Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[chrisj]

Glad it was a good night for you Mark and hope you get lots more work from the people there. It is really nice when it happens like that. as I mentioned in another forum I had a wedding for a Russian groom and english bride last night who wanted opposites as far as music went. There were quite a few Russians guests there and maybe the wodka was flowing well especially with one guy who slipped and his feet pushed my starcloth surround back and the tripod holding the overheads. A couple of minutes break to sort it out and they were asking for Russian music again whioch I didn't have as the agency hadn't told me about it.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Busy week for me with lots of customer meetings following last weeks wedding fayre.
Wednesday I provided Uplighting for one of my residencies for their Christmas Taster Evening.
Thursday I did a gig with my band which ended up with me also providing the lighting.
Friday I was at my local doing a 70s Night. Lots of other stuff going on in the town but we were packed and it was a really good night with some great requests.
Saturday I was back at the hotel again providing Uplighting for a 21st Birthday that also had a Fun Casino. Customer had sourced her own DJ which was cool because it meant I was available to do another gig with my band which was awesome.

It was for the launch of a Charity / Trust following the unfortunate death of a toddler last year who drowned.
It was a ticketed event with all 500 tickets sold out and it was held in a massive tipi. Great sounding PA system but not a lot of lighting. I noticed when we were soundchecking that 2 of the LED Pars were not working. I asked about them and was told that they were on hire and the guy wasn't on site. I asked if it was ok for me to have a look at them and sorted it within seconds. It was the pins on the back that weren't matching up with eachother. It was pretty dark on stage still as they only had 1 x bank of 4 Pars that were to the side of the stage.
We played first and went down really well. The other 2 bands were my friends bands and they were a Blues Groove band and a Ska Covers band. We were quite apprehensive beforehand wondering if the crowd would like us because we did all originals and you know what it's like, some people only like what they know BUT after the first song we had them.

Planned to sleep overnight too as they said people could camp. We were on free drinks and food and I had a few pints of real ale that didn't agree with me and I decided not to stay. I was actually looking forward to sleeping in the back of the van in my new sleeping bag with duvet and pillows! I was home by 1.00ish and got a lift back there this morning to get the van and then the Uplighting.

Knackered but chilling out now.

[DazzyD]

I don't usually post in this thread but last night's gig was made special by the venue. It was a charity fundraiser in aid of a dental charity called Smiles Across Nepal and it was held at the 4-star Vermont Hotel in the centre of Newcastle. I was the first DJ to work in the newly refurbished Ballroom on Level 4 which was a fantastic room with the most stunning crystal/glass chandelier I've ever seen. The room has it's own lighting system consisting of moving heads and scanners and the effect was outstanding.

The event was a Grease-themed night and plenty of people were dressed up to look the part. After the food and raffle, the guests were up for a good dance which made my job really easy. The requests that came in were quite cheesy and it became the kind of evening that I did loads of in the late 90s and early 00's when people just wanted to party. It wasn't total cheese and had a good mix of new and old tracks but it was just cheesy enough to guarantee a full dancefloor! My kind of gig!

If anyone ever gets the chance to work at The Vermont Hotel, go for it! It's gr.....reat!

[DJ Jules]

Interesting weekend for me. Friday night saw me at the local British Legion Club for a family 18th with about 50 family aged 6 to 80. The evening saw the usual issues with family functions, I had the kids coming at me with current chart hits, other family members coming up with requests for 80's and all sorts and a few on the sidelines screaming "play 60's" at me all night! The playlist I had was given to me on Thur night and consisted of about 15 tracks with a mix of alternative, 60's, reggae and chart, most of which bombed on the night!! The evening was further hampered by a 9:00 buffet and an 11:00pm finish so the party was just getting started when it finished, but I went with my gut and mostly ignored the requests from the handful of teens asking for chart and had a reasonably full dance floor at the finish, despite closing off with a Chelsea anthem and "You'll never walk alone" at the birthday boy's request. I was additionally hampered by the bar staff initially turning off all the room lighting - except for the stage and the dance floor (???)

The thing which still sticks in my head is just how lovely these people all were (even the venue staff) - I had numerous offers for food and drink throughout the night and the birthday boy actually came up cash in hand and offered to pay for the footy themed tracks I downloaded to play for him! If those kids are the future, then we're going to be Ok

Saturday night was a wedding at a nice local rugby club. Again, lovely friendly staff who couldn't help enough and numerous offers for food and drink throughout the night. The venue was decked out with uplighting and white drapes with fairy lights which I complemented with my lighting early in the evening. This was a weird night as the first dance was supposed to be at 7:00, but the B&G were really relaxed about the whole night and it eventually happened at 7:45, by which time I had a full dance floor I then kept the dance floor full until the hog roast buffet came out at 8:45. They took an hour to eat the buffet, and then people started either drifting away or settling into their seats as they finished their food and I picked up the volume and the pace, leaving me struggling to get people on their feet - especially with another very mixed playlist. The B&G decided to call it a night at 11:30 so we got the remaining guests to form a tunnel after which pretty much everyone left except for a few couples so I played a couple of slower tracks (Take that & Lady in Red) and called it quits.

Both good nights, but both very hard work! I suspect I'm going to have something similar with my gig next Sat, another Wedding with few guests in a marquee by the Avon with an 11:30 finish.

Julian

[DJ Jules]

Wedding for me last night for another parent at my kids school at a relatively famous local pub/bar/restaurant in a lovely location nestled by the Avon - Beeses Tea rooms. Serviced mostly by a small ferry boat!!

Unfortunately, not so lovely for me. The walk from the car to the marquee is down about 100m of gravel path and a set of steps that drops by about 20m.... and the marquee has no dance floor, just a marquee carpet that was uneven and pretty soggy in my corner.

I dropped my kit off before they all arrived and stashed it in a store area behind the marquee. When I dropped it off I checked if I needed to keep access free anywhere in the room and they told me I could take as much space as I wanted. The next thing they said was "do you have any lights?" Because they were supposed to have fairy lights up around the marquee, and they didn't. Luckily I brought a few uplighters with me to put behind me, and I brought a few more with me when I came back later, but this was a service that they'd declined to pay for already.

I return at 6:30 to start setting up and tell the venue I'm there and ask when they're going to start turning the room around to be met with "they're having a DJ?" I reply that, yes, they're having a DJ, and yes you should know that since I'd exchanged a few emails with the owners of the place prior to the day and I'd been down a few weeks before to run through the arrangements and see the marquee.

Anyway, once we'd got past that they re-arranged the room, I cleared the PA they'd put out for background music (Soundlab amp + Numark mixer + 2 x 10" carpet covered speakers sat on the floor). From memory they said that this was supposed to be used for speeches as well, but there was no mic in sight. I then set up the minimal amount of kit I'd brought to discover that the floor was so uneven that there was no way I could put up the Equinox screens without them becoming a hazard (at risk of toppling over!!) So I spent the night DJ'ing from a venue table with a T-bar beside me and kit and cables on show I also couldn't change as the toilets had about half an inch of water on the floor so I worked in Jeans, Trainers and a white shirt!! I felt like I must have looked like a complete amateur, but there wasn't much I could do about it, and as much as I hate to say this, I kind of fit in with both the atmosphere of the place and the party - it was a pretty relaxed affair all round.

Anyway, music on by 7:10, first dance scheduled for 8:00, but the evening guests didn't turn up on time so that was delayed until 8:30. First dance was Aerosmith, I don't want to miss a thing. General instruction was for "no cheese", but happy with requests. Which was good as their guests wanted quite a lot of cheese

I had a full dance floor from the off and kept it full for most of the night. The only exception was when the best man started interfering with the playlist and pushing for old school hip hop "to get them all on their feet". Hmm. Niche genre if you ask me with a few tracks with wider appeal, but not the stuff he was asking for.

I also had a few other requests I hadn't come across before, and a few that I skipped over:

Soft cell - Tainted love (didn't play)
Coldplay - Yellow (played low after the finish as it was dedicated to a couple celebrating their 10th anniversary)
Brick & Lace - Love is wicked (didn't play - reggae had been clearing the dance floor all night)
The Whispers - And the beat goes on (didn't play - just didn't fit in the end)
N.W.A - Express yourself (Played - The best man at work here - actually worked well)

Guests happy. B&G happy. Job done.

Next weekend - Monthly family night on Fri, followed by a yearly bowling award night on Sat (same venue and I can leave my rig there).

Julian

[Excalibur]

Could I do with a few moew like this? Have a guess. Local club ( five miles travel. Not fifty plus, as is my wont, presently.) A rag tag selection of lights are installed, so my lighting rig was two uplighters behind me. Set up on the Pool table, ( I've made a frame to hide my kit, basic black painted ply, but looks fine, black cloth over front of table ) Two laptops, one controller, two active cabs. Blimey, there was a lot of room in the van!!

Get set up, customers arrive in good time, pay before I've played a song, and say " We love Tamla, Soul, 60's and 70's, will that be alright" ? Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears live in the woods? To quote Mr Adams " Thought I'd died and gone to heaven ". Not a full floor all night, but very appreciative crowd, at the end one chap came up, and said that was the best set he'd heard in twenty years.

Started packing up at 12.30, home for 1am. Mmmmmmmmmm, nice.

[deltic]

Could I do with a few moew like this? Have a guess. Local club ( five miles travel. Not fifty plus, as is my wont, presently.) A rag tag selection of lights are installed, so my lighting rig was two uplighters behind me. Set up on the Pool table, ( I've made a frame to hide my kit, basic black painted ply, but looks fine, black cloth over front of table ) Two laptops, one controller, two active cabs. Blimey, there was a lot of room in the van!!

Get set up, customers arrive in good time, pay before I've played a song, and say " We love Tamla, Soul, 60's and 70's, will that be alright" ? Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears live in the woods? To quote Mr Adams " Thought I'd died and gone to heaven ". Not a full floor all night, but very appreciative crowd, at the end one chap came up, and said that was the best set he'd heard in twenty years.

Started packing up at 12.30, home for 1am. Mmmmmmmmmm, nice.

Glad to see you are getting the hang of the light and easy thing

[Spirits High]

Thought I'd share with you the last few Weddings. This week I've had them Thursday , Friday & Saturday.

Thursday pretty much your bang standard type thing ie: Running late, guests leaving early etc.

However Friday was a different kettle of fish! The Bride booked me at a Wedding fayre in April and you could tell this was going to be a big one. Aswell as Dj'ing I also supplied uplighting & one of my postboxes. They'd booked a really decent band called "Smokescreen" who were a local band from Staffordshire, a photo booth, chocolate fountain and fireworks. They also had the estate package ie Hall for the daytime and Marquee for the evening.....oh and arrived by helicopter!

Evening guests numbered around 260 so it gave the new db tech sub 15d's a good run out. What I've failed to add is that the Bride works at "Hooters" so you can guess from that the type of guests that were there on the evening Apparently one of the guests works on Babestation and I could well believe it as one of the security guys commented last time I saw those tts it cost me £20

The Bride had supplied a list of all songs to be played and to be fair it worked really well although we did have dramas with the "one More" crew at the end of the night. Oh, and the power went as the blender making the Strawberry Daiquiris tripped the fuses! To top it off my trolley got a puncture but it was pit stop type change as there's even a back up trolley wheel in the van

Here's a pic of the bouquet throw to give you a rough idea of the evening




Last night was at another of my usual haunts and I'd met the Bride last week and chatted through song choices etc. Their first dance was a little different as they had a pinnata and battered it to Pat Benetar "Hit me with your best shot!" So that kind of set the tone for the evening. Musically it was everything from Wham via the Shadows to Terrorvision, Neds Atomic dustbin and a bit of the Offspring for good measure. The Brides family were all from Hartlepool so were up for a good time. A really good night and after a really busy summer it's good to have a couple of gigs like these to give you that buzz again.

Can't remember the tune but it was a definite ties round heads night

[musicologydisco]

Guns n Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine?

[DJ Jules]

Interesting weekend for me. Friday and Saturday night at a local community centre which saved me the trouble of having to pack down Fri night

Friday night was the monthly family night for the centre with the usual range of kids games which went down well (as usual). Only little negative was some feedback from one of the parents that I wasn't playing enough music for the younger ones. Unfortunately true in this instance as I did the first hour while people were arriving as music, then played games for the remaining 2.5hrs almost non-stop with some of them taking a lot longer than expected because a) of the number of kids who choose to get involved and b) because of how good some of the kids were at playing the games! Still, constructive feedback for next time. I find it ironic as I used to really shy away from spending lots of time on the Mic

Saturday night was a skittles presentation evening & supposedly a party. I found it absolutely incredible that two of the teams turned up for the night literally just a few minutes before the presentation at 9:00 and then left immediately afterwards!! Why bother coming at all???! Anyway, I've done this night for the last 3yrs now so I knew what to expect and it was a reasonable night considering (that I knew in advance that a lot of the older folks were not interested in the disco in the slightest). I was expecting to be home by 11:00, but ended up keeping a core of people there until the end at midnight with a mix of Party dances, 70's disco, Ska, Country, Cheese and some very good, but unexpected Karaoke.

Two things make the night worth mentioning - firstly the second Mic channel on my Numark Mixdeck packed up unexpectedly so I turned the radio Mic on for the presentation - and got nothing at all. Some rapid pulling of plugs saw my radio Mic plugged into the front panel jack and me running the rest of the night from wireless Mic only. It looks like I actually wore out the Mic channel on Friday night The Numark is going to have to go for repair this week which I've been putting off (I discovered the other day it's also blown a Capacitor in one of the balanced outputs, but I know that happened when I connected into a band's mixer over a year ago and they turned on phantom power - I've been running on phono outputs every since).

Secondly, there was another DJ in the building for a surprise 50th going on in the skittle alley next door and I popped my head round the door early in the evening to say hi. At the risk of stereotyping, the guy was running a typical new DJ rig - laptop with VirtualDJ, Hercules controller, Maplin's truss & lights and a pair of actives (Alto TS112 - not bad). His rig was tidy enough and apparently he did a good job while he was there. I know because the birthday girl told me so when she wandered into the hall drunk at 11:30, dressed in her new Wonder Woman onesie, complaining that her DJ had already packed up and gone home! I'm not going to comment about the early departure (as I don't know if the music license is different in the skittle alley to the main hall and the guy seemed competent enough) but her next words were: "I wish you'd been my DJ"

Three weeks off now to fix or replace the Mixdeck and give my wife a chance to go out and get plastered with her friends before I start Halloween season (8 gigs in two weeks).

Julian