Artists Who Gave El Paso An Awesome New Years Eve Show

All throughout the years, we see some truly amazing shows in El Paso, Texas. But sometimes we get lucky & get one final show before we enter a new year. Here's some of the bands that's given El Paso a show on New Years Eve.

Dio (1984)

Yes.. the late great Ronnie James Dio, at the HIGH of his solo career, came to rock New Years Eve with us back in 1984 at the County Coliseum. This was during The Last In Line tour & according to the setlist he did his big songs: Holy Diver, Rainbow In The Dark, Stand Up & Shout & a few Sabbath/Rainbow covers. Sadly no footage of this show exists; however there IS audio of the full show he did in 1983.

Blue October (2012)

We wouldn't see many bands rock El Paso on New Years Eve until 2012 when fellow Texas rockers Blue October would come to Speaking Rock; or rather the Socorro Entertainment Center. Not a bad way to enter into 2013...

P.O.D. (2019)

If you went to that year's Sun Bowl game, like me, you're probably aware that P.O.D. performed during the half time show. However they later performed at Speaking Rock that night as part of the festivities for New Years.

Tonic (2021)

The most recent addition to artists rocking El Paso on New Years Eve is Tonic. Just like with P.O.D., Tonic also performed at the halftime show for The Sun Bowl as well as performing at Speaking Rock later that night.

Honorable Mention: Lights All Night Event (2016): I included this one as a whole entity because of the number of electronic/dance artists who performed on December 29th. You had Felix Cartal, Excision, No Mana, RL Grime, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs & deadmau5 all performing that same night. While it wasn't on New Years EVE, it was very close. That's why it's an honorable mention...

Other names include Blue Oyster Cult in 2011 & Eddie Money/ Pink Droyd (not Floyd) in 2013.

As the years go on, we're sure to see more bands rock El Paso on New Years Eve. Happy New Year!

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