New York has no shortage of ways to ring in 2010, and one of the best is with a live soundtrack. The pop and jazz critics of The New York Times have chosen some of this year’s most promising New Year’s Eve events in the New York metropolitan region.

MARIAH CAREY New Year’s Eve as it should be: flamboyant, grand, emotionally conflicted, slightly manic, just a touch sloppy. Through all the iterations of Ms. Carey’s public image, the one constant has been her voice, which has never softened, even if it’s been underused in recent years. It’s almost certain, though, that in this show, the beginning of a two-month tour supporting her new “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” (Island), she won’t be coy. There may be reveling elsewhere in the city, and an oversize scrum clogging Times Square just a few blocks away, but Ms. Carey’s performance is certain to be this night’s true spectacle. The bawdy R&B singer Trey Songz will open. At 9 p.m., Madison Square Garden, 4 Pennsylvania Plaza, Manhattan, (212) 465-6741, thegarden.com; $20.10 to $175.75.

Source: New York Times