The human race is a resilient one. In spite of everything that has happened in the year 2020, people are still finding reasons to celebrate the new year coming. Case in point, the show must go on for New York City — one of the nation’s most impacted metropolitan areas to greatly suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Production crews have been working for days to set the stages at Times Square for New Year’s Eve performances that will be taking place later on tonight. Throughout the morning, entertainers practiced on the main stage wearing face masks while surrounded by a crew of no less than 50 people, consisting of production, tech, security, and entourage.
As far as the tourist scene in the morning, the side streets of Times Square were nearly desolate with only a few stragglers perusing the sidewalks. However, that would change when Jennifer Lopez would take the stage to rehearse several songs throughout the afternoon. As time passed and tourists could hear J.LO performing from the streets, a group of people gathered in front of the Disney store to try to get a peek.
During one particular song, Lopez wore an extravagant white covering that appeared to be similar to the aesthetics of a 12-foot Christmas tree as she stood on a very narrow beam. Oddly enough, there was no snow on the ground in New York, but more of a smoky gray overcast and a temperature standing at 44 degrees with a high chance of precipitation.
The event’s lineup will include live performances by Billy Porter, Cyndi Lauper, Jimmie Allen, and Machine Gun Kelly. Gloria Gaynor, Andra Day, Pitbull, Anitta, the USO Show Troupe and The Waffle Crew will be providing musical performances via live webcast.
The festivities will begin at 6 p.m. EST, kicking off with Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and ending with its traditional ball drop at the stroke of midnight, followed by the signature confetti and pyrotechnic effects. Word on the street is that large gatherings will not be permitted throughout the festivities.
While it is nice to see life go on for some of the most privileged or celebrated in our society, it won’t be surprising to wake up on the first day of 2021 and find a whole host of video clips and photos of people sharing their super spreader celebrations.
Can you blame them? Is it OK to tell people to do as you say and not as you do? Plus, all the devastating stories this year give enough plausible cause for people to shake the edge off with a little fun. But, just to put things in perspective, the U.S. has experienced a total of 352,510 coronavirus deaths, a total of 20,327,286 cases with 12,039,265 recovering from that total.
Highly political states California, Texas and Florida still stand as the top states with the highest number of cases. New York falls into fourth place with 484,590 active cases and a total of 37,868 deaths. So, while the show must go on, stay safe and stay dangerous so that you can actually live to be in that show.
See New York’s Times Square 24-Hour Live Cam
