Last night WFPK put on their annual New Years Eve Bash and Broadcast at Headliners Music Hall and once again it was jam packed with people. This is definitely one of the hottest New Years Eve parties in Louisville. The theme of the night was 1950's. When you first walked in there was a video of vintage pinup women such as Betty Page projected on the stage screen and DJs Woodrow and Matt Anthony had dance music playing. The lighting was dim and there was a string of Christmas lights draped on the balcony. Party goers were decked out in their New Years Eve attire including party hats and blowers, sparkly accessories, beads, and boas.
The evening started with a swing dance lesson courtesy of Louisville Swing Dance Society when doors opened at 8 p.m., and at 9 p.m. Woodrow on the Radio and DJ Matt Anthony began their broadcast. Unfortunately, I was unable to partake in the dance lesson, but this was a nice treat for those who wished to participate. There seemed to be a handful of regular swing dancers in the crowd throughout the night taking advantage of the dance music, but for the most part most people just stood around, chatted, drank, and enjoyed the music. I guess this was mainly a concert going crowd that didn't care much for dancing, or most young people only knows how to 'booty shake' and therefore wouldn't know how to dance to swing music unfortunately. The music DJs Woodrow and Matt Anthony were spinning wasn't old school big band swing music. Their music had a 1950's feel and plenty of modern beats for dancing however you may have wanted to dance. Below is a video of a few people dancing.
At around 10:30 p.m. The Ladybirds took the stage. They also added to the 50's theme with their high energy rockabilly dance sound. Party goers really got into the music and the band kept the audience's interest throughout the evening.
The band uncorked a wine bottle of confetti into the audience twice which really got everyone pumped up for the balloon drop. Time seemed to fly by as midnight approached. The Ladybirds and DJs did a count down to the balloon drop that happened at midnight. See a video of the balloon drop below.
After the balloon drop my husband and I got our photo in the photo booth which was also a big hit (as seen above). There was a steady line outside of the booth all night, but never excessively long. This service was free with admission and there was no limit on how many times you could go get your picture taken. WFPK put on an awesome New Years Eve party and I highly suggest you try it out next year.
Photos and video: courtesy of Anna Blanton
