Adrian Ciucci Archives

Here’s our comprehensive A-to-Z list of everything great that’s happening around town on New Year’s Eve, to help you say goodbye to the 2010’s in proper fashion!

2020 is fast approaching, and as usual Richmond has a number of great events that can guarantee anyone a great New Year’s Eve. Below are our picks for some of the top events in Richmond this NYE. Get your tickets and plans together soon, as many will sell out. Please remember to be safe and secure a ride for this busy night.

Happy 2020, RVA!

The Infamous Stringdusters At the National

WNRN + RVA Magazine Present: THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS, With special guest Cris Jacobs.

This year we are happy to join with WNRN in presenting The Infamous Stringdusters at The National for NYE. This unique bluegrass band has been pushing the future of folk and bluegrass for years. The Dusters are known for throwing a party with their fun genre-bending sounds. New Years 2020 in RVA gives us the perfect setting for a special night with these talented musicians. Not to be missed, Cris Jacobs is opening this New Years event. This mid-Atlantic musician has been steadily growing a fan base, and working with some of our very own top musical talents here in Richmond.

PLF Presents Decemberween 2020: A New Years Eve Celebration

PLF NYE once again transforms Diversity Richmond into one of the biggest NYE events in Richmond. The 15,000 square foot event space and outdoor area are turned into multiple immersive environments featuring over 20 DJs from up and down the east coast*. With live music, fire performances, interactive art installations, circus arts, stage performances, outdoor pyro-sculptures, mutant vehicle showcases, three libation stations, and food trucks, this event has something for everyone. Get your tickets now before it sells out — as it has done each and every year.

*See event page for full lineup of entertainment

Tickets: www.bitly.com/PLFNYE2020

Moonlight Masquerade at Hilton

For another one of the biggest parties in Richmond, LX Group once again brings us the popular Moonlight Masquerade, the New Year’s Eve Celebration at the Doubletree by Hilton, Richmond. LX Group is bringing in multiple performers and an incredible line up of DJs for a non-stop party with Carter Baldwin and MISTRO. Tickets include a number of complimentary favors, toast, and snacks. Get your tickets now for this event, as it has sold out the past three years.

New Years Eve at Switch

Party like a Targaryen, drink like a Lannister, and ring in a new decade at Switch RVA! Enjoy two unique pop-up experiences in one space. Drink to the North with the Game of Thrones inspired theme: Winter is Coming upstairs. Then eat, drink, and be merry downstairs with the Naughty or Nice theme. Features DJ Ruth, signature cocktails, free buffet, and live feed of Times Square at one the the hottest bars In RVA.

NYE Bye at Gallery 5

Ring in the new year at Gallery5 with live music from Majjin Boo, Ladygod, Fat Spirit, and FM Skyline. Hosted and DJed by Georgie Isaacs, with a midnight toast included in every ticket!

NYE Blast with Love Canon

Hardywood is a good place to find yourself any night, and especially for this NYE. This year, they’re sending off 2019 with a blast with music from Love Canon! Hardywood will be presenting this exclusive concert in their newly refurbished barrel room. Tickets come with two drinks, photo booth, party favors, and the ball drop!

RVAheals Bash at River City Roll

Ring in 2020 with World Pediatric Project’s first ever ‘NYE RVAHeals Bash!’

WPP’s Emerging Leaders Board is excited to host one of Richmond’s ONLY charitable New Year’s Eve parties, where 100% of your ticket goes straight to helping children and families who would otherwise lack access to critical care.

Hosted by RVA’s favorite, River City Roll, the party starts at 8pm and goes until the wee hours of the new year. With your ticket, you get live music from Vinyl Headlights, bowling, delicious bites, two drink tickets, and champagne toast. Close out 2019 and start 2020 right by providing hope and healing to children!

I Love The 80s New Years Prom at Broadberry

Kick off 2020 by taking it back to the 80s with Three Sheets To The Wind at the Broadberry for a very special show this NYE, with guests Eagles of Freedom and DJ Spinnaker.

Three Sheets to the Wind is Richmond’s best yacht-rock tribute act, paying authentic tribute to soft rock classics from the late ’70s and ’80s — undoubtedly the smoothest music ever created by mankind. It was an era of high gas prices and oil embargos that led America back to the simple joys of sailing, pina coladas, moustaches, and makin’ love… sweet love.

The heartbeat of this sexy-tet belongs to short-shorted drummer Danny Marnier. Bass duties fall to steady shipmate Sonny Pockett. The saccharine saxophone sweetness is supplied by Goldman Sax, while manly keyboardist Walter Ego, guitarist Captain Max Power, and multi-instrumentalist Topper Dandy rock you softly with their sincere vocal delivery and sweeter-than-TaB™ harmonies.

When your soft rock needs a little extra kick, Three Sheets to the Wind will appear with world renowned three-piece brass section The Rounding Cape Horns. Book at your own risk and hide your daughters, though, because the combined talents of this noble nonet are smoother than Billy Dee Williams — and rest assured that it works… every time.

Roaring 20s at Kabana Rooftop

Kabana Rooftop for NYE is quite the spectacle on its own, with its expansive views of Richmond. This year they are bringing out the flapper dresses and dapper dans to roll into 2020 in style. Including a special performance by world renowned violinist virtuoso DJ Manifesto, a champagne toast at midnight, party favors, and a live feed of the ball drop, this is the party where you can ring in the roaring 20s like Gatsby — on the Rooftop!

New Years with Jackass Flats at The Camel

Kick off the New Year with the Jackass Flats boys, flanked by Adrian Ciucci of the Southern Belles with a solo turn, as well as Tim Beavers II of PBR’s new project, The Mighty Good Time. Music all night and a champagne toast at midnight! End 2019 and start 2020 at The Camel! Drop into The Camel in person ahead of time and get your advance tickets without fees.

Confetti Reign III: NYE 2020 At Vagabond with DJ King Cise & Lowe Maceo

This New Year’s Eve, Vagabond’s got multiple floors and bars with DJs for your fancy 2020 NYE needs. Comes with party favors, complimentary midnight toast, roaming photographers, and live feed of ball drop. Make sure and dress up for this one, as it’s fancy all the way! It’s also located right by our show at The National with The Infamous Stringdusters, so it’s an easy after-party if you plan it out. Get tickets — this one will sell out!

New Years Eve at Cary Street Cafe with Grapefruit Fred!

Crazy as it is, this could possibly be the Last New Years Eve at the historic Cary St Cafe. So they are making it special with Grapefruit Fred! Cary St Cafe will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we can’t wait to rock in 2020. Tickets come with free champagne toast at midnight. See y’all there and as always, SPREAD THE FRED!!!

Bingo Beer Co.’s Roaring 20s NYE

Bingo throws a good party, with fantastic beers to boot. Get your game on and dress up fancy for this one, as Mass FX plays music from 8:30 till close. This is open to the public, but also has a special VIP ticket available for a limited time. Get on it, as it’s sure to go quickly.

The Circuit Presents NYE 2020

For those looking for extra games and fun this NYE, Circuit has you covered. Their New Years Eve Party offers a lot, including 20 tokens on the house, a live DJ to get your groove on, raffles full of fun prizes, and a glass of champagne to toast at midnight! They also offer an early buffet, with select appetizers like veggie platters, wings, and tacos!

New Years Masque at Fallout

Break out your masks for Fallouts Annual New Years Eve Masquerade Ball! They’ve got you covered for your fetish NYE! As always, there is toast at midnight. DJ Unicron will start the night out with the annual Blues Cocktail Hour, followed by the crew of DJ Jackie, DJ Scarey Pete, DJ Rivetta, and more. New for 2020, there will be a cash-only satellite bar with champagne, a small selection of beers, and more — so bring cash and get your drinks quick! Formal or Fetish Dress AND Mask Required!

What does Formal or Fetish Wear Mean? Put on some slacks or Really Nice Jeans. Put on a nice dress. No, you don’t need to be in black tie, but make an effort. Button downs, Sequins, Tulle, Ties. ETC. OR. High Fetish Wear.

Do I have to Wear a Mask? Mask Required Upon Entry (The cheap plastic ones are fine, also Make-Up/Paint or Stone/Jewel Appliques are fine, and there is a limited amount of FREE Masks at the front door.

Non-Members: Find a member to guest you in OR message the Fallout RVA facebook page for a one night pass!

Finally, if you want to take a little trip outside Richmond without plunging into the big-city traffic jam, here’s an out-of-town pick that can’t be beat:

The Jefferson Theatre NYE Extravaganza with No BS! Brass Band and Shagwuf

Don’t miss New Year’s Eve at the Jefferson with three amazing bands! There’ll be a VIP-exclusive pre-show party with all three bands, so stare at the face of 2020 & let’s get funky! Revelry, performances, solid hang, Mox Box picture posing, drink specials, party favors & a poster signed by everyone! Each band will play special mini sets with surprises while VIPs hang out, mingle with other VIPs and band members, and enjoy the holiday drink specials & fare. Quantity is limited so come get it!

Or you could just show up for the main event and catch both C-Ville and RVA have to offer with sets by Shagwuf and the almighty No BS! Brass Band, plus a performance by “Rocksylvania'”s own The Falsies! Tickets are moving quickly, so jump on it.

The last time we caught up with RVA psychedelic/rock and roll band The Southern Belles they were calling it quits on their four-year First Fridays residency at The Camel.

Although that may have come to an end, the band that’s become a staple in the Richmond music scene has had quite the whirlwind of a year. They’ve been heavily touring for the last year, saw some members go and gained a new one, just signed to Vermont booking agency Omni Arts Group, and have a new record set to drop in the summer.

With a Richmond scheduled for next month and a Pledge Music Campaign out, I had to get the low down on the record and the latest happenings from The Belles so vocalist/guitarist Adrian Ciucci recently sat down with RVA Mag to fill us in.

“We’ve been on a two-year cycle doing records,” he said. “I’m particularly excited about this one just because I feel like were clearly a lot more mature now then we were the first time we tried to do this. The process felt much more natural…I feel like there’s a lot more complexity to this record and there’s themes throughout both musical and lyrical.”

The new album, In the Middle of the Night, is a six-track, 45-minute album and the band’s third release and followup to Close to Sunrise, which came out almost two years ago.

Ciucci compared the forthcoming record to that of a Pink Floyd album, which the band plans to release on vinyl.

“A small amount of longer tracks that blend into each other,” he said. “Close to Sunrise was a progression from Sharp As A Knife and this one is a continuance of that progression. A synthesizer makes an appearance on this record for the first time on a Southern Belles album.”

The title of the album, In the Middle of the Night, is a lyric from a song by The Southern Belles, something the band has chosen to do with each album they’ve released.

“We have a theme with naming our records where we like to choose a lyric that’s not the name of the song that’s generally not the chorus,” he said. “It’s a little bit of payoff for the people that are really going to listen to the record all the way through.”

The band started talking about making a record when Aaron Zarrow joined the band last January on drums after longtime drummer Raphael Katticnoff left to join local group The Congress.

“We decided that we were going to keep everything that was good about that the band so far and focus on what we thought was our best, strongest material and write new stuff,” he said. “Aaron’s style lends itself to a whole new array of things we can do.”

The Southern Belles started working on the new album in August with local producer Bryan Walthall and Rich Stein of Black Iris studio and recorded, In the Middle of the Night at The Ward studio in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood.

“We’ve worked with Bryan on both records before and I’ve known Bryan since I was 17 years old,” Ciucci said. “Bryan has a method with us and identity with us with what he thinks the Southern Belles should sound like. Rich is more modern and more pop-oriented so he’s not going to let you do it any less than right.”

The band finished recently finished tracking are now working to get it mixed to have it sent off by April 1. Ciucci said they are doing a pre-sale of the album through PledgeMusic campaign to help with the rest of the process.

“Instead of Gofundme, {or} Kickstarter, this is a little bit more interactive platform between people that follow the band, we’re able to update them exclusively and they’re not so much donating for donations sake, they’re buying the album now and they’ll get it first before anyone else.”

Participants in the pre-sale can pledge amounts that guarantee a signed, vinyl pressing of The Southern Belles’ third album, an early release, and digital download. Their campaign also includes signed albums, a private listening party with the band at The Ward studio, a ticket to any of their shows in 2017 and more.

In addition to drummer Raphael Katticnoff leaving last year, The Southern Belles also recently saw the departure of their original bassist Andrew Carper. Carper, who is not on the new album, had the opportunity to play with Angelica Garcia, a local pop/rock artist who is signed to Warner Bros. Records.

“I know that was hard for him, but I hope it works out,” Ciucci said. “He gave us a good amount of notice; we’re still buddies he’s on tour right now I’ll catch up with him when he gets back.”

Ciucci said Carper had to leave right before they started tracking the record so the band recruited Derek Englert who plays in local R&B/funk group Dance Candy with Sam Reed, to play bass on the record.

“I’ve known Derek from guitar works, I worked there from the time I was 13 until the time I went to college,” he said. “It was educational to watch him in the studio, he is great.”

While Englert helped to lay down tracks, he will not be a member of the band. Pennsylvania native Mikey Sallemi has joined to tour with The Southern Belles as its new bassist.

One of the tracks to appear on the forthcoming album is “Déjà vu”, a song the has already premiered and played live.

And although they were heavily touring up and down the East Coast in the fall, Ciucci said the band plans to ramp up touring again in the spring and summer.

“We’re going to hold all of our territory and try to expand a little bit,” he said. “Hopefully breaking new ground on some southeast and Midwest…We have favorite haunts from New York to Tampa at this point so we’re not going to forget about those either.

The album isn’t planned to come out until July, but in the meantime, you can catch The Southern Belles in Richmond on Friday, March 10 at The Broadberry with Maradeen.

“We will have some new material that we’ve been working on that we want to share, but we wont forget about some of our favorites either,” Ciucci said.

Preorder The Southern Belles’ new album here.

Words by Amy David. Photos by: Jody Carbone

RVA NYE 2020: A Big List For A Big Night

The Southern Belles vocalist/guitarist Adrian Ciucci on new record, lineup changes & spring tour