One of the great things about Rockin’1000 is that it brings together musicians from all over the world, from literally all walks of life.
Men or women, Black or white, gay or straight, young or old – all that is irrelevant.
The only thing that matters is the ability to sing or play a musical instrument.
The musicians that make up the thousand in New Orleans Saturday night run the gamut.
They include 70-year-old drummer Andy Chetta of Covington, who first took up the instrument at the age of 13.
“I’m mostly self taught,” Chetta told Louisiana Radio Network. “I play by ear.”
Despite all of his years of experience, Saturday will be his very first gig.
“I’ve always wanted to try to do something like this,” says Chetta. “And when the opportunity arose, it was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Chetta admits that come show time, there may be a slight case of nerves.
“You always have that fear factor of making a mistake or something like that, which I’m sure most of us are going to make a mistake during this,” Chetta says. “But it’s so large and such a big venue, they even mention if you do make a mistake, it probably won’t get noticed.”
One of Chetta’s bandmates Saturday night is guitarist George Schafer.
While Chetta is decades into his professional career as a food broker sales supervisor, Schafer is at least a decade away from beginning his professional career in whatever field he decides to pursue.
That’s because Schafer, who’s also from Covington, is only 10 years old.
“I’ve been playing (guitar) for about five years, since I was five,” says Schafer.
Like Chetta, when Schafer heard about Rockin’1000 coming to New Orleans, he quickly recorded an audition video and submitted the link.
A few days later, he heard back – he was part of the thousand.
“I was excited,” says Schafer, “I was like, oh my God!”
Despite the massive age disparity, both Chetta and Schafer are equally as excited to be joining 998 other musicians on the Superdome floor Saturday night in playing in front of thousands of people.
“Performing in the Superdome is just way above my bucket list,” says Chetta.
“I can’t believe it,” Schafer says. “I mean, like, who has played the Superdome when they were 10?”