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Thread: Good Gig, Bad Gig.

  1. #5631
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    East Yorkshire
    Age
    68
    Posts
    26,833

    Default Don't be late. Adapt and overcome.

    A sort of twofer one.

    Don't be late:
    I sneaked in a midweek ( Valentine's Day ) wedding. Low budget affair in a WMC, low numbers. ( The low numbers seems to be a recurring theme lately, as you will see ). Being as it was an early start ( 5pm ) in an unfamiliar venue, I was there a good hour and a half before kick off. Venue was open, access was good, and staff were helpful, so all good. The small wedding rig is one of the quicker ones to deal with, and I'd got the speakers and booth up and lights on poles, when people started arriving over an hour early!

    Seems photos were really quick, and everyone would be here soon. I concentrated on getting music playing, and then dealt with lights. Less than thirty bodies of all ages, we leant towards Cheese somewhat, but with some Rock and other styles as well. Having started early, we also finished early, with happy guests and requests for cards.

    Saturday saw me heading for Driffield, to one of Mr Jackson's venues. He was nearby for a wedding, and the cunning plan was to both get set up early, and then have a look at my playout laptop and controller, which have been throwing up software issues lately.
    You know what they say about the best laid schemes of mice and men? They gang aft agley. Dave's much vaunted Gigbar turned its toes up before it had started, delaying him returning home. My laptop repairs proved " problematical " so both of us were on the back foot, but relieved that we were both set up already.

    Adapt and overcome:
    Dave took more par cans back with him, and was kind enough to lend me a hard drive configured for Engine DJ, the Denon OS. With this plugged into the Prime, and my Surface tablet with one of my spare drives, I had a viable playout and mission control. A 75th Birthday with just over twenty people shouldn't be too testing, and it wasn't. Lots of The Usual Suspects and a few other mainstream song requests meant it was a decent night, if short on bodies. Seems Dave had a similar amount at his wedding, so low numbers everywhere.

    Overall, a successful evening, thanks to resourcefulness and helpful colleagues. Thanks Dave, much appreciated.

    As an aside, at my gig I had young adults coming up with phones to request songs, which I like. The first couple were no problem, but " Lick The Lizard- Rusko and Reso " led to some dispute. Tidal came up with it, no problem, and on listening to it to check, it was a bit of Drum and Bass. As I'd just lost the floor, I decided to give it a bash and guess what?

    " It's not this one".

    Panto time- " Oh yes it is". Every version I found was indeed Drum and Bass, so unless you lot know of a Country and Western version, Reggae version, or similar, I think I was right. Guest didn't offer a correct version, so that backs me up.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  2. #5632

    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Durham, Co Durham
    Posts
    3,157

    Default

    A bit of a different kind of wedding to the norm for me. My client was so laid back as to be nearly horizontal & she trusted me to be able to wing it with whatever came my way. When I saw what the first dance was I thought it was going to be an interesting night. I wasn't wrong.

    Soon after the 1st dance the bride & groom requested a few songs, one Tiresas Rasputin, then Green Jelly - 3 Little Pigs & a couple from Ghost. These went down a storm & between guest requests I was filling the gaps with (mostly) appropriate bangers from the same stable.

    We had some of the usual wedding suspects too but not too many. Requests dried up for a while I was almost out of ideas til I remembered I'd loaded my sidelist with some food for thought earlier on.

    In there I'd shoved RATM, Enter Sandman, Chop Suey, Faith No More Epic, stuff like that. It all came out & a lot of folk had a good old mosh. The penultimate tune of the night was One by Metallica, which had the groomsmen doing aeroplanes around the room to the gentle intro section. I decided it'd be fitting to end the night by reprising the first dance which had everyone on the floor with the couple.

    Result: a very happy customer & appreciative guests.

  3. #5633
    Imagine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Ely, Cambridgeshire
    Age
    53
    Posts
    2,450

    Default What a night!

    Second wedding of the year in a venue I'm more than familiar with and having compiled the playlist during the week, was thoroughly looking forward to.

    However, the rules of engagement at the venue appear to have been "tweaked" a little. I was taken aside as I walked through the front door and told in no uncertain terms that music must end at 11:45 sharp. 11:46 doesn't cut it - we'll cut your power. Ooooh....harsh! Is the bride aware of this? Is she heck as like (cue me and bridey talking this one through with the coordinator....I like everyone to be on the same sheet!).

    On to the party. It's a small venue but it was absolutely rammed. A good contingent had managed to sneak over Hadrian's wall for this one as could be seen by the number of lads in skirts. This was getting better and better. You bet your life Runrig got a little airing whilst I snuck out for a crafty ciggy

    Got cracking on a playlist of mainly 80s,90s and clubland stuff.....all to a great reception. There was also a lot of Abba on the list which sort of bombed...unusual in these parts. Sadly the Macarena filled the floor

    Ended the night to calls for that Spanish chap again which were quickly hushed, and had a chat with the groom who gave me some interesting advice which I'll put into members. It was a bit insightful as to how couples choose their suppliers though....

    All in all, brilliant night and keeps the scoresheet at 100% positive so far

    Next up - midweek school disco

  4. #5634

    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Durham, Co Durham
    Posts
    3,157

    Default

    A wedding last Friday night with, it'd not be unfair to say, a bunch of scallywags in a nice venue.

    My remit was fairly easy on paper. 21 pre requested tunes & a tip I'd need to play some NS and clubland later.

    One of the groom's friends asked me to get on the mic & say "well done to everyone who made it from Newton Aycliffe to get to this craphole". Note he didn't say craphole. His version was much stronger. I declined.

    With the tone well & truly set, come 9.30 the groom came baying for clubland. I sighed & off we went on a 140-170bpm merry go round for the next 90 minutes. Guests began to leave in droves at 9.45 & numbers weren't great by 11, with an hour left to go

    Requests from guests were all for tunes I'd already played. One, Stick Season had to come out 3 times, for it was "the soundtrack of the stag do".

    I went to the loo & saw multiple small empty polythene bags on the floor which probably explained a lot.

    The bride thanked me at the end. "It's been fun" I lied.

    It'd probably have helped if I didn't have a stinking cold mind...

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