Rain, Admission Fees Can’t Put A Damper On R&B Night At The KRATEs 

 For everyone on local Facebook community pages who claimed that not just the R&B Only Nights, but also the KRATE at The Grove Container Park itself, were “over,” let’s just say that, in the words of Mark Twain, “the reports of (their deaths) are greatly exaggerated.” 

On June 28, neither the heavy rains that started shortly after the gates opened at 5 p.m. and continued off and on for two+ hours and kept the music from starting promptly at 7 p.m., nor the new $5 pre-sale (and $10 day-of) admission fee that was implemented for the first time for that evening could “dampen” the enthusiasm of the people who have loved the R&B event for more than a year now — nor keep them away. 

While waiting for the rain to subside, the Grove’s VP of operations Vance McAllister told the Neighborhood News that there were already about 3,000 pre-sold tickets at $5 a pop when the online sales shut down at 11:59:59 on Thursday night. 

“Although we really have no idea exactly how many people attended these before, since we didn’t sell tickets or control entry to the event,” McAllister said, “we heard estimates of as many as 8,000 people at the May event, so we knew something had to be done. We love this event as much as the people who have been showing up for it do, so we knew we had to do something to keep it safe for everyone.” 

A couple of issues ago, we mistakenly told you that the R&B Only Nights at the KRATEs were being produced by Tim Hancock’s Jazz Tyme Productions, but that was an unintentional mistake on my part. 

The R&B Nights actually are being produced by Nico Brown of Nico Brown Productions and Nico called me to let me know of my mistake before the news hit that he was going to begin charging admission fees to attend his super-popular R&B Nights beginning with the June 28 event. 

Since the moment he announced on Facebook that he was going to start charging admission, Nico had been dealing with a lot of backlash but even more support, especially from The Grove management and the KRATEs. 

On June 28, with virtually no one yet in attendance after 6 p.m. (when previous R&B Nights were normally already packed) and with the rain coming down hard, then subsiding, then pelting him (and anyone else outside) again, Nico was still hard at work setting up the event — knowing that not only was the rain eventually supposed to end but also that he had at least 3,000 people who pre-paid the $5 admission fee by the night before to enjoy his first paid R&B Night. 

When the rain did finally break for the remainder of the evening sometime after the intended 7 p.m. start time, Nico and his crew were scrambling to get the sound equipment set up for DJ Control. By sometime after 7:30, DJ Control not only got the music started, he also introduced saxophonist Marlon Boone, who got the early attendees going right away with some jazzy R&B sounds. Later in the evening (although we weren’t still on hand to verify it), DJ Psycho and guest vocalist Rubi Mar also were expected to hit the main stage. 

But, everything else that both Nico and The KRATEs promised on their respective Facebook pages would be different about this first paid R&B Night also came true: there were 22 Pasco Sheriff’s Deputies on hand and the only way to get into the event was through the gates, which had plenty of tennis-ball-green-shirted attendants on hand to either take the $5 prepaid tickets or sell $10 day-of admissions. In addition, there was a clear path set up down the center aisle between the KRATEs on both sides between the stage and the admission gate (photo below left) and another blocked off path behind the first sea of personal chairs brought in by those early attendees. 

Did anywhere near the estimated 8,000 people who attended in May or the 3,000 who prepaid their admissions end up showing up? I can’t answer that. All I can say is that those who were there seemed to once again have a great time, enjoying the music and each other, checking out the food from the KRATEs and dancing. 

In other words, it was still very much R&B Only Night at the KRATEs, so don’t miss the next one on Friday, July 26, 7 p.m.!