Well I'm responding with whatever happened to the Bayou Place's New Year's Eve Houston celebration? An event that was held downtown in the late 90s with some big acts of the day and the past. Here's some chron coverage of the event:
The Wallflowers' headlining appearance at Bayou Place's New Year's Eve Houston celebration helped draw an estimated 15,000 revelers to downtown on Wednesday night. The event was billed as the second-largest New Year's Eve celebration in the nation, only behind one held in San Francisco.
My wife and I rang in the New Year at the event for years. You could walk around and view a plethora of bands on different stages all over Bayou Place.
Eleven other bands performed on four stages in and around the Aerial Theater at Bayou Place. Matchbox 20 and Jackopierce preceded the Wallflowers on the Capitol Stage. Blues artists Koko Taylor, Kenny Neal and Houston's Pete Mayes held court on the Jones Plaza stage, where the Party On the Plaza takes place during the warmer months.
On the Texas Avenue stage -- set up in the street between Bayou Place and Wortham Center -- War, Otis Day & the Nights and Village People played to a sparser crowd craving '70s boogie-nights nostalgia. Inside the Aerial Theater, '80s new wavers Flock of Seagulls and the Romantics followed Houston's Miss Francis & the Rhythm Fish to the stage.
In the underpass connecting Texas and Capitol beneath Bayou Place, local club DJ Sean Carnahan created a multimedia "techno-tunnel" environment complete with throbbing electronic beats and synchronized videos.
I believe the celebration ran from 1997 to 1999 but I will admit the 99 event sucked. No big names were there and there were less crowds. Then it all disappeared.
Now it's coming back in a smaller fashion in downtown - complete with a star dropping at midnight. That's nothing new...the Bayou Place celebration did the same:
Throughout the evening, a 30-foot lighted star (the signature image of Bayou Place and the downtown Theater District) ascended the side of the NationsBank Building. It reached the top (or near the top, anyway) at midnight, setting off a 20-minute fireworks display over City Hall.
The 90s version was fun and got a lot of people downtown. I guess it sparked the revival we have there today.
If Houston wants a downtown destination, then they have to get some good people to plan and the bucks to back it up. That means big time bands and other activities that will get people to leave their homes and deal with parking and walking.
Happy New Years everyone. Here are other events going on tonight. CONTACT: Leave me a Houston or Texas media news tip | COMMENT: Click to leave your thoughts on this post here
