate; they want to come out,” she said. “You can come in a tuxedo, a ball gown or in fishnets, and you’ll feel comfortable, fun and vibrant.”

As in previous years, there will be aerialists spinning from above, dancers on the main stage, and Boston DJ BegBick with a mix ranging from ’70s disco hits to Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Lizzo and other modern acts, along with hip-hop and house. Also, as a projection screen provides visual effects behind the stage, “interactive cabaret acts” will perform.

“It’s like the French Quarter; Moulin Rouge meets Bourbon Street,” McGurr said, noting that drag performers and dancers will do songs from the Broadway musical that began as a Baz Luhrmann jukebox movie. “The host has that charismatic thing going, with the suit and the little mustache.”

Upstairs, the BNH Stage’s Cantab Lounge will morph into a speakeasy, with entertainment provided by Catnip Junkies, a Providence, R.I., band that regularly does a show called the Bourbon Street Jubilee and bills itself as “the happiest, tappiest and brassiest band you’ll ever hear.”

Their performance is filled with comedic antics, along with tap dancing, tuba solos, group robot dancing, occasional roller skating and kazoo solos, injecting a New Orleans second line spirit into the First Night celebration. “They have a lot of fun with the horns and everything,” McGurr said.

This will be the third New Year’s event she’s done in downtown Concord. The first was the lead-in to 2020, a year she had a number of other events booked that had to be scrapped due to the pandemic. Shuttavac returned to BNH Stage in 2022 to do a Great Gatsby-themed NYE party, and McGurr is happy to be back for 2024.

“When they called me for this year, I was like, yes, 100 percent, sign me up,” she said. “I love the venue. It’s different for that area … what’s really cool is when you open it up and make it a ballroom, it’s got this giant ceiling, these very evocative brick walls and a great stage. And you can change the whole room by changing the projection screen, which I love.”

Party favors and a Champagne toast will accompany a midnight confetti blast to ring in the new year at the event, which is for ages 21 and up. There are two pricing tiers. General admission is $50. VIP guests have access to the balcony and other amenities for an additional $20. Prices for both levels will rise at the door

McGurr hopes to be back, and is considering ideas for a New Year’s Eve 2025 bash, with an eye toward possibly using facilities in Art Alley, due to open in the spring, for the event. “I’m thinking of a Casino Royale theme or something like that,” she said. “We try to change it each year.”

Looking back and forward

Recalling 2024, and looking ahead to next year

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

New Hampshire’s music and comedy scene had a robust year. From start to finish, here are some of the highlights, along with some sad notes, followed by a peek at the year ahead.

In January, blues singer Bobby Rush came to Concord’s BNH Stage for a concert. At 91 years old, Rush is a one-man rebuttal to ageism. He got his start as a thigh- and chest-slapping hambone performer, and the first record he released was a 78 RPM shellac disc.

The vibe continued in February at Manchester’s Rex Theatre, as the annual Winter Blues Festival featured local harmonica player and singer Nick David’s band celebrating a new album with support from some of his Texas label’s other acts. Over in Portsmouth, embattled comic Kathy Griffin played the Music Hall in Portsmouth.

Blending elements of alt-country and harmony-rich classic rock, Slim Volume brought a breath of fresh air to the local music scene, releasing a trio of EPs and playing listening room shows like one in early March at The Livery in Sunapee. On St. Patrick’s Day the rousing Rebel Collective inclusively played Celtic rock in an Italian restaurant.

Four days later, Mike Koutrobis filmed a special at Nashua’s Center for the Arts, a high point for the hometown comic.

The laughs continued in April as Daniel Sloss brought his edgy act to Laconia’s Colonial Theatre. Few can challenge an audience like the British comedian.

Carole King’s Beautiful ran through most of May at Manchester’s Palace Theatre, continuing a year-long theme, musicals centered on pop and the classic rock era. The Palace also had the ABBA/Disco revue Dancing Queens in January and the gritty Jersey Boys (also done by two other theater companies) in November.

Bike Week roared back to the Lakes Region, along with music, as karate-kicking blues rocker James Montgomery’s band played during the June event. The summer shed season got in gear at Bank of NH Pavilion, highlighted by Hootie & the Blowfish and Collective Soul bringing a ’90s vibe.

Badfish played its traditional Fourth of July concert at Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach. In the wake of a Sublime reunion at Coachella, they’re mixing more original songs into the tribute act. Nantucket comic Brian Glowacki brought standup to Beans & Greens in Gilford for the first time.

Yoga, sustainability and music returned to Hillsborough in August as the Barefoot Festival’s second iteration happened. Jimmy Dunn’s Hampton Beach Comedy Festival is in its second decade; Dunn hung with his comedian pals and also celebrated his second season with the Frasier reboot.

Triptych, a collaboration between guitarist Stephane Wrembel and pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, brought instrumental mastery to UNH in September, while percussive guitarist Senie Hunt played acoustic and electric tunes on a short tour and then headed back to Nashville.

In October, Everclear sold out the Music Hall with fellow ’90s stars Marcy Playground and Jimmy’s Chicken Shack, and Todd Rundgren explained why he’s indifferent to his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame prior to a Nashua show. Hell Beach made one of the year’s best albums, Beachworld, and played it during a raucous Shaskeen show.

November began with Beatles disciple Moon Walker at BNH Stage and continued with Willie Nile rocking the Rex while showing that he’s every musician’s favorite musician for a reason. A year to the day after he headlined Nashua Center for the Arts for the first time, Drew Dunn was back. Later, the Nashua native hit the road with Dane Cook — again, again.

“I have learned a lot watching and working with Dane over the past few years,” Dunn wrote on Facebook. “I am feeling more inspired and motivated than ever in this comedy pursuit. We always have a great time on tour, and I am lucky to call a guy I grew up listening to my friend.”

December began with a reminder of New Hampshire’s wealth of talent, as the winners of a talent contest sponsored by New Hampshire Music Collective performed a showcase at BNH Stage. The venue was good to NHMC all year long, with a few sold-out shows and regular crowds for its monthly series in the venue’s lounge.

Overall highlights in 2024 included the opening of Pembroke City Limits, a listening room, bar and restaurant launched by music maven Rob Azevedo. Six months in, it’s doing great. “We have been blown away by the response,” Azevedo said in December, “Not only to the incredible talented musicians, but our dedicated audiences have exceeded our expectations.”

Another new venue on the scene is Milk Street Studio in Dover, launched by musician and entrepreneur Kurt Eddins, with help from reggae guitarist/songwriter Sebastian Franks and custom guitar builder John Ayer. Shows began there during the summer and several are scheduled in the New Year.

Finally, the regional music community was stunned by the death of Brooks Young at age 42. The blues rock guitarist was in the middle of a string of successes, including tours with George Thorogood, Sammy Hagar and other rock greats, when his car was hit head-on in Alton on the morning of Nov. 8.

In other sad music news, beloved singer/songwriter Dave Mallett passed away on Dec. 17; he was 73. The Maine native performed regularly in New Hampshire. His “Garden Song (Inch By Inch)” was covered by Peter, Paul & Mary and Pete Seeger. Marty Stuart, Kathy Mattea, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, and Hal Ketchum also recorded his songs.

The Music Roundup 24/12/26

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

• Jazzy time: Recover from the holidays with the Hall of Mirrors, an improvisational jazz quartet led by guitarist Randy Roos, who’s received Emmy nominations for his television scores. With piano player Steve Hunt, bassist Mike Rossi and Tim Gilmore on drums, their musical telepathy has been described as “spontaneous composition rather than free jazz.” Thursday, Dec. 26, 6 p.m., Hermit Woods Winery & Eatery, 72 Main St., Meredith, $15 and up at eventbrite.com.

• In harmony: Though it’s an ambitious if not impossible tribute task, Forever Simon & Garfunkel does an impressive job. Sean Altman (Rockapella) met Jack Skuller when he was a teenager; they sang “Mrs. Robinson” together and found an immediate chemistry. The show traces the history of the duo from their “Hey Schoolgirl” debut through “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Friday, Dec. 27, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, $35 and up at palacetheatre.org.

• Tribute power: For a sense of how convincingly Rotten Apple: A Tribute to Alice In Chains does its job, listen to praise from people like Chad Olech, a front-of-house engineer who toured with AIC in the late 2000s. “Brings back the feeling of being at one of those amazing shows,” he said. The band performs on a double bill with Manchester rockers Chasing the Devil. Saturday, Dec. 28, 9 p.m., Angel City Music Hall, 179 Elm St., Manchester, $20 at eventbrite.com.

• Year ending: Three nights of music from Boston supergroup Neighbor includes a pair of brunches and culminates with a big New Year’s Eve bash. Sunday, Dec. 29, through Tuesday, Dec. 31, 8 p.m., Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket, $40 at portsmouthnhtickets.com.

• Impractical laughs: Fittingly, comedian Joe Gatto called his first special Messing With People, since he rose to fame with the Candid Camera stepchild Impractical Jokers. Since leaving the show a few years ago, he’s hosted the Two Cool Moms podcast with fellow comic Steve Byrne and written a children’s book, Where’s Bearry? A local show caps a three-month tour. Monday, Dec. 30, 7 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $30.75 and up at ccanh.com.

Pop-you-lar

A look at 2024 at the movies

I was sort of bummed out about the whole movie-going experience in 2024 and then I saw Wicked.

I’m not a Wicked person, in the sense of owning the cast album or having seen a stage production. And has there been too much Wicked everywhere with everything? Yes, totally. But this candy-colored musical brought something I felt was generally lacking in 2024: a fun time at the movies. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are a great team — both are solid with the songs, have good chemistry as an enemies-to-friends duo and are good at the tone of this fairy tale with darkness around the edges. It’s a long movie but doesn’t feel like a slog and it is worth putting on your shoes and silencing your phones to see this in a theater, where the colors and whimsy will get their proper scale. With the numbers of local movie screens dropping in 2024 (RIP to Chunky’s theaters in Nashua and Pelham, Regal in Concord and AMC in Londonderry), it was good to feel excited about being in a theater. Wicked, which is still in theaters, will get a release of a special sing-along version on Dec. 25.

But Wicked wasn’t the only thing making me feel upbeat about movies.

• The “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” Award for making me feel positive things about a superhero franchise: That would go to Deadpool + Wolverine (for rent and streaming on Disney+). If I think about the whole Ryan Reynolds thing or watch extended trailers for this movie, I feel sort of exhausted. But in the midst of the movie, watching Deadpool and Wolverine/Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, both just so game, I kind of couldn’t help having fun. Also, I enjoyed the goofy 20th Century Studios-Marvel cameos and how that universe was egg-white-foam folded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. I even had a moment of “aw, cute” during the credits, which used the aforementioned song, to give that world its sendoff.

• The exact right kind of dumb: Recently, I watched Carry-On, a Netflix movie seemingly going for low-budget Die Hard. It was perfect — wheeee! — in the way that only an action movie that doesn’t take itself seriously but also doesn’t goof off can be. The Beekeeper (rent, purchase and on MGM+) is similarly such a movie. It stars Jason Statham saying “I protect the hive” a bazillion times as he punches dudes who stole money from the nice Phylicia Rashad, who was letting him live on her farm (keeping bees, it’s a whole theme with him). Did you have a tough week? Pour yourself a tall glass of The Beekeeper.

• Also fun: “Sexy tennis” was not a thing I ever thought or thought I needed in my life but then I saw Challengers (rent, purchase, Prime Video and MGM+), which is soapy silly fun with the trio of Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.

• The M3gan Award for funniest horror: Abigail (rent, purchase and Prime Video) features a bunch of random criminals brought together in a creepy old house to do the simple job of kidnapping one little girl and keeping her alive and unharmed until her father pays the ransom. The trailer gives away both what will make this a challenge and a hoot.

• This horror movie has no stakes! (complimentary): I did not have high hopes for A Quiet Place: Day One(rent, purchase, Paramount+ and MGM+); the trailer doesn’t give you much and it’s not really a story plugged into the main Quiet Place universe. But as we get to know Lupita Nyong’o’s character the movie becomes a whole unexpected thing, with a whole different approach to what counts as stakes and what the big bad truly is. It’s great! Very much not what you expect from a prequel/sidequel.

• Horror movies doing a thing: These streamers might not work as big-budget, big-screen outings but I feel like the scale of TV allows them to focus on one element of their horror-ness and really amp it up. Woman of the Hour (streaming on Netflix), directed by and starring Anna Kendrick, is scary not for anything specific that happens in the movie but for the way it perfectly captures the “how do I keep this man at a bar/job interview/dark parking lot/apartment common area from killing me” anxiety of women in so many circumstances. Hold Your Breath(Hulu/Disney+) is set during the Dust Bowl but it has real pandemic-era vibes with how danger is in the air and how that plays with the mind of a woman who has already lost one child and is trying to protect the other three. Don’t Move (Netflix) is a suspenseful movie about survival. House of Spoils (Prime Video) has Ariana DeBose maybe going mad from the haunted house where she is trying to start up a trendoid fine dining restaurant or maybe the toxic chef culture or maybe it’s the strange greens from the garden possibly planted by a witch? Either way, it’s a fun time of a horror movie that kind of morphs into something else.

• Character-forward: Lily Gladstone in Fancy Dance(Apple TV+), Joan Chen and Izaac Wang in Didi(rent, purchase and Peacock), Danielle Deadwyler and John David Washington in The Piano Lesson (Netflix), and everybody in Rez Ball (Netflix) andThelma(rent, purchase and Hulu/Disney+) turn in great performances in solid movies that all blend comedy and drama, family relationships and people trying to figure out who they are now.

• Honorable character mentions: Wobbly movies can still have barnburning performances. Check out Jodie Comer going big with the hair and the accent work in The Bikeriders(Prime Video, rent or purchase). Kerry Washington (and the real life story) wins you over despite some shakiness in The Six Triple Eight (Netflix). Chris Hemsworth feels like the only person really having fun with the sandy craziness of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga(Max, rent or purchase). But the “making his own fun, baby!” prize for this year truly goes to Denzel Washington in Gladiator II (in theaters).

• Animation! The Wild Robot(for purchase) is full of animal hijinks and it’s a tear-jerking look at parenthood — plus so lovely! Transformers One (rent, purchase and Paramount+) is a neat prequel of the Transformers universe we know and also a clever story about the ways people (er, transforming robots) respond to injustice. Big City Greens The Movie: Spacecation (for purchase and on Disney+) is a sweet story about family and it’s a musical and it’s in space and it has an early The Simpsons level of high joke density. Inside Out 2 (Disney+ and rent) mostly avoids the lessening effects of a sequel and turns in a really interesting look at what happens when anxiety (and Anxiety, as voiced by Maya Hawke) takes the wheel.

• The Once Upon a 1980s Time at the Movies Nostalgia Award: Kevin Smith gives us his The Fabelmans withThe 4:30 Movie (rent or purchase), a very cute riff on the filmmaker as a young goofus.

• The usual caveats: There are, as always, like a whole slew of late season movies I haven’t seen yet — in theaters now Flow and Mustafa: The Lion King; Christmas Day releases Nosferatu, A Complete Unknown, Babygirl and The Fire Inside; Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix on Jan. 3); thus-far only limited release films like Nickel Boys, Nightbitch, The Return, The Brutalist, September 5 and now-harder to find movies like A Real Pain (Forbes.com reported it should be on VOD on Dec. 31). There are several awards attention-garnering movies that we can all catch up on now — Anora (rent or purchase), Emilia Pérez (Netflix), Memoir of a Snail (rent or purchase), Heretic (rent or purchase), We Live in Time (rent or purchase), Maria (Netflix), and Here (rent or purchase).

• Real world: Martha Stewart would be a fun person to three-martini-lunch with, is my takeaway from Martha (Netflix), her documentary where she offers crisp observations about everything from her romances to her legal woes. In Will & Harper (Netflix) longtime friends and comedy co-conspirators Will Ferrell and Harper Steele road trip across America in this documentary about friendship, the never-ending journey of figuring yourself out and Harper’s desire to travel to the middle America places she’s always loved and see if, as she says, they will love her back now that she’s out as trans. The song about friendship Kristen Wiig sings at the end might actually be one of the sweetest things in movies this year. In Piece by Piece (purchase), Pharrell Williams not only tells his life story but also is able to illustrate his relationship with music via the use of Lego animation.

• Just some really great movies: In Janet Planet (Max, rent and purchase) Julianne Nicholson and Zoe Ziegler are an unconventional but loving mother-daughter pair. In My Old Ass (Prime Video), an 18-year-old Maisy Stella meets her 39-year-old Aubrey Plaza-self with bittersweet passage of time and yet very funny results. The Substance (Mubi, rent or purchase) features a very good Demi Moore performance and a very funny bit of body horror about beauty standards. His Three Daughters (Netflix) features absolute top-shelf performances by Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon as three sisters gathered for their father’s final moments — but it’s funny and smart and a well-crafted story about family and grief. And then there’s Conclave (Peacock and for purchase), just an absolute delight about clashing ambitions at a Vatican gathering to pick a new pope.

Hopeful about 2025

All dates extremely approximate.

• Dog Man (Jan. 31) Dav Pilkey’s books are a treat. My kids are excited for this movie — and I agree!

• Love Hurts (Feb. 7) Ke Huy Quan plays a former criminal enforcer turned mild-mannered real estate agent.

• Black Bag (March 14) Steven Soderbergh gives us sexy spies Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett.

• Mickey 17 (April 18) Bong Joon Ho’s new movie features a promising cast — Robert Pattinson, Toni Collete, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun — and a goofy-fun sci-fi premise.

• Thunderbolts* (May 2) I can’t help it — Marvel’s kickoff to summer featuring Florence Pugh and David Harbour in their Black Widow characters looks like it has the potential to be scruffy fun.

• 28 Years Later (June 20) That trailer, featuring Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Boots,” is creepy-great. I am officially excited for the third of Danny Boyle’s zombie movies.

Time of the Child, by Niall Williams

Time of the Child, by Niall Williams (Bloomsbury, 287 pages)

Irish noveliest Niall Williams’ latest book is Time of the Child, which revisits the fictional town of Faha, where much lauded 2019 book This is Happiness and another Williams novel, History of the Rain, are set.

It is a holiday novel in that the events take place during the season of Advent and involve lots of holly and a child born under mysterious circumstances. But nothing is lost by reading it in January, and in fact, that timing is possibly better since Time of the Child is a slow-cooker of a book, best read at a leisurely pace. Nothing moves very quickly in Faha, where one of the residents is a dog named Harry whose favorite place to sleep is the middle of the road, requiring drivers to wait for the mutt to move, “in dog-time and untellable weariness,” before they can proceed.

It is that sort of delightful detail that makes Williams such a pleasure to read.

The central characters in this story are a widowed doctor, Jack Troy, and his adult daughter Ronnie (for Veronica), who live at a pace that moves not much faster than the town dog. Troy is 59 and is pretty much going through the motions of life, having lost both his wife and another woman he had fallen in love with after his wife’s passing. As Faha’s only doctor, Troy has little time for despair, though; he is constantly beset with people bringing him their physical complaints, and those of others, everywhere he goes.

Ronnie is his faithful companion and professional assistant, the budding loves of her past unrealized and her two sisters having left town. (“Why would anyone want to live here? … It’s just rain and muck and beasts?” one sister had said.) Father and daughter dwell mostly in companionable silence as they go to Mass at the local Catholic church — where the pastor is slowly slipping into dementia in front of his congregation — and they make house calls throughout the region, visits for which Troy may or may not be compensated.

Enter the child — an abandoned infant, seemingly lifeless, brought to Troy by a 12-year-old boy who found her by a church gate. Dr. Troy is able to resuscitate the baby, and he and Ronnie quickly become attached to her — observing his daughter care for the infant, the doctor realizes, “It was not second nature to her, it was first.”

The presence of an infant changes everything in the household — Ronnie takes on a glow foreign to her father, and in a particularly poignant scene, she watches her usually emotionless father dance to Sinatra holding the baby. “What had come over him was as old as life on earth — a pulsed response to another, outside of and even before the existence of reason, a prime and primal engagement that took its continuance from the expression in the baby’s features. She liked it! And that was everything.”

They are reluctant to relinquish her to the state, which has a poor track record of taking care of children and the elderly (which is the same reason that Troy is so protective of the clearly failing priest), but they also know they cannot keep the child hidden — in Faha, “the lid never stayed on a story.”

And so, casting about desperately for a solution, Troy concocts a scheme to keep the child — the logistics of which also involve the doctor correcting a sin of his past — sending away a young man whom Ronnie had loved years ago. This man, named Noel Crowe, is now living in America, complicating things. (Readers of This is Happiness will recall Noel from that earlier book.)

Like Harry, the weary canine king of Faha blocking traffic in the street, Williams is in no hurry to get where he’s going; the first half of Time of the Child is character development that can frustrate readers who want things to happen. It’s not unusual for dialogue between characters to be interrupted by one or two pages of incidental information before Williams brings us back to the conversation, which a reader might have reasonably thought had ended.

It’s not until the baby arrives more than a hundred pages in that the pace picks up, and then the narrative moves almost too quickly. But Williams knows what he’s doing, and the richness of detail, which might seem unnecessary at times, bestows an intimacy with the characters that pays off — not only the father and daughter and priest, but other residents of the town, including the boy who finds the baby on the day of the town’s Christmas fair, Jude Quinlan, and the adult twins that the townspeople had given up on identifying correctly, so they just combined their names and call both of them Tim-Tom.

It requires commitment to read Time of the Child — not only because you’ll want to read slowly to savor the writing, but because for all practical purposes, you’ll be a citizen of Faha when you’re done, emotionally anyway. Which means you’ll be reading This is Happiness and History of the Rain next — not a bad way to while away the gloom of winter. A —Jennifer Graham

Books of the future

Here are some scheduled 2025 releases book-lovers can get excited about.

• Simply Jamie: Fast & Simple Food by Jamie Oliver (Jan. 7) Jamie Oliver generally permits such cheats as jarred sauces and “cook everything in one pan no really just the one pan.” This book promises recipes such as Gochujang Chicken Noodle Bake and Jarred Pepper Pasta.

• Old School by Gordon Korman (Jan. 14) Middle grade author Korman returns with this novel about a 12-year-old who has lived half his life at his grandmother’s retirement village where he has been home-schooled and schooled in music and culture by the other retirees and now has to attend a kid-filled middle school, according to the book’s description.

• Hope: The Autobiography by Pope Francis (Jan. 14) It’s the first autobiography ever published by a pope!

• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (Jan. 21) This third novel in the Empyrean series (Fourth Wing, Iron Flame) set in a military college for dragon riders has the author on a big-city book tour and readers signing up for midnight release parties at bookstores.

• Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates (Feb. 4) One of the world’s richest men writes about his early years, before he co-founded Microsoft. “I’m planning to write two more memoirs, one about my work with Microsoft and one about philanthropy,” he says at gatesnotes.com. “But Source Code is my origin story, and I’m looking forward to sharing it.”

• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler(Feb. 11) It’s a new Anne Tyler novel, her 25th. In this one, “a socially awkward mother of the bridge navigates the days before and after her daughter’s wedding,” the publisher says.

• The Art of the SNL Portrait Photography by Mary Ellen Matthews (March 4) The 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live marches on with this book of images from the show’s bumper photos featuring hosts and musical guests, according to the book’s description.

• I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919 (the Graphic Novel) by Lauren Tarshis, illustrated by Karen De la Vega (March 4) If this graphic novel series is how you introduce your kids to historical events, check out this one set in Boston.

• Sunrise on the Reaping: A Hunger Games Novel by Suzanne Collins (March 18) This second prequel is set after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes but before the original trilogy and focuses on the Hunger Games of Haymitch Abernathy.

• When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (March 25) He won a Hugo award for Redshirts, he was creative consultant for the Stargate TV series, and now he’s back with a novel about the moon actually being made of cheese.

• The Choi of Cooking: Flavor-Packed, Rule-Breaking Recipes for a Delicious Life by Roy Choi with Tien Nguyen and Natasha Phan (April 15) Sample pages feature Kimchi Steak Tacos and Lo Mein Spaghetti — which paints a picture of the approach of this chef who is serious about food but not fussy about rules. In the meantime, check out Choi’s MasterClass, which has a commendable amount of swears.

• Great Big Beautiful Life Emily Henry(April 22) The #1 NYT Bestselling author of Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation and other contemporary romances gives us a fresh competitors-to-lovers tale.

• Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles (April 22) She’s a fashion designer, a businesswoman, and mom to Beyonce and Solange. Is it any wonder her new memoir comes in at 448 pages, longer than the Pope’s and Bill Gates’?

• Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (May 13) The Pulitzer-winning biographer (Washington: A Life) comes out with 1,200 pages on the life of the 19th-century humorist, steamboat pilot and writer.

• My Friends by Fredrik Backman (May 20) Teenagers and art and a cross-country journey from the author of A Man Called Ove and so many other novels, whose Instagram you should check out for more self-deprecating humor and German shepherd antics.

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