Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Excalibur]

Wayne, rather than loads of multiquotes, let's just say you and I are singing off the same hymnsheet.

I have found wedding after parties to be lots of fun, and usually rewarding. All the party, none of the formality.

Multiple setups? Don't get me started, one size does not fit all. Fifty wedding guests in a cosy bistro would not appreciate the rig you used the night before, for three hundred Young Farmers in an aircraft hangar! Same applies to PA systems, a Maui 5GO versus a six box filling loosener.

Have fun with the team building exercise.

[Imagine]

What a night!

I'd been looking forward to it for a while. It's a "glamping" site about 10 miles from my front door. It was a wedding venue until Covid hit, and the owner seeing he wasn't able to make any money decided to take a punt, put up a load of glamping pods (oooooh they're impressive), and all without planning permission (well...the planning committee weren't sitting at the time were they ).

Thankfully it was all signed off and he's now got a thriving business in the holiday industry.

This week, he's hosting a corporate team-building type of thing and needed a DJ for the first night - I was top of his list and didn't need asking twice.

It was a temporary marquee affair, not the standard I'm used to for weddings but it did the job. The only snag was getting to the damned thing. Access to the site once you leave the excuses we call roads in these parts is via a farm track which is actually smoother than the council's tarmac efforts, and it's been raining over the past few days here...a lot.

Can you see the warning signs children? ('cos I missed 'em!)

Halfway to said marquee I became entrenched in a muddy rut which required the assistance of a handful of the team-building chaps to give me a bit of a shove. Well, they're supposed to be working as a team, aren't they?

Got to the tent and set up in good time, background music for the dinner and then onto the party proper. The brief the client had given the venue was for a "cheesy wedding DJ". Quite how that landed on me I don't know , but the gig was anything BUT cheesy in the end. A good proportion of the delegates are here from the US of A, and it wasn't long before we were into Blink182, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams (and not with the usual suspects either). A little smattering of Wheatus, Nirvana and a bit of 2Pac and Notorious BIG was interspersed with all manner of other stuff, including Whitney, LOTS of Abba (they kept baying for more and more of the Swedish hits), oh and yes, they DID do the Macarena. OK - that's where the cheesy part came in but they were asking for it and who am I to refuse?

Midnight rolled around with calls for one more (I'd planned for that), and then another (which they didn't get - there's a neighbour which complains every time they see a marquee being put up let alone hear what's happening). Plugs pulled, they disappear to the fire-pit areas outside, produce a massive speaker from somewhere and start singing in a riotous fashion whilst I'm clearing away. They were well and truly into Bo Rap as I took a run-up in the van to the muddy ruts in an effort to aquaplane over them (I succeeded this time ).

A damned good gig for a Monday night - I'm well chuffed

Today, I shall be taking the day off. Alas on Wednesday I've got to go back to my lockup for a sort out and I'm going to curse the moment I open the doors. Think of Mr Clarkson delivering a patient to hospital in a Top Gear challenge and that's sort of how I unloaded the van last night....it's a bit of a mess

[Excalibur]

Well done Wayne, sounds like a great night, and fun. You too finding Abba the answer to every question? My guests of all ages are going mad for the Swedish Songsters, currently.
Sounds like this venue could be valuable, with a bit of fine tuning.

[DJ Jules]

This week has been the full kick off of wedding season with 4 in the last 6 days.

Monday's wedding was at a lovely venue in Wales and I'd been recommended by a pair of videographers who had seen me perform at another wedding and were the Brides sister and brother and law at this one in a semi-guest and semi-working capacity! Both the videographers and the couple were lovely, but the videographers had pre-warned me that the guests don't dance and will leave early as they'd found out at their own wedding! The day was running behind a bit and the speeches went on longer than expected so I got in at around 8pm (planned for 7pm), but was pretty much ready for the planned first dance time of 8:30pm. That slipped though and we got to that, the sparkler shots and then the evening buffet a bit later than expected. The first dance went OK, we got quite a few people on the dance floor afterwards and then we had lots of small children in attendance who left a little early. As the videographer had predicted, 11pm came and most of the remaining guests just picked up and left and we finished on the last song about 5mins ahead of time.

Tuesday was a micro-wedding with about 40 guests in total. This venue has a main house and then a separate function room in a lodge about 100m away and it's a little unusual in that, if the couple don't book exclusive use of the hotel, they get turfed out of the main restaurant at 5:30pm sharp so that the hotel can prep it for evening service for the other hotel residents. Knowing this, the timings for the day were set early with me due to start at 6:30pm. I got caught in traffic and arrived at 5:50pm, thinking I might have to fight through people to get set up, but no-one was in sight. I set up in 18mins flat and settle in to see what happens next... Turns out the guests are all in the garden on the far side of the hotel enjoying the lovely weather and I didn't see anyone at all until 7:45pm, just before the first dance, leaving me to lounge in a comfy chair in the sunshine at the front of the function room. 40 guests and a nice day were never going to make for a full dance floor so the result wasn't unexpected. The numbers were further hurt by a guest taking a slip right in front of the DJ booth (no idea why, she just went!) and having to be taken to hospital by the venue staff (3 cracked ribs and a cut to the head!!) Positive feedback from the B&G the next day.

Friday saw me at a regular local venue for another earlyish start (7pm) which actually happened on time and a late-ish finish (1am). Lovely venue, nice weather, nice patio. Actually quite a busy dance floor for most of the night and positive feedback from both the B&G and the father of the bride (ex-DJ apparently) at the end of the night.

Saturday... wedding at a hotel in Wells that specialises in boutique weddings. 40 guests plus a handful of evening and quite a few very small babies. Arrived at 6pm to set up as agreed, just as the speeches were starting. Cake cut and first dance were planned for 7:30pm/7:40pm and ended up being closer to 8:30pm as everything ran late and people wandered off into the local town to get photos and enjoy the evening. Another nice terrace next to the function room and a pleasant evening as well as a very split audience made for very sporadic dancing (I didn't manage to get any on the dance floor after the first dance!) My night was made entertaining by a couple who were really into their soul and funk and danced (by themselves) whenever I played anything of this genre. Unfortunately they sat down to literally anything else, making it hard to build numbers. Happy B&G and a finish at 11:20 (instead of 11:30).

Next week is mostly about photography and photobooths with just 1 disco out of the 4 bookings requiring anything musical.

Julian

[Excalibur]

Half a dozen folk on here know I was as excited as a toddler at Christmas for this one. Just A Party for a chap around my age, with similar musical tastes. The suggestion list was bands from 50s to late 80s, and some absolute gems in there. Not only that, but I was on with two bands, one of whom would be finishing the night, so I could pack up my gear and get most of it out before the tight exit time.

I had met the host at the venue, and we had decided where everyone/everything was going, with me sat by the fire door, able to exit during the second band's last set, as stated on my timing sheet. Perfect. Regular readers already have an inkling where we're going, haven't you?

First of all, the bands were already in my appointed position, next to the fire exit, with dedicated parking. I then had to go for Plan B, the front doors, using my trolley. Then the timings were moved further and further forward, until I had the last half hour to play! Not only that, I had to remove the disco and all the extra lighting the bands that I'd brought in safe in the knowledge that I'd have the band's last set for a leisurely dismantle!

I was very naughty, I pretended to be a band, and brought my bags in during their set, removed one speaker, and shifted as much kit out as possible before the finish.

To be fair, the crowd of recycled teenagers were lovely, the buffet was great and plentiful, and the music I got to play as awesome. Still a fabulous night, but if I'd known I was finishing the night, the bands wouldn't have got dedicated lighting, and I'd have shaved the kit a tad more.

[Excalibur]

And they both seem to share manic energy levels and hard work. One is Children's entertainment, on the rare occasions I have done it, I'm frazzled afterwards, and in need of a drink.

The other is Karaoke. How people do this day in, day out, baffles me.

I took a cover job local to me last night, and everything I had been told turned out to be basically true. Yes, space was extremely tight ( I ended up using a venue table, as it couldn't be taken out or moved away ), yes it was very busy/packed, yes they all wanted to sing, and some were very good. I did manage to shoehorn the Micron booth in beside me, and using the venue TV behind my shoulder helped a lot. One Polar 10 was all I could get in, the regular DJ uses a Bose L1.

It just gets truly overwhelming at times as a solo operator, shepherding errant singers, retrieving radio mics, finding songs, and generally doing a dozen things at once. I must say that I didn't feel as big a sense of " thank the Lord that's over " as I normally do, simply a sense of relaxing from the chaos.

Birthday tonight, with a two day long playlist of over a hundred tracks, and I can take requests and add my own as I see fit! Should be fun

[Imagine]

It's been a week of unusualness for me.

Thursday saw me at my local dealer for an open night which unusually had LOTS of FREE pizza delivered instead of a food van. I also had the pleasure of actually hearing and touching one of those illusive Polar 12 rigs.....oh BOY does that thing rock! Even more surprising was the StudioMaster offering sat beside it. I know they're technically the same....but that little thing blew my socks off. What it lacks in beauty ('cos it's not pretty to look at), it more than made up for in power, especially at the low end. In fact they demo'd it side by side with one of my beloved Maui28's, and the Maui sounded muddy in comparison

The other bit of unusualness?

Last night saw me not at a wedding, but in the Social club of the village 3 miles across the Fen from my house providing the choonage for a 40th birthday.

I'm seriously going to have to consider taking more of these on!

Nice easy load-in/out, everyone in shorts as it'd been a nice day and neck-oil flowing nicely. The pre-requests I'd been sent through last weekend were predominantly '90s clubland tracks with just a smattering of "lad songs". I was in my blimmin' element!

Lots of kiddo's at the start of the evening and it took a long time to get going whilst folk chatted, ate and drank but when it did get going - it didn't stop! I think we only left the '90s a couple of times and one of those was Sandstorm. Unlike recent weddings, I was left with over half the original crowd at the end of the night so did a fake ending before the grand finale which had already been chosen by the birthday boy.

I'm liking these local gigs. 30 minutes after playing the last song, the entire kit's in the van and after driving it back to storage, I'm home just after 1am again.
I could get used to this

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I'm liking these local gigs. 30 minutes after playing the last song, the entire kit's in the van and after driving it back to storage, I'm home just after 1am again.
I could get used to this

I was in a venue in town where you have to go through their PA tonight so it's just lights and playout.

I was home, packed away and in the hot tub with a bottle of wine and some Springsteen on by 1. I'm back in there in a couple of weeks 😁

[Excalibur]

Firstly, Wayne I need to hear your thoughts on those speakers. The odds on me changing any of those are slim, but it's always good to hear what people think.

OK, to last night. Fairly local to me, and a charming venue. An old railway station converted into a community room and a function room. Also adjacent to a huge childrens' playground for the little ones. Set in wooded surroundings, I can see many reasons why it was chosen. I can also see a couple why it shouldn't have been. It's a long narrow room, and you set up across it at one end, and all your sound just bounces straight back at you. You can't play down the room because of the fire exit.

Also, due to the number of guests, you can't set up in advance, and you have to wait for tables to be removed to get the kit in. I did what I could in advance, as I was only given access at my planned start time. I rushed the set up, got music on quickly, and lights soon afterwards. I always find that in those circumstances, I'm on the back foot from the start, and struggling to find my rhythm. I had a very good, small playlist, with one or two wild cards, which turned out to be the songs of the night, from Bring Me The Horizon, and A Day To Remember. That style seemed to go down well with what was left of my audience when the Mums and Dads went home.

Why is it that guests think that purposely antagonising the DJ is humorous, clever, and a good way to get their songs played? Bringing drinks on the dance floor despite my warnings, waving them about, even after one was smashed on the floor early on. Also, requesting songs, giving me a time frame, and not being there in that time frame. 90s Dance did well, but it wasn't easy to get one style going before I had to change to something totally different.

Most guests will think I did well, some will think I was a Miserable Old Git, perhaps with justification. Bride and Groom, and Bride's parents were very happy, so that counts as job done. Hard work though.

[Benny Smyth]

Thursday saw me at my local dealer for an open night which unusually had LOTS of FREE pizza delivered instead of a food van.

Blimey. For what I pay, I wish my dealer was just as accommodating.

I also had the pleasure of actually hearing and touching one of those illusive Polar 12 rigs.....oh BOY does that thing rock!

As an owner of the Polar 12s, I have been suitably impressed with them.