Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Excalibur]

A golf Club I've visited quite a few times in the past, manager thinks I'm " The Special One ". Sadly, she's retiring this year, so let's hope her replacement shares the same view. It's not bad access, but the layout can be " challenging ". Either a long trek between tables to the far end, and the temporary dance floor, and the bar or the short walk to the permanent floor, where you're at the wrong end of the room, and once more playing across the pitch.
Turned out to be a 40th birthday, with mixed ages of guests, with equally mixed musical tastes. The birthday boy loved the heaviest of heavy metal, I was told others liked 90s dance, but got asked for 80s dance, so no 140bpm stuff, sadly.

I was warned beforehand that we had 21 confirmed guests, with hopefully 30 coming. As you may have guessed, the evening started with a smattering of dancers to some fairly mainstream stuff, I had a young ( preteen? ) girl asking for some cracking rock tracks early on, and I hoped we were heading that way, but eventually the metal got heavier and heavier.

I did my thing, and was praised for it, birthday boy was impressed that I : had some idea of where we were going, had Rammstein on the laptop, and could get some seriously heavy metal quickly on the Prime. We did however finish early, which was good, and another tick went in the book as a job well done, if not overly rewarding.

[Nakatomi]

Friday brought the prospect of a really fun walk down memory lane to the 1990s. Guests started to arrive & I span a load of lower tempo 90s tunes interspersed with Christmas songs as food courses were served. One woman who it's fair to say in every sense had a mouth like Shane McGowan took it upon herself to tell me "well done DJ, it's a 90s night so you've got 90s music. But it's 90s music. And don't take this personally mate but you're a DJ". Well. Cheers for that, lady. I had to leave the room to count to ten (more like 100). I bumped into the manager in the corridor who said she'd already been on his case. It turned out she was one who'd interviewed a few weeks ago for a job at the hotel but her attitude was somewhat lacking & she didn't get the job. Maybe she was still bitter about that. Anyway once we got going just after desserts were cleared away it all went right off & stayed that way. Requests were all on theme & there were some absolute corkers among them. We ended the night on a brace of christmas classics & I saw them off with The Pogues.

Saturday night brought a decades night, which to all intents & purposes is just another ordinary Christmas party night. It was hard to keep the crowd from dancing before it was time. I'd initially been concerned about the huge group of blokes on one side of the room but they were no bother - just very high spirited. We launched into dancing time & it was full on til last orders time.
"Play some old school reggae" one cockney woman said. "Such as?" Oh you know.. proper old school reggae! "like?" ... MAXI PRIEST - WILD THING. Maybe she meant Wild WORLD eh. Yeah proper old school reggae man. Maxi Priest LMAO. I found a way to work it in. We lost a few dancers but I figured it wouldn't harm drinks sales eh. She came back later asking me to play The Troggs' Wild Thing, so why not. Programming? I might've heard of it... I went from Mr Brightside to Lulu Shout (hadn't played that in YEARS), then Wild Thing. Then Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual. Talk about a left turn lol. Again the night came to a close with a brace of the christmas classics & we finished at 12 on the dot. I'd anticipated hollering for something from Juan Moore & even cued up New York New York - since they'd been so good I wouldn't have seen the harm but no.. so I left it at that.

That's almost it for me for the year now - just the hotel staff party to do on Friday then a nice rest til January woohooo!

[Excalibur]

Justin:
Female requesters. On Friday night, I was greeted by the beloved of the birthday boy. Was she polite, pleasant and courteous? Was she very easy on the eye?

Let's just say that whatever she'd asked me to play, it was going straight to the top of the request list.


New York? A fortnight ago, at a gig which virtually played itself, I had a young lady curating my end of night playlist. She seemed to think that it was the law to play New York to mark the close of play. I genuinely can't remember when I last did that, and yes, once upon a time, I would routinely do so. I did again.

Well, she was pretty, and she was courteous. Added to which, it worked well enough.

[Nakatomi]

Justin:
Female requesters. On Friday night, I was greeted by the beloved of the birthday boy. Was she polite, pleasant and courteous? Was she very easy on the eye?

Let's just say that whatever she'd asked me to play, it was going straight to the top of the request list.


New York? A fortnight ago, at a gig which virtually played itself, I had a young lady curating my end of night playlist. She seemed to think that it was the law to play New York to mark the close of play. I genuinely can't remember when I last did that, and yes, once upon a time, I would routinely do so. I did again.

Well, she was pretty, and she was courteous. Added to which, it worked well enough.

I honestly don't know what it is Peter, but a sizeable number of female requesters arrived armed with a cob on this party season. Synchronised moods maybe? This weekend's were lovely though. I was only going to go for NYNY to serve them right for asking for Juan Moore . The amount of alcohol that'd gone down their necks, I suspect it'd have worked really well anyway.

And Peter, I can't help but wonder how I've been at over 500 events & my brushes with a need of anything heavier than GnR have been minimal. Sure, I've been asked to play a bit of Metallica or Rammstein now & again but that was it - a bit! I wouldn't mind broadening my knowledge of the heavier stuff. Are there any go-to sources for inspiration?

[ppentertainments]

My one and only Xmas Party last Saturday night, although a corporate affair so maybe less lively that join-a-party mixed types. If things go to plan this will also have been my last Xmas party – which I thought I might miss, but now not so sure.

Usual drinks, meal, disco affair, throughout the meal I usually make things quite lively – often more dancers during the meal than after – however they actually requested no music at all during the eating section. I assume people still want to talk more than they used to as possibly don’t see each other at work as much ?

So, onto the disco and nobody even budged when Mary was singing about how proud she is, second song, 2 people then boom the dancefloor was packed – for 3 songs then emptied. This routine happened all night.
Had the usual ‘have you got anything lively to play’ as well as ‘play something modern’ – both times when I replied ‘no problem, you pick 2 songs and I will play them’ I was met with a blank expression and never saw that person again.

I used to love Xmas parties, but they just aren’t the same any more, unless it is me that has changed ? I purely am doing weddings myself now, feel more comfortable with these and lately gaining great feedback for some reason.

4 more weddings this week, then off till NYE (yes another wedding). First time in years haven’t had a wedding between Xmas and NYE

[DeckstarDeluxe]

She seemed to think that it was the law to play New York to mark the close of play. I genuinely can't remember when I last did that, and yes, once upon a time, I would routinely do so. I did again.

Well, she was pretty, and she was courteous. Added to which, it worked well enough.

Same, only do it for the odd "old skool" xmas party or older wedding. I like yourself used it most of the times but now rarely sees the light of day.

It's like Elbow "One day like this". Was the norm for so long but quickly faded away never to be played again.

[Excalibur]

I used to love Xmas parties, but they just aren’t the same any more, unless it is me that has changed ? I purely am doing weddings myself now, feel more comfortable with these and lately gaining great feedback for some reason.

I don't think it's you, Chris. The only ones that have gone really well for me the last two years have been for NHS staff. All others have been quiet, and seen many folk leave early.

4 more weddings this week, then off till NYE (yes another wedding). First time in years haven’t had a wedding between Xmas and NYE

I've had quite a few NYE weddings. Curiously enough, I now have a wedding to cover between Xmas and NYE for Mr Western. Thanks Matthew.

[mattydj50]

I don't think it's you, Chris. The only ones that have gone really well for me the last two years have been for NHS staff. All others have been quiet, and seen many folk leave early.


I've had quite a few NYE weddings. Curiously enough, I now have a wedding to cover between Xmas and NYE for Mr Western. Thanks Matthew.

You are most welcome. I get to spend a day with my mother. Rare thing these days.

[Foilist]

So NYE was a pain in the arse - even after 30 odd years doing this, people can still get under my skin.

Venue is a local community centre with bar, which I've done NYE for since Dec 2019 (obviously not Dec 20 or Dec 21) - these have been in the small cosy bar area and have all gone well. This year, as they sold a lot more tickets, they decided to have me in the large hall... great, except there was now plenty of space around the room for people to dance by their tables - so despite playing every request I received, and trying to work around those requests to play similar genres/tunes, there were LOADS of people dancing around the room - just not on the dance floor. One of the bar staff then rather rudely told me I "should be getting people dancing and doing my job"... which even after all these years annoyed the crap out of me. Shook it off and kept going - the night eventually picked up, everyone had a great time... to the point where they didn't want me to stop... which then presents the 2nd issue...

As it was a repeat venue, I gave them a really, REALLY good rate - £350 for full rig set-up from 7pm to 1am - so 6 hours of my time, plus set up, clear down and travel on top. So it got to 1am... and I tried to close out... then came the 1 more song requests... so did 1...then another...then another. But at 1:15 I decided no, that was it - I needed 45 mins to pack away, plus 30 mins drive home, plus I was driving my son back to Uni on NY day - 6 hour drive to Cornwall, so I wanted to get SOME sleep. My refusal to play another song, even after politely trying to explain the reasons why I just couldn't keep going just led to me getting abuse from a crowd of blokes... I was still being booed and harassed when I was dismantling the rig. So I left my house at 4:30pm to get to the gig, and got home at 2:30am... so for that great fee, they got 10 hours of my time... and got ed of because I wanted to go home?

For some reason, that has really ed me off this year - they got a great deal, a great night, and left me feeling completely annoyed and like they'd taken advantage of my good will. So how many songs/how much longer after your scheduled end time is acceptable? I'm also considering telling them I won't be back ... what do others think?

[Excalibur]

For some reason, that has really ed me off this year - they got a great deal, a great night, and left me feeling completely annoyed and like they'd taken advantage of my good will. So how many songs/how much longer after your scheduled end time is acceptable? I'm also considering telling them I won't be back ... what do others think?

Ah yes, that ubiquitous Spanish-Irish chap, Juan Moore. He was at my gig too, and once upon a time, I'd have gone on till the cows came home. Things are different nowadays, and this venue, in common with many nowadays, had made it crystal clear that there would be no overrun. My last song took me past the stated finish time, I thanked everyone, closed down the laptop, and unplugged the PA. Game over.

Now, it doesn't always happen like that, I remember covering a wedding when the venue staff dropped the ball in a big way, and not only were nowhere to be seen at the finish time, nor did they switch on every available lumen to signify the end. Forty five minutes after the stated time, a staff member came up and asked if I knew the finish time, cos I was way past it? I replied that if they'd been there at that point , and put the lights on, I'd have been packed up by now! The guests were mainly some fairly intimidating lads, who were adamant that their money assured them control of the venue at this point, and I was happy to relieve them of lots of it, as I felt that this was a safer and more lucrative course of action than saying no, and having a fight! With no venue staff to back me up, I was short on support.

Your gig? I feel your pain, and I know exactly where you're coming from. After my NYE gig, I had a hundred and thirty mile ride home, with a deadline to hit for a meal out. Fortunately, I had a room for the night, but even so, it was rough.
All I will say is that a chat with venue staff beforehand to clarify the rules of engagement would have helped. Find out whether they would be happy to go past the stated time, whether there would be recompense to you for doing so, even to passing a pint glass round for them to stuff money in to keep you playing.
Although you say this is a repeat venue, it doesn't sound to me as if you have a rapport with them. At one or two venues I work at for other people, we understand each other totally, and know the procedure for finishing.