Nashville will be featured in the NBC’s New Year’s Eve national broadcast live from Times Square in New York City with 2018 CMA Entertainer of the Year and Grammy-winner Keith Urban hosting and performing live from Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville. He will be joining New York City hosts Carson Daly and Chrissy Teigen with Leslie Jones.
The 90-minute live show from Times Square will include cut-ins from Nashville that will feature Urban performing hosting duties and singing live from Nashville to a nationwide audience throughout the broadcast. The NBC New Year’s Eve special will air 9-10 pm, CT, breaking for local news and returning from 10:30-11:30 pm, CT. The show will ring in 2019 at midnight ET in New York City, which will be 11 pm in Nashville. Nashville’s Music Note Drop at the stroke of midnight will be streamed live at visitmusiccity.com/newyearseve.
Country artist Brett Young, the Academy of Country Music’s New Male Vocalist of the Year, has been added to Nashville’s previously announced lineup. Young’s performance also will be featured on the NBC broadcast, and he will perform shortly after the Music Note is raised at 6 pm. Attendees are encouraged to arrive in time to get a good spot for Young’s set and be a part of the national broadcast.
The 10th annual Music City Midnight will take place at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park and is free and open to the public. As announced earlier, Urban will be headlining for the third year in a row, leading a stellar and diverse lineup in Nashville that includes Grammy-winning rocker, Peter Frampton; Brett Young; genre-bending rock/pop band Judah & the Lion; critically-acclaimed pop-rock singer/songwriter Caitlyn Smith; contemporary soul and rock artist Devon Gilfillian; and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
“It’s an honor to join the national NBC broadcast of New Year’s Eve,” Mayor David Briley said. “The celebration here in Nashville gets bigger and better every year, and this year is no different. As always, our city’s festivities will feature top-notch entertainment, a great crowd and a wonderful host. The rest of the country will now see that Nashville is the place to be to ring in the New Year.”
Ronnie Smith, head of Corporate Bank, Regions Bank, who serves as chair of the NCVC board of directors, said: “It’s always been our goal for Nashville’s New Year’s Eve to be a part of primetime network TV to showcase the diversity of our music and the city. It’s fitting that the tenth anniversary of this spectacular event coincides with a new partnership with NBC.”
Gates for the Nashville event will open at 4 pm on Dec. 31, followed later in the evening by the raising of the Music Note to kick off the live music. The event will include the traditional Music Note Drop and accompanying fireworks display at the stroke of midnight. Sirius XM host Storme Warren and Today In Nashville personality Kelly Sutton will serve as emcees.
