Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[djdj]

PS. I get to play with it on Saturday, I'm looking forward to that.

I am just too good to you!!

[Excalibur]

I am just too good to you!!

You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment.

[Imagine]

The first of many Xmas shenanigans for me last night, and the first of two in a new to me venue (yes folks, I'm doing BOTH of their Christmas party nights).

The only time I've been to this one in the past was for a wedding fair, and it was an upstairs function room which takes a lot of kit and a lot of bodies. That really wasn't the case tonight with just 29 bodies booked in for meal and party, and half a dozen of those were sprogs. See the warning signs. Apparently the next one is slightly bigger, but not by much - they're disappointed with the lack of take up this year.

So, downstairs in the general bar it is then. And they want me to squeeze into a space how small??


With just 29 bodies and a lack of space, the Maui28s that I'd planned to use for this one stayed in the back of the van, along with most of the lighting. A single KAM PartyPowerbar with the Helix bolted to the top was more than ample for the lighting, and the two Maui5's well and truly held their own for sound. All of this made for record setup and breakdown of 20 minutes each side...the venue were impressed having been stuck there for 90 minutes last weekend whilst a wedding DJ and a roadie packed away

As for the party....by the time they'd finished eating three courses for Xmas din dins, I had just three hours to work. There may not have been many of them but my Gawd they worked hard between them. All around my age group, the music went very quickly into cheddary goodness like the Macarena and C'est La Vie and then straight into 90s clubland - what's not to like? The best bit is that most of the same crowd are booked in on the next one in a couple of weeks time so it's going to be a repeat of tonight.

The only real problem tonight was the freezing fog in both directions. Add to this that getting to the venue involves driving along a lot of unlit Fenland roads with very deep drainage channels (many have been found the next morning in those things still strapped into their seats ) and it was squeaky bum time getting there and home again.

Tomorrow night's been cancelled due to lack of numbers (I can see this becoming a problem this year reading around various FB groups) so that's it until Thursday when I'm being treated to free parking in Central Cambridge underneath the college I'm working in, and the added bonus of not needing to lug a PA system in because I'm using their tailor made solution which uses a lot of IP6 cable according to the instructions I've been sent on how to work it,

[Excalibur]

Wayne:
Fog- nightmare.
Space- see below.
Maui 5s- never disappoint.
Hotels not selling enough tickets- it was ever thus. Matthew Western's residency is a case in point, then they start " consolidating " parties, and losing DJs.

OK, my night. Off into the West Riding, to a Holiday Inn with the nicest staff ever. Lovely folk one and all. Last year needed a rig reminiscent of the acres of light screens of yesteryear, to block off access for guests.
This year? They've had another refurb, and like Wayne, a lot of kit stayed in the van. For good measure, the dance floor isn't in the restaurant, and against advice, I had my back to the guests! Ended up with one speaker facing the dance floor, and one facing backwards to the restaurant.
I think the next DJ there will be at the opposite side to where I was, but there are many possible setup areas, and despite a brains trust of DJs and staff, nothing looked like a good idea.

It's one of these nights that seems to be catching on, where you pay up front, and everything is free after that. Sort of encourages drinking. My guests were very lively initially, but turned out to be well behaved all night, even if they weren't packing my ( tiny ) dancefloor. Diverse musical tastes, well received, not at all a bad night. The lad I was working for, who was in the function room seemed to have a very decent night, and due to poor communication, that's where I am next week. ( Unless the provisional booking they had turns out to actually be confirmed ).

Tonight is nearly Plug and Play, Dave Jackson is letting me loose with his rig in his residency, as he's gallivanting off somewhere.

[Nakatomi]

To sum up the last few gigs:

Awful loadin on an outdoor metal fire escape, awful people, played for not much more than an hour thanks to a terrible band & even worse saxophone player. I won't be returning their calls in future.

A fantastic wedding with a lovely couple and the most polite guests I've ever met.

A works party in a very smoky (it's not called The Smokey for no reason lol) venue for a very rude customer. With a free bar, three fights and the venue staff called time on proceedings at 10.20pm.

Another lush wedding at my favourite castle, with another lovely couple & their guests.

Then last night, the first of a run of Christmas parties. I got a feeling it was going to be wild when I told a young lady how to find the loos & suggested she be careful of the little hump in the doorway. "Oooh I love a little hump, me" she said. Saucy!

What I didn't realise was how wild it was going to get. Attempts at pole dancing on my gravity poles, nicking my mic, 2 women nearly wiping out a speaker when their dirty dancing lift attempt failed. Cutthroat woman giving it her all on a packed dancefloor for a solid 15 minutes, then coming up behind me to mess with my controller then complaining to the manager after I shouted at her to go away. My exact words were just that btw lol. Oh I'm rude am I? Heh.
Lest I forget little miss "you're playing too much old stuff. How about something newer?". Me: like what? Her: oh like Penny Arcade or Dancing Queen! Sigh.

The general rule of thumb was, the more preened they were, the ruder the person. Not all were pains in the backside though - I actually did play a lot of requests next for folk who didn't come up giving me both barrels.

One difference I saw this time was that pretty much all Christmas classics were well received.

I heard a rumour they plan to book again next year. I might be washing my hair that night.

[DJ Jules]

Then last night, the first of a run of Christmas parties. I got a feeling it was going to be wild when I told a young lady how to find the loos & suggested she be careful of the little hump in the doorway. "Oooh I love a little hump, me" she said. Saucy!

What I didn't realise was how wild it was going to get. Attempts at pole dancing on my gravity poles, nicking my mic, 2 women nearly wiping out a speaker when their dirty dancing lift attempt failed. Cutthroat woman giving it her all on a packed dancefloor for a solid 15 minutes, then coming up behind me to mess with my controller then complaining to the manager after I shouted at her to go away. My exact words were just that btw lol. Oh I'm rude am I? Heh.
Lest I forget little miss "you're playing too much old stuff. How about something newer?". Me: like what? Her: oh like Penny Arcade or Dancing Queen! Sigh.

The general rule of thumb was, the more preened they were, the ruder the person. Not all were pains in the backside though - I actually did play a lot of requests next for folk who didn't come up giving me both barrels.

One difference I saw this time was that pretty much all Christmas classics were well received.

Every year I mostly dodge the Xmas parties. I had my fill of them between 2015-2019 when I did a few runs for local agencies that resulted in working 5-6 nights a week to watch other people party. This year I am DJ'ing a sum total of 3 Xmas parties (and 3 Birthday parties) in Deccember. But providing photobooths for a further 9 Xmas parties I've got to be honest, I'm not feeling the festive spirit quite yet.

Anyway, last night saw me DJ'ing for the Bristol Rowing club (for the 3rd year in a row). Order of the day is background music (30mins), buffet (30 mins), presentations (approx 45mins), party (30mins), awards (10mins), party (30mins), raffle (15mins), party to the end (approx 2hrs). Kids are roughly 12-21yrs of age and are usually easy to please. This year the vibe was off somehow. Low numbers in attendance (probably 2/3 of what I've seen previous years) and just generally no atmosphere in the room.

Requests went from the usuals (Abba, Adale, etc) through to weird (God save the king??) Organisers seemed happy enough to be talking about booking again for next year though!

One xmas party down, two to go.

Julian

[Excalibur]

Reading of other people's experiences makes me think things aren't as bad as I thought! Justin sent me a picture of his fire escappe access, claiming it meant that he was now truly a bona fide Mobile DJ.

Saturday was covering for Mr Jackson, who was gallivanting off to London. Presumably, he was placating his lovely wife after spending a significant sum of money on a Gigbar!

He was kind enough to set up everything for me at his residency, except the playout. He even offered to let me use that, assuring me that it was " just like my Prime ". Yeah right Dave, nearly identical.

So, I arrived early, as usual, and lashed in my playout rig, switched on, and ........

nothing.

Seems that only the sockets for the DJ in that room are on a separate circuit, and at some point previously, had tripped. Once the lovely manager had looked in the box of delights, and seen one switch facing the wrong way, we were off and running. Dave had left me the impressive ILS+ Gigbar and the Command controller. It's blindingly simple to get it to light up a basic scene, but to get the best out of it would need more time spending on it. Nice kit, I can totally see the appeal.

Anyway, the gig. Three course meal, for forty or so guests, mainly thirties or forties age group, with some older, I guess, and a few early twenties. After the meal, the floor was nicely busy with the middle group dancing to The Usual Suspects, but we were avoiding the cheese. It was too good to last, and guests began to drift off, weather conditions on the roads and pavements especially were not good.

Once I was left mainly with the younger end of the spectrum, the requests came in for stuff that wasn't really dancefloor friendly. I had instructions to call last orders, but I didn't even get that far. All bar a couple of guests had gone before then, with many of them thanking me as they left. Another one that goes down as a win, but doesn't really give you that warm glow a great gig does.

[Excalibur]

Very complicated this. I've had an All Day Wedding booked for absolutely ages on the Saturday, and due to an administrative error ( not reading emails closely enough to spot that a possible booking hadn't been confirmed ) the resident at a Holiday Inn booked me to cover Friday. Being a gentleman, and also with him having gigs Saturday and Sunday, he stood by his word, and had Friday off, leaving me in his place.

There was a little more to it than that, as once it became clear that I was only a few miles down the road from the hotel on Saturday, he'd arranged a room for me at staff rates. Although it still wasn't exactly cheap, it did include full breakfast, saved me hours of driving, a few bob in fuel, and gained me an hour on Saturday morning. Without this cunning plan, I'd have arrived home after two in the morning, and risen at six to retrace my steps.

So, Friday: Effectively, I loaded two rigs into the van, and arrived at Saturday's venue just after noon. I got ninety per cent of the rig installed ready, and went off to the Holiday Inn, where I had a rest in my room, before setting the gear up. I had plenty of time, and got everything ready with time to spare. I was in position and waiting for my guests, who seemed to be a little later coming in than I expected. Their general demeanour and " dress code " gave me cause for concern, but once the meal was done, they were absolutely good as gold, and basically chose their own playlist of floorfillers from start to finish. I couldn't have asked for a better crowd. I packed up my kit into the van, and headed up to bed.

Saturday: I overslept, and showered quickly, getting downstairs just as breakfast officially opened. I couldn't really do it full justice, but I had a hot breakfast, and grabbed a takeaway cup of coffee to take with me. I arrived at the wedding venue earlier than scheduled, and the first person I met was the Planner, the hardest working one I've ever worked with. Lovely girl. Everything was to happen on site, but ceremony in the main hall, and everything else in the barn meant a lot of trekking backwards and forwards in pouring rain. I found everything I needed for the ceremony, was looked after splendidly by the wonderful staff, and began playing my specified background music, Elizabethan stuff in keeping with the venue. I was up in the Gods, a " Minstrel in the Gallery " if you like, and all I could work out was that somebody ( the Registrar, I think ) was late. Everything happened as planned, and I then took my portable kit back across to the bar, getting soaked again.

The weather from here on in ( apart from twenty minutes of sun in the afternoon ) was horrendous. The wedding breakfast ran as planned, all the suppliers were fed and watered, and had a bar tab as well. Speeches worked well enough, and an hour after evening guests arrived, we had the cake cut and first dance. Under the circumstances, and given the crowd, the night never really took off, and it was basically a slow burn till the end. I got packed up quickly, and made my way home in very high winds. Today, I'm shattered, Saturday was hard work.

[Excalibur]

Two functions Friday, at Matthew Western's residency. Matthew faced exactly the same layout problem as he had done last year, when working with bands. He had outlined a solution each time, and been met with resistance. Last night, they had to move his dancefloor over a yard to get round the issue. Just as he had suggested.

I was upstairs with a band too, and I suggested where I would set up. This was overruled, apparently by the client, who wanted the band in pole position. I moved stage right, and fitted in where I could. Band arrived, and immediately agreed that my initial choice of placement would have suited better. We were playing " across the pitch ", it's a long fairly narrow room. Every time in there, I tell them we should be playing down the pitch, and staff, band and DJ were all in agreement. Clients feel this will mean folk at the back are left out ( even though they will be sat next to the bar ) so insist on us playing effectively to nobody, rather than the whole room.

The gigs? Both bands were ridiculously loud, mine particularly so, as they were pushing their sound straight at a wall a few yards away, with a low ceiling. Both were well received, and effectively the night died when each one finished. We were left with a handful of dancers who had been at it all night, and the professional drinkers. Clients were happy, bands too, DJs felt very undervalued.

[Imagine]

After last night's non-starter as posted in members, tonight was a completely different ball game.

It's a repeat customer and this year, a new/old venue. Old because it's been there for years, new - because they knocked it down and rebuilt it as part of a new academy a couple of years ago. This was my first visit since the rebuild.

Nice easy get in which needed the trolley to roll the 50 or so feet from the van and down the corridor to the bar. From parking to being fully operational was just 20 minutes - I'm going to have to work on making the rig I've used all Christmas wedding friendly as both myself and the venues are appreciating the quick get out times at the end of the night - it's getting me a lot of Brownie points NOT being the DJ that takes over an hour to remove his kit

The only real worry was that the original booking was for 80 bodies, and that only 30 were being catered for on the night

Mealtime done and dusted, I've got a little over 2 1/2 hours of playtime. I'll be honest, I could have grabbed last year's playlist, loaded it into the P4, pressed play and sat in the bar for the night. It was like shooting fish in a barrel - the 30 that were in attendance were there to party big time!

Music went from the seriously cheesy (and yes, Superman was played to a full dance floor ) as was Hi Ho Silver Lining which I've not played since I can remember! Things quickly moved to a lot of 80s stuff and then into the modern dancy type stuff that all sounds the same to my ears. All of it lapped up by a crowd who ages ranged from mid 20s to older than our very own Old Git.

Now here's the added bonus of this venue. It's a straight line from there, to my storage unit, and then onto home. 23 minutes pack-down and get out, 10 mins unloading and home by just before 12:50am.

That's it for me now for 2023. Other than cleaning the van, sorting out the store ready for my first gig back in January and doing a bit of admin, I'm done and dusted for the year. Despite the worries we all had at the beginning of the year it didn't turn out too badly from my side of things

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a goodnight