Zendaya-Phil Vassar

You may not recognize the first artist for the day unless you have small kids or find yourself watching the Disney Channel for no good reason.  She's the start of Shake It Up and one of those tv stars gone musical artist.  I knew we were in for a treat when their tour manager kept referring to the "kids".  Yes, all 15+ of them that perform as part of her show.  The musicians, the backup singers, the dancers were all kids.  The youngest, I believe was a 10 year old guitar player.  They have several chaperons that travel with them as well.  The little girls started lining up to get the best seats long before the start of the show.  They were also clamoring over purchasing meet and greets.  For $60 a pop they could come backstage and meet Zendaya after the show.  All day I ended up playing parking attendant more or less.  We have an extremely limited amount of real estate in the backstage area.  We had three acts today that ended up driving vans in, plus our backline suppliers vehicle and trailer, Disney Radio van, and our vehicles we use for transporting artists and crews.  We were moving vehicles all day to make sure everyone could fit at certain times and not block everyone in.  One false move and the puzzle would fall apart.  Magically it all ended up working out.

Zendaya and her dancers

Great crowd for Zendaya

Zendaya had a huge crowd and ended up doing a meet and greet for about 200 people.  As we're getting the meet and greet started Phil Vassar's band and crew rolls in.  They were so easy to work with.  Completely easy going and just ready to play.  They were in FL last night.  They had a show last night, early flights today and then rolled in for a show today.  They have to drive to a city an hour away after the show to fly out of Rochester, NY early tomorrow morning.  Needless to say they are just tired.  :)  Phil arrived a little later in the afternoon.  Those that weren't familiar with who he was didn't even realize he was the artist.  He was just chatting with our staff and one of them asked, after he had walked away, which one was Phil Vassar.  I said that the one that was just talking with us was him.  It caught them by surprise.  Just a reminder that these folks are just like us.  Right before the show I was standing on the stage with a couple of detectives.  Phil came over and started cracking up with them treating them like they were old buddies.  As he walked away I asked if they knew him.  The laughed, shook their heads and said "oh yeah, best buddies for the past three minutes".  We ended up having some technical difficulties with the sound during the show.  A horn like sound just started and overpowered the band.  Phil just stopped sat down at the front of the stage and started joking.  Trying to make the best of it until we figured out what it was.  Eventually it stopped and thankfully didn't come back.  Now we just have to figure out what it is!  His show was packed full of hits.  Not only ones that he released himself but many that he wrote for others that did really well.  A very talented artist!

Phil Vassar banging out the hits

Nothing like a party on top of a piano

Tomorrow is a big day!  Babyface in the morning and Styx at night.  I have a feeling we'll have huge crowds for both shows.  I'm looking forward to seeing Babyface's show as I've always been a huge fan.