Bah to them. People have no right to moan if they don't participate.Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions
Bah to them. People have no right to moan if they don't participate.
Exactly!
The number of years I have been doing this I should really be able to ignore it but I simply can't.
People like them stand out like a sore thumb and I've said it before but whilst everyone else was enjoying themselves I found myself looking at them because they'd caught my eye with their gestures. There was a certain point where near enough every song I played received staring, words in the ear to eachother and looks of disgust.
I know it's wrong but there were times when I wanted to jump off that stage and bang their heads together.
I adapted to what the customer wanted and that was a cheesy party. On another occasion with a different set of requests they could have thought I was the best thing ever if I was playing the music they liked, I know that. They didn't ask for anything and just looked like they were moaning all night and more than likely went away with the impression that I was a cheesy party DJ.
Do I care about that? No.
Am I bothered about what they think in reality? No.
What I am bothered about was that theyme off and the fact that they felt the need to tell me at the end of the night which, as I said felt like they were belittling me and I don't like that at all. If there is one think that really narks me.....it's that!
I know what you mean. It's really irritating when someone like that is close by and you're aware of them all night. Then not make any requests and be a smartarse at the end of the night is maddening.
Amen.
Labyrinth themed wedding turned out to be excellent.
The tune list they gave me actually went down a storm for the most part. The older once retired upstairs pretty sharp (to be fair it was roasting int he main room) but the 20-40 year olds that are actually getting married all stayed downstairs and gave it laldy.
Quite a few people annoying me coming round the back of the booth when I was off to the loo or to get water and I caught one guy lifting my camera because "He'd lost one just like it" but apart from that everyone was brilliant and I got a tonne of really heart felt (way over and above the usual "you were brilliant mate") feedback from the couple and their guests.
I lost count of the amount of folk wanting to shake my hand or give me a hug!!! as they left.
Wrapped it up at 12:30 instead of one but with a 6pm kick off and the ceremony actually being at 11, that's pretty good going.
A we bit more "up market" wedding for me saturday night.
The venue was Selden barns , between Arundel and worthing.
btw the rest of the gear was the in house system , not mine , you know mine by now.
Peavey speakers , berry mixer and a crown amp
Good old night ,loads of dancing, mainly cheese and rock, easy load in/out.
Highlights...
Some of the wedding photos were taken in a field , the B&G had water pistols , friends and family pretended to be zombies aka thriller.
recreated this on the dance floor to M jackson
Smells like teen spirit , thought the dance floor was going to give way, everyone jumping like loonies
brilliant venue , great staff.
Lows...
Well there was one , by 11:15 , most guests had returned to the hotel , thats what you get for an early wedding , people peak to early.
In fact when I announced the last song , there was only staff and the Groom left.
RaDIO MIC`S PACKED UP , i`LL POST THIS ON A DIFFERENT THREAD
darylldj.co.uk , serving hampshire , Surrey and sussex
I reckon you had cause to smile. well done.
My night was a wedding covering for Dave Jackson ( DJDJ ) at a local racecourse. I was booked till 1am, but like many, we didn't make it that far. Weddings are long days. There was me being Mr Cool DJ, playing all the tracks with musical integrity, to a less than ecstatic response. I had a request for Macarena ( you're ahead of me, already, aren't you? ) and the floor was rammed. We then had a touch more cheese, with a helping of cheese on the side, rounding it off with some more
Great crowd, got asked for Night boat to Cairo ( nice to not get asked for Baggy Trousers ) and for the second time in a week at a wedding, got asked for Oops.
Two crowds up for some fun, and having dispensed with the formalities, getting down to having a seriously good time. Three out of my last four brides have just been so laid back, it's unreal. A pleasure to deal with.
Good stuff Peter. Looks like it was a bit of a cheese fest weekend.
Also, I have to add that Night Boat To Cairo is one of, if not my favourite Madness track.
Three weddings in a row this weekend.
Thursday - a last minute change of venue and date made it all a bit rushed. But such a lovely laid back couple meant no drama. It was in a pub with no room to set-up any PA or lighting, but luckily they had a small DJ booth, Mackie 450’s on wall brackets and a few lights (not very good ones but as usual only the DJ was really bothered), so a walk-in. Lots of 80’s synth band and indie fans, plus the groom loved Northern Soul, his wife and family/friends was more hip hop and swing. Not one complaint from either side of the music divide, they all just enjoyed whatever was being played.
Friday - wedding in a large barn venue. Funnily enough this time the groom was into classic hip-hop and the bride was an indie fan. Again very laid back couple and the minimum of wedding formalities, just a cake cutting and then straight into the party, no first dance. Added bonus of working with a photographer friend on this one.
Saturday - another pub, and unusual for Central London there was plenty of parking right outside. But it had the smallest area I’ve ever had to set up in, just about managed to squeeze my Vertus and Liteconsole Go in, but had to climb over the speakers to get in and out. No room anywhere for lighting either, so two spherions on a window sill. It actually worked really well and suited the venue perfectly, the bride thought they were really pretty which is the main thing.
Bride was from Finland so a lot of Finnish guests, who were an absolute delight, so enthusiastic, dancing to everything, clapping after every song (and during most of them). Lots of soul and funk, rock’n’roll, classic rock, indie and a good portion of cheese/party classics. I also downloaded some tunes from the Finnish top 40 (plus others by the same artists). I played the first one with my fingers crossed - the place erupted, never seen such a reaction to a song, and pretty much the same with all the other ones as well, might not use over an hours worth of Finnish pop again but it was well worth it.
Just a 40th for me......and a strange one at that.
I knew the function room was upstairs, no problem with that. Because of that, the client was aware it would be a minimal setup with no subs etc., a fact he was happy with. The venue itself was too far for me to go and recki before the event so I (wrongly) assumed it would be like any other upstairs gig.....wrong!!!!!
Where do I start?
Parking near the venue....forget it. There's a loading bay by the road 200 yards away and it took over half an hour to get a spot in there. From there the fun begins. Lug the kit across a crowded pedestrian precinct full of drinkers at outside tables and into the venue. The downstairs is a restaurant...and last night it was heaving. So, I'm lugging kit in between tables of hungry diners....not good - but that's where the real fun starts.
Upstairs? How many floors? I was on the second floor, which entailed going up a windy staircase which was shared with customers getting to the toilets, and then up a second narrow staircase which doubled back on itself to the function room. Did I break sweat....you bet I did!
Finally after lugging everything up the stairs and going to park the van 1/2 mile away, I started to set up. I used one of the venue's tables to save carting my own up, and the lighting consisted of a solitary GigBar....I just didn't have the energy to cart the second GigBar and the tbar containing PARS up the stairs. In the event, it was a very small room and there wasn't the space to put them up anyway (it was so limited, there wasn't space to put the speakers onto tripods so they had to sit on the floor).
The brief from the birthday boy, background until after the buffet when he'd then make a speech, I'd announce the winners of the Scottish fancy dress (even I was wearing a skirt and a funny tartan hat!), and then party time.
7:30 - background music is on.....except the guests didn't come upstairs until 8pm. OK, not a biggy - I'm running on a Grandmaster 60's compilation so no time wasted mixing to an empty room. The guests arrive and start drinking, and I wait patiently for show time at the end of the buffet, and wait, and then wait some more, and yet more. Eventually the buffet arrives at 9pm....it's 10pm until birthday boy decides it's time to start the party (at last).
Before the event, he'd sent me a playlist (6 hours worth, but we'd agreed that I'd play what I thought worked....these were just pointers really). So, I'm in a bar/function room with a load of 40 year old single blokes, there's got to be an 80's/90's set in there somewhere. How wrong I was. Yes, they kept coming up and asking for those tracks, but nobody was moving onto the floor.
OK, Amarillo and 500 miles (he's moving to Scotland) were on the playlist....Boom!....and then bust as they went back to the bar.
Also on his playlist was a LOT of Northern Soul stuff. Hmmm...let's drop The Snake in and see what happens. Yup - full floor, and by sticking to NS, Motown and disco it stayed that way (not what I'd have expected from that crowd in the least.....it had me gobsmacked to be honest). It seemed the older the track, the more likely they were to dance.
Eventually midnight rolled around, finished with Wonderwall and All You Need Is Love (the Pavarotti and Friends version seems to work really well at the moment for me), and good night all. Just the small matter of getting everything down the stairs to the van again.
I went and collected the van and took the risk of getting booked by parking on the pedestrianised area right outside the front doors of the venue. The police were busy dealing with a LOT of drunken people around town so didn't think they'd be too interested in me. Half an hour later, everything's back in the van and we're ready to go.
I actually stood there having a quick ciggy talking to the Street Pastors who were kindly sweeping the broken glass someone had put underneath my wheels for a little while, watching a fellow DJ who'd been in the pub next door load everything into the back of his saloon car (with a bit of envy...it was always nicer driving home in a car rather than a lumbering van even after playing kit Tetris at the end of the night).
And then I got a reminder of WHY I swapped the car for a van. He drove off the pedestrian zone which involved bumping down a kerb onto the road. As he did so, his rear window EXPLODED from it's frame as his DJ table jolted with the bump.
Me? I smugly got into my lumbering van and trundled the hour home safe in the knowledge that everything was secure in the back.
Next week, another wedding, except I'm dreading this one.....
Father of the bride has booked and paid for me (in full I might add). It's in a nice little venue 4 miles down the road from me and should be an easy night. However - I know nothing about the gig other than the times I'm supposed to be playing. I normally meet up a couple of times with the B&G just to get to know them if for no other reason. It was only yesterday I was told their names (I'll be honest, I didn't even know if it was a B&G, B&B, G&G or any other combination). Communication is not the strong point of this family, and it would appear that meeting up before the day isn't going to happen (and I've been asking to do that for a couple of months now).
Why am I worried? Father booked me off the back of his parent's Golden Wedding last year. It was one of those where nobody much danced, and they all cleared off an hour early (this by the way is because a lot of them had travelled from London for the day and nothing to do with what I'd done). There were also some obscure requests (a LOT of Chaz N Dave for instance which isn't something we do a lot of over here in the sticks).
Hopefully, I'll at least have an idea of the first dance and any particular genre preferences by next weekend....otherwise it could be a long and difficult evening.
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