Brian Kelley has no regrets.
When we were on the phone to talk about Florida Georgia Line’s new music, new tour, and their new year, Kelley told me that he cannot remember a New Year’s Eve that he wants to forget.
“They’ve really all been good,” Kelley said.
But this year — when the duo plays the Allstate Fan Fest in New Orleans, before the Allstate Sugar Bowl — he is pretty sure it will be the best New Year’s Eve yet.
“I think the best part of this year is that we’re putting on a free concert for everybody. And we’re always glad to team up with a partner who believes in throwing free concerts,” he said. “Because that’s part of our story: as a fan, I’ve been to so many free concerts and that’s part of the reason I’m here.”
Even if you’re not technically in New Orleans for the show, you can feel like you are. You’ll be able to catch the Florida Georgia Line performance when it broadcasts live from the French Quarter during the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.
Lucy Hale will be hosting the New Orleans part of the two-city celebration. And Seacrest will be right in the heart of Times Square to host the New York City part of the show. “It’s a really cool night, it’s something we’ve never done, and it means we can connect with our fans all over the world,” Kelley added.
And Kelley knows just what it means to be a part of the legendary New Year’s celebration, because he played it in 2014 to ring in 2015. “We did the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Special in New York City,” Kelley said, “and that was absolutely amazing. It was insanity, it was cold, it was a blast.
“It was just such a cool experience, because all your life you grow up watching the ball drop on TV, and then you’re there playing music as part of the show. It just kind of feels like an out-of-body experience there for a little bit.”
This year’s gig is a little closer to his home in Florida, he said, so he is looking forward to driving over to New Orleans, ringing in 2019, and staying for a couple days.
This New Year’s Eve show is also kind of the fans’ one last chance to see Florida Georgia Line, after their Las Vegas residency wrapped but before their string of shows in to Australia in March.