On New Year’s Eve, most people spent the anticipation of the new year with friends and family, eating lots of food and waiting for the ball to drop on the TV. But instead, junior Daniel Young spent his night a little differently.

“On New Year’s Eve, I played live with my band, The Miles. We played from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. and on New Year’s Day we played from 9 p.m to 12 p.m. We don’t usually play back to back, but it was different and it was really fun,” Young said.

Young’s band played at a few restaurants in the Kirkwood area that his band plays at frequently.

“I don’t think we’ve ever done a four hour session, so we had to learn a lot of new music super quickly. When we performed, it was the first time we performed a lot of the songs we played live, but it was really great. We had a variety of music and it was a lot of fun. I was moving around a lot on stage and the crowd really feeds off of that. When the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve, my band and I counted down into the microphone, and then as soon as it hit midnight, I started playing Auld Lang Syne on the keyboard. I don’t even like that song that much and I didn’t really know the words, but it was still fun and the crowd enjoyed it,” Young said.

Young knows how to play a variety of instruments, including the piano, guitar, ukulele, and also sings.

“It was a great way to start off the new year,” Young said.