Again, the KRB played for New Year's Eve 2016 at Cars Land in Disney's California Adventure. We've played this NYE gig ever since this section of the park opened in 2012.
The gig actually started almost 24 hours before NYE because we had to load in and sound check the night before, after the park closed. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived at the park for the shuttle to pick us up and take us in. The stage was not anywhere near ready for us.
For a while we hung out underneath the entrance to Ramone's body shop.
I'm glad I brought a thermos of hot tea.
Part of our backline was underneath an awning at Luigi's Tires across the street.
We eventually went to our green room to get out of the rain, hoping that it would clear long enough for the crew to finish setting up and for us to sound check. But it never did.
The stage manager eventually told us to go home. We weren't worried because we've done this gig before and everyone knew everyone so we'd have no trouble getting dialed in quickly the next night (New Year's Eve!).
It rained on me all the way to Disneyland the next evening, gradually clearing as I got closer. When I arrived at 6pm the stage was set up but all of the backline gear was under this Eazy-Up. Thankfully it had stopped raining last night for the crew to finish setting up the PA and run a line check. They got done about 3am.
As it was still sprinkling we went to our green room. Wardrobe brought us our costume shirts and hats (we get to keep the hats).
Our set schedule was also posted on the whiteboard.
Because of the rain we missed our first set. We had plenty of time to don our costumes and make ourselves presentable for The Mouse.
Mrs. BassCliff had baked some oatmeal/walnut/cranberry cookies for the band and Kelly brought leftover Christmas candy so we had plenty of sugar to get hyped up.
They were able to put the DJ under an Eazy-Up to get the party started. He played through our first set since we couldn't take the stage because of the rain.
Eventually we did take the stage as the weather cleared. Here's a shot from my mic as the crew put the finishing touches on our setup
Mario gets a little help. You also see the SWR Redhead that I've used so often here at The Happiest Place On Earth.
Here's a real selfie just before we start our first set.
Kelly and Mario are ready!
I snap a quick cell phone picture of Daniel doing "Devil Went Down To Georgia".
Here's a shot of the crowd as we come up for our second set as the DJ finishes up. DJ Trevor did a really good job.
To the right of my rig you see the stage crew taking the DJ table off of the stage. The band and the DJ were trading sets. I'm glad I didn't have to move that gear every time.
Happy New Year!
I think this is a picture of the crowd as we made our way back to the stage for our third set. It was a good crowd all night long.
Here's a shot from the stage as we started our third set.
After the set the band posed for a picture.
We had Paul on horns since there was no keyboard player at this gig.
Here we are taking the stage for our last set as DJ Trevor finished up his set.
How about a few action shots of the band?
What's a night at Disneyland without fireworks? It was a great show tonight.
We played a little more, until 12:30am.
Then it was time to pack up and leave. Since we were backlined my load-out was pretty simple.
Two basses, a guitar stand, and my back pack was all I brought. Were it not for the rain, the shuttle rides, the crowds, and the traffic, this gig would have been really cushy.
And we say good bye to Cars Land for 2016 as we make our way to the shuttle pickup point.
We've got a little video from a friend's cell phone. I hope you like it, a short snippet of a silly pop song.
It was not very cold this year. I wore only two layers under my costume, a long sleeve and a short sleeve black t-shirts. I stayed plenty warm as long as I was moving. It was just wet. The rain had soaked the AstroTurf style carpeting on the stage so even though the crew tried to squeegee dry the stage, my boots still took on water and eventually got my socks wet, making my feet a little cold. But I'm not going to complain, much. It was a fun gig. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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