There won’t be much partying this New Year’s Eve, but there will certainly be something to party about.
The end of 2020 is finally upon us, and even though things will mostly be virtual, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” is still marching on. So if you’re ready to watch the ball drop on this hellish trip around the sun, here’s what to do.
ABC will be broadcasting the show live starting at 8/7c on Thursday, Dec. 31, with Ryan Seacrest returning to host for his 16th year in a row.
Billy Porter and Lucy Hale will be back again this year as co-hosts to help Seacrest out with the festivities in New York City while singer Ciara will host the event in Los Angeles for her fourth year in a row. Musician Big Freedia will host the central time zone celebration from New Orleans.
In case you were wondering, the broadcast event will be closed to the public — no huge crowds freezing their butts off in New York City to watch the ball drop this year.
You can watch the show live on TV, on ABC.com, or on the ABC app, and you WILL need a valid TV provider login for the stream.
If you don’t have cable, you can watch it via subscriptions to Fubo, Hulu Live TV, or YouTube TV. There will also be plenty of content for free on the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, on newyearsrockineve.com, and on ABC’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
As for musical guests, this year’s headliner is Jennifer Lopez, who will strut her stuff right before the ball drops at midnight in Times Square. Porter will sing a duet with Cyndi Lauper (they’re both alums of the broadway show “Kinky Boots”), and Jimmie Allen and Machine Gun Kelly will also perform in New York. In Los Angeles, Miley Cyrus, Brandy, Doja Cat, Ella Mai, En Vogue, Julia Michaels, JP Saxe, Lewis Capaldi, Maluma, Megan Thee Stallion, Nelly, and Saweetie will perform. In New Orleans, PJ Morton will do a rendition of the classic number “Auld Lang Syne.”
But the 49th annual celebration has something else up its sleeve. President-Elect Joe Biden and his wife, future first lady Dr. Jill Biden, will do their last interview of the year with Seacrest during the broadcast, delivering a message of “hope, unity and best wishes,” according to the press release.