The best New Year’s Eve 2025 music options in Twin Cities

Whether you went out to see live music three nights a week in 2025 or didn’t get out even three times the whole year, planning for New Year’s Eve can be a blur. We combed through this year’s myriad offerings for concerts and dance parties and picked out highlights based on a range of prices and preferences.

It’s become an annual tradition for Southern-boogie jazzists Davina & the Vagabonds to blow out the year with a bang at the Dakota (6 p.m. show, $185 with four-course dinner; 10:30 p.m. show, $115 with $20 menu voucher and champagne). Bluesy rocker Joyann Parker also is playing two sets in the main room at Crooners (7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Fridley, $50-$60), where jazz maven Connie Evingson has a more intimate gig with Jon Weber next door in the Dunsmore Jazz Room (5:30 and 8:30 p.m., $45-$55).

Strike some pins or strike up a mosh pit at UnderCurrentMPLS’ punk-rock bowling NYE party with Greg Norton’s Büddies (playing Hüsker Dü classics), plus Cheap Glue, Scrunchies’ Laura Larson, Sophie Hiroko, Crypt.ID and six more bands (6:30 p.m. Memory Lanes, Mpls., $10). More chaos and loud riffs will be served by glam-trans-metal vets All the Pretty Horses and Virgin Whores at the 331 Club (9:30 p.m., Mpls., free).

Grammy-nominated pianist Aaron Diehl will join the Minnesota Orchestra under conductor Teddy Abrams playing pieces by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, followed by jazz and a champagne toast in the lobby (8:30 p.m. Orchestra Hall, $45-$115). A more intimate and experimental classical/jazz experience can be had with the Minneapolis String Project, a violin, cello and guitar trio (6:30 and 8:30 p.m., $100 with “luxe” snacks, Berlin, berlinmpls.com). There’s the bluegrass kind of string music, too, which you’ll get with the Gated Community and Ungrateful Little String Band (9 p.m. White Squirrel Bar, St. Paul, free).

The all-star Twin Cities funk and R&B crew Dr. Mambo’s Combo is converting its Prince-endorsed weekly house gig into a NYE party (9:30 p.m., Bunker’s, Mpls., $20). Or you could catch some purple vibes out in White Bear Lake with the Prince-imitating tribute band Chase & Ovation (7:30 p.m., Lakeshore Players Theatre, $68).

Swedish electronic dance music duo Galantis is being brought to town by veteran promoter SIMshows for the “Lucid Nights” count/meltdown (9 p.m. the Armory, Mpls., $79); DJs Cristian Baca, Tommy Hill and Wasted Grief head up a techno and house music bash at the Fine Line (9 p.m., Mpls., $21).

Jake Rudh’s classic alternative DJ crew Transmission hosts “A Totally Rad New Year’s Eve” marathon at First Avenue (9 p.m., $27), where the all-‘90s cover band You Oughta Know is playing next door in 7^th St. Entry (9 p.m., $33).

There’ll be a Cajun buffet and a smorgasbord of jazzy Crescent City music classics from the St. Peter Street Stompers at Rail Werks Brewing Depot’s “New Orleans New Year’s Eve” (6 p.m., Columbia Heights, $35-$40).

Twin Cities bar-rock mainstay GB Leighton has a new original LP coming next year but is finishing off 2025 playing classics at a big hotel bash (9 p.m., DoubleTree by Hilton Roseville, $84 includes appetizers). Dinosaur-rock mecca Medina Entertainment Center has the ubiquitous Fabulous Armadillos (8 p.m., Medina, $35-$45). And oldies rockers Some [Expletive] Cover Band will play some swell oldies at the North Loop’s biggest sports bar (10 p.m., Rabbit Hole, Mpls., free).

The drag party queenpins at Flip Phone are throwing a Shrek-themed costumed dance party (10 p.m., Amsterdam Bar & Hall, St. Paul, $23-$49). Another drag crew, Peephole!, hosts a “Twin Peaks”-themed party dubbed “A Night at the Roadhouse” (8 p.m. Turf Club, St. Paul, $21).