I consider it a "must play " at midnight too. But you know times are changing.,,
Do you play it as an instrumental or do you sing it, Donny?
Some things NEVER Change....
most times I sing it 1st time around then instrumental 2nd while everyone is hugging and kissing to the end....
Then go right into "Celebration"!!
I'm with you, Donny ... IS it even LEGAL in the US to play NYE and NOT play 'AULD LANG SYNE' ?!? ...
'back in the day', with the band we would play it ala Guy Lombardo - our sax player would even add that 'tremelo' - and then change it to a 'Two Step' and from there go into "When the Saints Go Marching In", "When You're Smilin", etc.
As time passed we changed it up and went from 'Auld Lang Syne' to "Celebration" and a bunch of other 'disco' tunes ... As Bill said, NYE usually went until 2, 3 and sometimes 4 in the morning ...
Now, like some of you, it's a mid-day gig ... this year I am doing a double with the female vocalist in the same building, but on different floors ... It's all backing tracks - OK, karaoke
- so we will set up one speaker in one room and another speaker in the other room ... we are going to set up the laptop, monitor, and mixer on one of those wheeled 'carts' they use so we can just unplug, get to the next floor and plug in ... should be interesting ...