Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Imagine]

Tonight then, a wedding which has been in the making (at least from my side of things) for the past 18 months.

This absolutely LOVELY couple (he's a pilot, she's a web designer) booked me whilst I was in a caravan in the Peak District in 2017. I'd had the pleasure of meeting with them a couple of times before the big day (would you believe, NEITHER of them has actually been to a wedding in the past so didn't know what to expect or where to start with everything?!).

We hit it off with each other from day one. THIS COUPLE ARE MY AVATAR!!!!! (you need to be into marketing stuff to get that bit)

So...move forward to today. A tent in the gardens of a gorgeouse country house venue an hour from home (OK, 30 miles but the roads aren't straight and the journey home took even longer due to the A14 being closed as it's apparently being "improved"). Well worth the effort though.

As promised, the load in was a piece of cake. Park the van next to the tent, load in, move to car park and reverse this at the end of the evening. The dance floor is on one end of an "L" shaped marquee and right next to the main door.....brrrrrr! I was originally setting up on a stage, but that was omitted somewhere along the line so I'm direct onto the coir matting.....that'll be the Rustic booth and the Yammy 12/8 combo then for stability (my Gawd....I'd forgotten what that PA was like....my gentleman vegetables are still tingling ).

The plan for the evening despite a couple of meetings was sketchy to say the least, and myself, the tog and the videographer were...well...confused. Eventually between us we worked out a plan of action as to how things were going to work and then told the bride and groom (because they really were lost).

So, speeches on the dance floor (I setup a mic stand to prevent walking around and feedback from the numerous speakers), cake cut and into first dance. It worked an absolute treat.

Because they were so relaxed, I actually came out of my shell on this one. I goaded the assembled guests (of which there were a lot) into cheering, clapping, whooping.....it was absolutely brilliant. After all these years, tonight I finally found my "style" and it's something I'm going to work on because it worked well. No formalities, no stuffiness....just "me"!

On to the rest of the evening then....the buffet was opened immediately after the first dance (urgh). The 'togger got bored and went home because there was nobody dancing. He went home 10 minutes too soon (the videographer by the way stayed until the bitter end).

After letting them eat their buffet, I went into Venga Boys......Boom Booom Boom....quite literally. The dance floor filled up and never, I repeat NEVER cleared!

Choons mainly from the 80s and 90s with a bit of R and bilge and Drake (eew) saw a night that in the bride's words "made the evening". There's going to be another 5* TrustPilot review in my inbox shortly

The only downer? I was booked until midnight. I'd met the venue owner before I even switched on and nothing was mentioned about finishing earlier....until he came up at 11:30 and said I needed to turn everything down because I should have finished by now. However, I could do a last couple of tracks to wind things down.

I hurridly spoke to the bride and groom who were blissfully unaware of this fact but agreed that I had to go by the venue's rules (I hate it when that happens). Luckily, the last couple of tracks calmed the guests down enough for me to end without being put on the naughty step by the venue (who by the way loved what I did and has taken cards for future brides ).

So all in all, an absolutely AWESOME night, a happy couple, a new stlyle of MCing/DJing learned and a very happy DJ (and yes, I'm typing this at 3am because I've still got a beaming grin on my chops.....and my gentleman vegetables are still tingling from using subs ).

That's it now for me until the end of July apart from the local PTA charidee FunDay at the end of the month. It's stupidly slow here at the moment. I'm just hoping that the testimonials of what I do (because I'm damned good at it!), reach out to brides for next year. This full time DJ lark is blimmin' hard work!

[mbp]

"No formalities...no stuffiness, just me..."

It works every time......well done!

[Excalibur]

"No formalities...no stuffiness, just me..."

It works every time......well done!

I would have to concur with my learned friend.

Good heavens, Wayne, but it almost sounds like you were reverting to being a Personality DJ, heaven forfend!! Perhaps we actually knew what we were doing, all those years ago, eh?

For our younger readers, who may be aghast that we didn't/don't " let the music do the talking", my tongue, as most will have guessed, is firmly pressed into my cheek. Particularly, as last night, my use of the microphones was " sparing". Very sparing.

OK, my gig. 40th and 50th Birthday, for a lovely couple, in a local ( 16 miles!! Blimey, for me, that's really local ) village hall I like working at. I set up on the stage for once, small rig, coas as I said, it's a small room, so took the Mauis. I was expecting a more restrained function, but for a couple of reasons, it didn't pan out that way. Everyone turned up and sat chatting initially, so a broad mixture of background music was played, and I guessed I might do well with some 80's. I did, until a nice lady came up and suggested anything from the 90's.

It's worth pointing out, that effectively, it was a child free zone, once the two offspring of my clients had gone after an hour. There was no buffet to complicate matters, just a bar doing a roaring trade, and the tables were awash with glowsticks and the like. My remit musically was " play stuff to keep them dancing", and I was just about doing that, until this lady gave me the key to unlock the floodgates. 90's dance, Clubland, the inevitable Killers/Kings of Leon and it was sooooooo good just to bring a track in and hear the whoops of joy as they recognised another anthem from their youth, twenty years ago. ( Effectively, it was the Forty year olds on the floor, not the Fifties guests, so twenty years ).

It brought back memories of happy times for me, when this music was current, and I was resident at a big hotel locally. Happy times, when all you had to do was put the latest Now album in the CD player, and everything came out at 130bpm, filling the floor. None of this 90bpm rubbish, which anchors them to their seats.

Now much like Wayne, but in the opposite direction, I was thinking how well my Db12/RCF10 rig had performed the week before, and despite the fact that the Mauis did everything I asked of them perfectly, and the fact that the four box rig would have been total overkill, with the music I was playing, a little part of me wished I'd taken it. Despite the fact that the stick rigs are brilliant for many jobs, and the best answer for some, ye cannae change the laws of physics.

[mbp]

Again....not to be bias...but the "days of old" were far more enjoyable as a DJ, compared to todays, so called 'hit parade' music and the 'silent dj'.

I recently did a Selfie Wizard Photo event and they had a dj who just sat behind his console on his phone all night......never said a word (well to be fair, he did say "food is open....")

Played nothing but back to back mixes - not live mixing.

Well worth the £275 he got for the night.

'Back in the day' we would have got a jolly good telling off for doing nowt!

[Benny Smyth]

Yesterday, for me, was a brand new experience. I didn't need any speakers, nor my moving heads and wash lighting. Didn't even need my laptop and playout, plus the mic would have been redundant. What I did need was all my camera gear.

Yesterday, I played the role of 'second shooter' and photographed a wedding for the very first time. Yup.

It's something that I wanted to do for a while and I did float the idea past a 'tog friend of mine yonks ago who was up for the idea, but we never really gotten round to actually making a plan for it. That was until a few months ago where I finally pulled the trigger and said "Right, lets compare diaries and do this." That date was yesterday and my friend said this would be the perfect one for me - good looking couple on private grounds who are as relaxed as the day is long. We agreed to the date and, frustratingly, I had three enquiries for that date since then. I could have taken them (my 'tog friend did say that he would refrain from telling the clients until a few weeks beforehand just in case I had any work come in or that something else would come up...like a broken soddin' ankle!), but I batted them away. I know that I'm missing out on a pay day, but I felt that the education and the experience would serve me more in the long run. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't DJ for free now but in the world of Photography, I am bottom level and I don't mind feeding off the experience and knowledge of photographers in lieu of payment at this stage.

So I got picked up yesterday morning at 9:15 and we made our way there. The weather this week was rain, rain and more rain so the Tipi on the grandparents' field may or may not be the best for a bloke wearing some lovely Ted Baker shoes and still recovering from a busted ankle. I took some wellies with me, as well as a change of socks and trousers just in case but despite some light showers at the start of the day, the sun came out after the ceremony and the ground wasn't too boggy if you planned your walk intelligently, so I got to stay smartly dressed.

It was a really educational day and the clients were fantastic, along with their guests. Some really outstanding moments (including the Father of the Bride 'speech' which was actually a Flash Mob that everyone knew about except the groom!) and I can't wait to get the photos into the computer and start editing them. My mate will be getting the RAW files as it is his bag and the clients have booked him because of his style, but for me I get to edit them how I would. From there, I dunno but it was a lot of fun.

[Excalibur]

One of those gigs we dream about. Wedding in a beautiful Priory, with a band who were exactly suited to the crowd. Very few children, mainly 20-30 year olds, Indie/Rock fans mainly.

Very late being granted access, and as soon as we could, the band and I got set up. They did the first dance as the opener to their first set, and off we went. An hour later I had a go, and by picking carefully from the list, kept the floor going. The band were playing all my big numbers first, the swines, and I had to save a few for later. Band did their second set, and I got to finish the last hour.

I've not seen such a lively crowd for a while. Just when the floor started to empty, one song would ram it again, and My ending of Sweet Caroline and Don't Look Back In Anger brought cries of " one more". I'd unplugged by then, and was soon surrounded by " insistent" punters, but sadly no venue staff, nor venue lights.

If they want you to finish at midnight, put the house lights up, and make it clear to punters. Don't leave us in the firing line.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Two absolutely astounding gigs back to back at the weekend at Sloans (if you're ever in Glasgow you need to check it out) which is an awesome REALLY old pub, claims to be the oldest in town, it's not but it's definitely in the first 5 surviving. As happens to be the case, there's no lift and 6 lovely flights of stairs, plus a good 1/4 mile trek from the nearest NCP to the front door to contend with. Genuinely probably the worst load in I can think of so having 2 back to back with the room not being used dring the 2nd day = 1 run in and out instead of 2 and a very happy DJ.

Fridays was a younger couple, really cool playlist and although the place was a sauna (as with lifts, they didn't have AC units in the 1700s either) they rammed the floor from half 7 through to the death. At one point the floor was literally bouncing and both my tops ended up facing very different directions to the start of the gig.

Finish up, unplug laptop and I've done their video and out the back with a bottle of wine by 1am. Nice.


Saturday, I wake up to a brilliant feedback return already.

Leisurely stroll into the venue and replug into my set up then grab some food. This crowd was older this time but still well up for it. I'd met them beforehand (couples have been asking for skype a lot recently for some reason) and knew they were pretty chilled. Turns out her boy had played in a band with one of my mates years ago.

I turn up and it turns out that I taught a bunch of his pals History a million years ago which was quite nice. "You were always sound mate, seriously, history is e but you were a sound teacher."

Much of the same as Friday although a bit less busy.

Howling load out, home, video, photos, hot tub wine.

Got the feedback from that one too already so very happy - none of them mention the music funilly enough which I thought both nights had really great, if different playlists. Just backs up my opinion that the actual DJing part of what we do is almost insignificant - I could teach your gran how to set up and use VDJ in 15 minutes and over time I'm sure she could put together a passable set, it's all the stuff before, after and in between the music playing that really matters if you're going for high end gigs.

[ppentertainments]

Got the feedback from that one too already so very happy - none of them mention the music funilly enough which I thought both nights had really great, if different playlists. Just backs up my opinion that the actual DJing part of what we do is almost insignificant - I could teach your gran how to set up and use VDJ in 15 minutes and over time I'm sure she could put together a passable set, it's all the stuff before, after and in between the music playing that really matters if you're going for high end gigs.

That is the best bit of advice I have ever received. Often falls on deaf ears when trying to inform others, however the actual music on the night is only a very very small part of what I do - in fact it is the enjoyable bit, but also the easiest.

[Excalibur]

Slightly different one for me last night, roady, tech ops and lighting engineer for the legend that is Dave Jackson.

It's a college near where he works, and we put on a larger than normal show for them. Dave's options are hire a van, or hire me. No brainer, really.
It's a great night for me, I turn up, set up, and stand back while Dave does all the work.

To be serious, it's actually valuable for me, as I get the chance to play with aspects of the kit, and observe it without fielding requests and playing music.
It was great to be able to stand at the back of the hall, and listen to the Db612/RCF710 PA doing its stuff. It was reassuring to hear that my normal settings were smack dab in the ballpark, and it sounded just the way I wanted. I think it's going to be my default rig for slightly larger rooms, which is what it was bought for.

The prom- Better than last year, even though the weather was sweltering. Dave kept a very busy dancefloor, mainly with the cheesy favourites we've all played a million times, and that's what they loved. One request for something we didn't have, and the other three requests ( yes, three ) were for cheese. Just goes to show, eh?

Even though we had a large rig out, two hands made light work, and we were heading home at 11.30, mmm nice.

No such luck tonight, wedding at Forest Pines, 1am finish, long walk with the big rock and roller . Ah well.

[Excalibur]

Saturday was hot, and Facebook was full of pictures of empty dancefloors. My wedding at Forest Pines for MattyDJ50 was sporadic for dancing, but always someone on the floor. We had both hoped for heat exhaustion to set in with the guests about 11pm, but both gigs went the full distance, though not with a full quota of guests.

Mine was notable for being asked for the Dirty Dancing Megamix, and me complaining that it never works, especially being eleven minutes long. Full floor for the whole thing, DJ with face full of egg.

Under the circumstances, a really good result overall, but it didn't seem like one of the best ever at the time.