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Thread: Good Gig, Bad Gig.

  1. #5061

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    Unhappy

    I used to have a pair of quad phase hps. They're great in haze. Not so hot if you're not a fan of swarms of dots though. Bright as heck. Shards are similar but can't move as smoothly at slower speeds

  2. #5062
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Wedding at a lovely Golf Club/Health Spa near me. Upstairs via the slowest goods lift ever, which requires a " dead man's Hand", so you can't load it up and run off while it changes floors. Shame.

    Wedding running late, so spent a long time chatting to the Photographer, who was a lovely bloke. Old School. Smart suit, not the current " homeless/surfer dude " look favoured by most.

    Mainly a younger crowd, so it was about an even split between Modern and Cheese. Basically a good gig, everybody happy, everything roughly according to plan. Job done.

    Flying solo on Karaoke tonight in the West Riding. Fancy Dress, and lots of singers, apparently. I'll keep you posted.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  3. #5063

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    I'm at the usual place tonight, a wedding for a lovely couple. But the band!!!!!!

    They are a 4 piece guitar / drum band but in their words, they don't do all rock songs, they do pop songs. Very loudly it seems.

    Most of the guests have repaired outside and, at the minute, we've got their version of Mamma Mia being pummelled to death by Arctic Monkey wannabees.

    A lot of the guests should probably be tucked up by now with cocoa and bikkies and there is a small group of 6 be-suited teenage lads who have drunk enough to empty the Derbyshire reservoir, but sadly, they don't have the experience to carry it off. Carry them out, I think in the near future, or there's going to be trouble. Mind you, they are the only people brave (or drunk) enough to venture on to the dancefloor.

    Excuse me now, while I go and rest my eardrums as they try to Call Mr Vain, who will hear them if he's on the moon.

    1am finish too. Oh joy.

  4. #5064
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mattydj50 View Post

    1am finish too. Oh joy.
    While I shouldn't take pleasure from the misfortunes of others, ( and I definitely shouldn't use the word " Schadenfreude", cos that's against my beloved Rule 23, so of course I won't ) , that has absolutely tickled me pink. Bet your night didn't get a lot better when you found out they'd closed the M180 between you and home!!

    The reason being that I was enduring what I expected to be my own personal circle of Hell. Karaoke in a WMC in the West Riding, and all my little helpers were not available to help. Oh joy, indeed, Matthew. Well I'd have to say that everyone involved in the event was absolutely lovely, particularly venue staff on arrival, who couldn't have been nicer, or more helpful. A little rejigging of kit took place, and another time, I might have made use of the DJ booth beside me, aka the Pool Table!

    It's taking time, but the kit is beginning to work for this. Screen on an upright from the Equinox, two dual radio mics into the VMS mic channels, giving me three handheld, and a headset, and while it didn't have the functionality of the full FOH Peavey mixer, it was perfectly adequate for purpose.
    The Karaoke was well taken up initially, and kept me very busy, especially when I had to download the half a dozen requests I'd never even heard of!!

    The event was a little special. A fancy dress birthday party for a lovely Lady ( if she was sixty, I want some of the tablets she's on!! ) who had remarried. Both their former spouses had died of Cancer, so we were fundraising for MacMillan, as well as having fun. When I say " fun", the poor soul who had his chest waxed to raise money might have queried the definition, but the rest of the pub loved it. This was one of those nights when the requirement for the DJ was definitely not to stand behind the booth, pressing buttons. No, it was to get up close and personal with guests, parting them from money, and somehow trying to help with the Raffle. The layout of the venue, with an L-shape in my room, and another room completely separate was a nightmare, and I don't see how it could have been improved much, but we coped.

    One of those gigs where you leave with a warm glow, for many reasons. Mind you, I still hate Karaoke single handed!
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  5. #5065
    Jim - Scotland's Party DJ's Avatar
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    Not posted in here for ages but yesterday was BY FAR the druggiest wedding I've ever done in the 11 odd years I've done this.

    All day wedding, I did MC and it went great, the disco was excellent too considering how many of them were completely off their face - coke, ket, blues, mdma, weed - all of it was getting battered hard plus the bar was taking a smashing.

    Lots of hardstyle dance asked for and the lapped it up but so from an actual performance point of view, it was great, apart from Christmas party nights, I've never been so on edge at a gig.

    The venue had to draft in security and they'd have been well within their rights to shut the whole thing down by 8pm - I'm pretty open minded to decriminalisation but the amount of blatant drug taking by 100+ of the guests was incredible and you're talking to a guy who grew up in a scheme in Glasgow here... I'm pretty sure some dick spiked one of the elderly relatives too.

    I got great feedback from various family members, friends and the groom but when they're so out of it you take it with a pinch of salt.

    The bride went tonto at the venue near the end of the night for wanting to shut off the music 10 minutes before the bar closed - the idea being people would have time to get another drink in once I was done as opposed to going nuts when finding out the bar was shut once the music finished - this was 12:45 btw so not exactly shutting it down early.


    17 hour day all said and done from me. I got home, put their video montage and photos together, text them this morning to say it was all online and wished them well - I'm not even sending them a feedback request because I doubt I'll get a response and tbh I just want to put the day behind me.

  6. #5066

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    Quote Originally Posted by Excalibur View Post
    While I shouldn't take pleasure from the misfortunes of others, ( and I definitely shouldn't use the word " Schadenfreude", cos that's against my beloved Rule 23, so of course I won't ) , that has absolutely tickled me pink. Bet your night didn't get a lot better when you found out they'd closed the M180 between you and home!!

    The reason being that I was enduring what I expected to be my own personal circle of Hell. Karaoke in a WMC in the West Riding, and all my little helpers were not available to help. Oh joy, indeed, Matthew. Well I'd have to say that everyone involved in the event was absolutely lovely, particularly venue staff on arrival, who couldn't have been nicer, or more helpful. A little rejigging of kit took place, and another time, I might have made use of the DJ booth beside me, aka the Pool Table!

    It's taking time, but the kit is beginning to work for this. Screen on an upright from the Equinox, two dual radio mics into the VMS mic channels, giving me three handheld, and a headset, and while it didn't have the functionality of the full FOH Peavey mixer, it was perfectly adequate for purpose.
    The Karaoke was well taken up initially, and kept me very busy, especially when I had to download the half a dozen requests I'd never even heard of!!

    The event was a little special. A fancy dress birthday party for a lovely Lady ( if she was sixty, I want some of the tablets she's on!! ) who had remarried. Both their former spouses had died of Cancer, so we were fundraising for MacMillan, as well as having fun. When I say " fun", the poor soul who had his chest waxed to raise money might have queried the definition, but the rest of the pub loved it. This was one of those nights when the requirement for the DJ was definitely not to stand behind the booth, pressing buttons. No, it was to get up close and personal with guests, parting them from money, and somehow trying to help with the Raffle. The layout of the venue, with an L-shape in my room, and another room completely separate was a nightmare, and I don't see how it could have been improved much, but we coped.

    One of those gigs where you leave with a warm glow, for many reasons. Mind you, I still hate Karaoke single handed!
    Bonus time. The buffet was a barbecue style, with burgers, sausages, lamb & pork chops, chicken, corn on the cob, potato wedgies, salad, coleslaw, bread..... enough to feed a small town for a week. I decided that, as the band were coming straight back on after the buffet, I would indulge as I could eat it leisurely. Wrong. The band were due back on at 9.45pm finally showed up at 9.55 and asked me if I could line up another one or two while they got everything checked. Why?? You've already done one set, surely the acoustics and laws of physics haven't changed in the last hour. Hang on though, maybe the volume needed turning up to 12. So it was gone 10 when they fired up again, leaving me to sample the buffet and dessert table. MMmmmm.

    Well, the second set proved no better and I counted 14 people in the room and around 50 outside at one point. The band then dissected "Boom boom boom boom - let me hear you say 'way-o'", "Ooh aaa, just a little bit" and The Cartoon's "Witch Doctor". For an encore (I didn't hear any shouts for one more - maybe that's why they did two), they did Abba - Dancing Queen (er, yes) and Proclaimers - 500 miles, which wasn't too bad. I came in with Shotgun - George Ezra and Shut up and dance and, within 2 minutes, it was like there had been a fire alarm in reverse. Band looked agog at the now heaving dancefloor and slunk off to get changed (or smash up the dressing room).

    Bride and groom then reappeared and the bride was on and off the dancefloor all night. The groom was "socialising" with his mates and the alcoholometer was rising nicely. They had told me that they were BIG Foo Fighters fans (their First Dance was by them) so I blew several feet of dust off Mastermix Issue 234 which contains a Foo Fighters Triple Track, 3 songs mixed together (by a very good friend I discovered) so I decided that would be a perfect come out of a Journey /Bon Jovi / Bryan Adams triple. Well, I've never seen a dancefloor empty so quick and you thought that the B&G had never heard the Foo tracks in their life. After about 2 minutes of the 9 minute mix, I succumbed to the EDF* syndrome and opened the gorgonzola. Come on Eileen had been requested so on it came and it was like the first two tracks all over again. And there they remained, save for the obligatory half hourly taxi departures until 1am when, as if by magic, the house lights come on as I finish the last tune and they made a dash for the door (only to carry on drinking on the terrace outside). Not my problem anymore!

    Sad to say, no thank you's from the guests nor B&G. Neither did the staff or manager receive any thanks. Nice couple then.

    As usual, the staff carried on around me stripping chair covers, table cloths, stacking chairs, peeling up the dancefloor and hoovering merrily. We had a chat about the next two weddings, one is in the rarely used upstairs room.Why, Sean didn't know either as they hate weddings up there. There is a lift but its a right pain getting in and up during down time. Anyway, they finished before me (5 of them, 1 of me), so as I'm "in" there now I am entrusted ti turn the lights off when I had done and pushed the door shut behind me, remembering to check I've left nothing inside as all the doors back in are now locked.

    Ah, double delight, because the M180 was open last night, though I only discovered when I got to where it normally is closed. Two weeks ago, I checked with the Highways Agency website to see that it was closed and duly went off directly through Scunthorpe on the A18. Imagine my thoughts (and words) when I went to rejoin the M180 at Junction 2 onlt to find traffic was in fact running through from Junction 3. So now, I don't bother checking, I just follow the signs.

    Even the M18 which was listed as being closed from Jn 5 to 7 between August 2 and August 5 (2000 until 0600) was admitting traffic freely.

    Home at 2.59am with feet like they were on fire. No need for the usual fridge raid, so a quick drink to take my medication with and off to beddy byes.

  7. #5067
    Shakermaker Promotions's Avatar
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    To the venue staff and those that don't actually give a stuff (trying to be polite there), it's just a job and they don't appear to care that much (well, having spoken to many bar staff, venue staff etc over the years...it really IS JUST another function to them)
    WE put everything into it and actually care how the night goes because it is somebody's big day (or should be), and we want to do our part and give them the best we can, but at the end of the day it is just another session to many of them and they don't think like we do. We are in the same position if we're out week in, week out doing weddings every week.
    That's why I pick and choose what I am doing these days. I don't need to do it and I will only do what I think is worth my time and is going to be enjoyable. That's not meant to sound egotistic, far from it (for those that know me). I just can't be bothered with the hassle of it all these days. I earn a good wage from what I am doing during the day and I don't need to go out and do something that I think will be a whole lot of hassle when I don't need it. The other side of things though is that I have a lock up full of equipment that is sitting there doing nothing for months on end. It's my choice,I know that.....But, I am finding it very hard at the moment to get motivated again and the longer it goes on, the worse it gets.

  8. #5068
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Default Hard work!

    Wednesday was a local all day wedding, in a place I'm keen to get a foothold at. The owners are completely switched on to what's needed, and very good to deal with. Since it was a midweek booking, and looked like a gig I'd enjoy a lot, I quoted a keen price. With hindsight, that might have been a mistake for a couple of reasons.
    One, it wasn't an easy gig, as a lot of the music requested was stuff I've only got odd tracks of, and two, due to electricity issues, I needed a battery powered speaker for the ceremony. Thus, I had to raid the Rainy Day fund for one, and after a visit to the Crêche* and a meeting with a very unhelpful salesperson, who was determined to sell me anything except what I wanted, I walked out with the same piece of kit as my friend in the Cambridgeshire Fens, a white Maui 5 GO, which is an awesome piece of kit. More on that elsewhere.
    Two, contact was sporadic, and music requests were made late, and mainly by Spotify, which was not ideal. I want an email list I can print out and write on.

    OK, the day. Well I arrived early, and set up the Rustic Booth with my standard wedding lights, and four box PA. It would likely have been the Mauis, except for the fact that they don't like uneven surfaces, space wasn't an issue, and I wanted the option of a bit more volume if necessary. There was also a pair of passive cabs outside for anyone who wanted to take advantage of the summer weather, but it was unnecessary, as the weather was at times a tad autumnal!

    The ceremony was to take place in a newly constructed building, a long way from the marquee. And the generator. Thus, the need for the battery powered speaker. This all went smoothly ( if a little late, as various small persons were a hindrance to timeliness ) so off to the marquee.

    The timings were soon abandoned, and I just got stuck into the Daytime folder. One or two from Enter Shikari, lots from Christine and the Queens, Bombay Bicycle Club, Two Door Cinema Club, Phoenix, The 1975, The xx, and fortunately some more mainstream stuff. Must have worked, as from the start, guests were coming up and saying how good it was.

    Speeches and Kiddies Corner ( Rik and Nik, Black Lace, Baby Shark, Disney Soundtracks etc ) took us into evening. Much like the Daytime one, except a little harder, with more upbeat stuff, and a fair smattering of stuff I'd slot in at many functions. A nice touch after the first dance was half a dozen tracks introduced by me for special people, friends, and family. That worked well.

    The further the evening went, the more guests asked for stuff. Bar one, they were approved by the DJ, and bar one the bride. ( Who doesn't like the Beatles? Answer, my bride. ) Seems I did a good job overall, and everyone enjoyed it. Job done.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  9. #5069
    mbp's Avatar
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    I keep hearing about these 'rustic booths'......anyone any piccies?

  10. #5070
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mbp View Post
    I keep hearing about these 'rustic booths'......anyone any piccies?
    Will get on it later. Wayne might post piccies of his Mk1 edifice.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

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