Grandstand

With the Minnesota State Fair wrapping up in a few days, I'll close out my two-part fair series with the Grandstand.  The State Fair always has good rock acts come through, and this year is no different, with Weezer playing this Saturday night.  They are my favorite band, so I have to check them out every time they come to town.

The Grandstand

The Grandstand is a combination of two ideas.  The first, a pavilion stage that one would find in a park for bands to play on.  It's just a platform with a wall and partial roof over it.  There are stairs leading up to the stage on both sides.  It's just enough to be useful, and that's all I ever try to do with all my buildings.

The band performing on stage

The second inspiration was trying to build a drum set out of Lego bricks.  I came up with the conceptual designs in Lego Digital Designer.  How could I get a bass drum and cymbals arranged in a small space so that the drummer can reasonably reach everything without feeling crammed in.  I don't have any toms mounted above the bass drum, but I think this worked.

 Conceptual design of a drum kit front (left) and rear (right)

:Lego beat me to the punch with the 850486 Rock Band Minifigure Accessory Set, but there were a couple of elements missing from their set that were in my conceptual design.  There was no kick pedal, but no big deal.  I just used the one from this Lego set.  I put it up on a platform, so it'd be above the rest of the band, like drummers in actual bands do.

 

 

The drummer banging it out on his drum kit.

Once I had the drumming situation figured out, I built the rest of the band around him.  I figured a bassist, a lead singer, and three guitar players would round things out.  Of course, I wound up with a few extra musicians.  I've still got an 8831 Rocker Girl, a 71002 Saxophone Player, an 8831 Bagpiper, and a newly acquired 71013 Mariachi.  I could put the Saxophone Guy in the band, and maybe the Rocker Girl (you can never go wrong with more guitars), but with my limited stage space, I don't have room for them up there.

Additional musicians (left to right) Rocker Girl, Saxophone Player, Bagpiper, and Mariachi

We've settled on who's performing at the Grandstand, but who's going to the show?  Easy, it's the minifigures dressed up in costume.  The band is playing AT A COSTUME PARTY.  It's brilliant!!  A concert is a great excuse to put on a bright, colorful outfit, like a zombie, a shark suit, or a Ninja Turtle, and wear it out in public.

Costume partygoers enjoying the music at their shindig

As always, the best way to build a Lego town is to take the pieces you have and build around them, not the other way around.

Sets used: 8684, 8804, 8831, 71002, 71007, 71013, 850486