The Peninsula’s best bets for music on a rockin’ (and other genres) New Year’s Eve.

There was Kiss’ 1973 New Year’s Eve at the Academy of Music in New York City when Gene Simmons set his hair on fire. Yes, it was an accident; it wasn’t a stunt like most of the audience thought. Alert roadies prevented any serious bodily harm by standing offstage with damp towels in hand.

If you are staying around the Peninsula on NYE, you may not see anyone’s hair catch on fire, but there is a lot of great music to check out.

El Dorados at Cooper’s Pub & Restaurant; Dave Holodiloff at the London Bridge Pub; Roger Eddy and Bruce Forman are set to perform at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa; The Joint Chiefs play Planet Gemini; and PacRep’s ever-popular Legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll at Golden Bough Playhouse represent just the tip of a jamming iceberg.

The Cherry Trio plays the Carl Cherry Center on New Year’s Day with Elizabeth Gaver (violin), Penny Hanna (viola da gamba) and Michael Peterson (harpsichord) performing work by some of the Baroque era’s best composers, including Buxtehude, Krieger and Bach.

Meanwhile, First Night Monterey in downtown Monterey has consistently delivered the most versatile and vast array of music overall for more than 25 years. The music roster they have scheduled this year, featuring over 60 performances, ensures a stellar and high-energy – and family-friendly – night out.

A little bit about the performers: Derek Bodkin of Derek Bodkin and the Hovering Breadcat Folk Ensemble is the 2017 Master of Musical Whistling World Champion. In the spirit of Bruce Springsteen, First Night newcomer Keith Greeninger’s tunes have snagged songwriting awards from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival and Napa Valley Folk Festival. Armed with the legendary steel guitarist Bobby Black, who’s appeared on Tom Waits’ LPs, the finale band, R. W. Smith and the California Cowboys, has been dubbed one of California’s most successful country-western outfits.

Think NYE, and most people think of midnight toasts. But it’s also an important day in music history. New Year’s 1973 marked Journey’s debut in San Francisco; AC/DC made their debut 7,500 miles away in Sydney, Australia.

How about the final day of 1969? Jimi Hendrix debuted the Band of Gypsys at the Fillmore East. Then there’s one of rock’s most famous NYE shows: The Grateful Dead’s six-hour marathon at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in 1978, which marked the final show before the iconic venue closed forever.

History may or may not be made at one of Monterey County’s venues, but the final hours of 2018 bode well for live music.