Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Nakatomi]

Yep, time to bust my duck with yet another first.. my first ever 70s night! A christmas party night at my residency.. Guests started filing in at around 730pm & 3 courses of food were done by around 8.30pm.. I think this is record time for anywhere I've DJ'd a christmas bash.

The crowd didn't look like they'd be down much for 70s music & I wasn't wrong. The only 70s request I got was for Smokie - Living Next Door To Alice which the crowd ably filled in the missing "who the ... is Alice" bits. I have both versions but prefer not to play the rude one personally.

Other requests.. such 1970s favourites as Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now, Gala - Freed From Desire, Spice Girls, Killers - Mr Brightside & Kanye West - Gold Digger At theme nights I'm usually a stickler for the theme but I didn't think sticking to my guns would be for the best in this case.

Notably this year the Christmas songs weren't even remotely marmitey which was a very refreshing change.

At a few points I had to get people to get down from tables & chairs - it was that exactly kind of night.

Here's how it went down.

It's A Shame Detroit Spinners 19:26
Ride A White Swan T Rex 19:29
Ain't No Mountain High Enough Diana Ross 19:31
Baby, It's Cold Outside Tom Jones with Cerys from Catatonia 19:34
Theme From Shaft Isaac Hayes 19:38
Hot Love T-Rex 19:42
Lola Kinks 19:47
I Think I Love You David Cassidy 19:51
Sleigh Ride The Ronettes 19:54
Get It On Marc Bolan & T.Rex 19:57
Stop The Cavalry Jona Lewie 20:01
American Pie Don McLean 20:04
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) John Lennon 20:08
Maggie May Rod Stewart 20:11
Moondance Van Morrison 20:16
Sir Duke Stevie Wonder 20:20
A Night To Remember Shalamar 20:24
Play That Funky Music Wild Cherry 20:28
That's The Way (I Like It) KC & The Sunshine Band 20:31
Ladies Night Kool & The Gang 20:34
We Are Family Sister Sledge 20:38 Dessert almost over so that means it's time for...
Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond 20:39
Young Hearts Run Free Candi Staton 20:43
Le Freak Chic 20:46
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (2003 Edit) Michael Jackson 20:49
Summer Nights John Travolta & Olivia Newton John 20:52
We Go Together Grease 20:56
Ballroom Blitz Sweet 20:59
Greased Lightnin' John Travolta 21:02
Mamma Mia Abba 21:05
Does Your Mother Know ABBA 21:08
You're the First, the Last, My Everything Barry White 21:10
Crocodile Rock Elton John 21:13
Living Next Door to Alice Smokie 21:18 R
December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons 21:20
Stayin' Alive Bee Gees 21:23
I'm in the Mood for Dancing Nolans 21:26
Dancing Queen ABBA 21:29
Rappers Delight The Sugarhill Gang 21:32
Blame It On The Boogie The Jacksons 21:36
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) Abba 21:39
Hot Stuff Donna Summer 21:42
YMCA Village People 21:45
Rasputin Boney M 21:49
I Think We're Alone Now Tiffany 21:53 R
Video Killed The Radio Star Buggles 21:56
September Earth Wind & Fire 21:59
Baby Shark Pinkfong 22:02 R
Freed From Desire (full vocal) Gala 22:03 R
Disco Inferno The Trammps 22:07
You're The One That I Want John Travolta & Olivia Newton John 22:10
Oops Upside Your Head The Gap Band 22:13
Macarena Los Del Rio 22:16 R
Saturday Night Whigfield 22:20 R
Cha Cha Slide DJ Casper 22:23
Don't Stop Me Now Queen 22:27
Bat out of hell Meatloaf 22:30
Proud Mary Tina Turner 22:35
Love Really Hurts Without You Billy Ocean 22:40
Heaven Must Have Sent You Elgins 22:43
Waterloo ABBA 22:45
Rockin' Robin Michael Jackson 22:48
Reach SClub 7 22:51
Wannabe Spice Girls 22:52 R
Gold Digger Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx 22:55 R
Superstition Stevie Wonder 22:58
I Want You Back Jackson 5 23:02 BOMBED
Town Called Malice The Jam 23:03 R
One Step Beyond Madness 23:05
Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag Pigbag 23:07
Boogie Wonderland Earth, Wind & Fire 23:10
Mr. Brightside The Killers 23:11 R
Merry Xmas Everybody Slade 23:15
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday Wizzard 23:18
Summer Of '69 Bryan Adams 23:22
I Love to Boogie T-Rex 23:25
It's Not Unusual Tom Jones 23:27
I Love To Love Tina Charles 23:28
(Is This The Way To) Amarillo Tony Christie 23:30
I'm Gonna be (500 Miles) Proclaimers 23:33
Rockin All Over the World Status Quo 23:37
Hey Baby DJ Otzi 23:40
Sex On Fire Kings Of Leon 23:43
Mr. Blue Sky Electric Light Orchestra 23:46
Merry Christmas Everyone Shakin' Stevens 23:48
Fairytale Of New York The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl 23:52
All I Want For Christmas Is You Mariah Carey 23:57
... and finally, just one more... Troublemaker Olly Murs Ft Flo Rida 00:01

an 80s night tonight.. looking forward to this one like crazy. Presumably we're gonna have such stonking 80s hits as Baby Shark & Mr Brightside

Lighting wise I've continued to use the WashFX v1 for main wash & even dimmed to 50% it's more than capable in most places so... for sale very soon will be one Equinox Gigabar & one Thomann RGB 4x wash system. Oh and a pair of ADJ Quad Phase HPs - I flipping HATE them things now!!

[Imagine]

Yep, time to bust my duck with yet another first.. my first ever 70s night!

an 80s night tonight.. looking forward to this one like crazy.

I do quite a few of those every year (normally with the Retro setup). If I'm really lucky, they stay on theme.....and those ones are AWESOME nights

Right - talking of the '70s, that's how mine started out tonight.
My one and only corporate Chrimbo party of the year is done and dusted

The venue? The prestigious Clare College in Cambridge. I've done this one before so knew what to expect....it doesn't make it any easier though. The load in is via a fire escape, and then down a very narrow and twisty stairway (we're talking several hundred years old here!) to the tiny stage in the vault underneath the college chapel.

I should also mention at this point that once unloaded (as you park on yellows to do so), you have to drive to a car park on one of the college's other sites and then come back. The other site is a half mile walk from the function room - no problem. Unfortunately the way the traffic planners work in Cambridge, it's a FIVE MILE DRIVE unless you're a bus or a taxi.

The room itself is gorgeous and is an uplighting artist's dream. The stage however, as usual was covered in gear belonging to various music societies associated with the college.....there ain't much room!

For the first time ever, I regretted (very briefly) taking the Evolve 50s to a gig. The picture will explain everything (my gawd it was tight and involved tipping the subs onto their sides, inserting the tops and then righting them....hoping there was room for them to stand upright!). They sounded awesome in that room though



Musically....WOW!

I've done Xmas gigs for this company before. They're a mixed bunch that use a different college each year (I dread to think which one next year's is...I'm hoping it's not Emmanuel because that involves dragging the kit through the busy kitchens to a service lift ).

We started off very firmly in the '70s and stayed there for a good while. Dance floor was rammed
Then into the '80s very briefly before sailing through to the '90s. NOTHING beyond 1998 was played apart from Mr Timberlake's Troll song and I Gotta Feelin' by Mr I. Am.

Not once did I have a dead floor. It was brilliant.

Even better, the second time out on the road and LightRider behaved itself - an absolute charm to use tonight (I'm still a bit wary of it though!)

Just one more to go for me this year, and that's the local Primary's Xmas party...and that's ALWAYS a good one

[Nakatomi]

Yet another first for me last Saturday.. My first ever 80s night.

Not quite entirely Canon, because there are Christmas tunes to consider, but the customers were much more on board with the theme than the previous night.

I mixed pretty much all the way from the guests sitting down to eat until the very last track (talk about hard work though) and it was AWESOME. I got to dust off a lot of proper gems & guilty pleasures and saw them get a great reception on the dance floor.

Ms Throatcutter has been otherwise engaged somewhere else & everybody has been nice as pie to this dj man. OK, table one were shall we say less than forthcoming in 'the battle of the tables' but you can't win em all.

Unexpected request of the night was The Police - ROXANNE which I'd never have figured as a peak time hit.. But oh how it took the roof off. Oddly Living on a Prayer & Sweet Child of Mine, while both had been requested ended up being cut short, so bad was their reception. Onto the naughty step they go!

The last half hour saw Shake a Tail Feather come out to play, followed by La Bamba, then That's What I Like from the Jive Bunny stable, then Reet Petite (choooon!) followed by shakey, slade, Wizzard, pogues & Carey Christmas songs. I really enjoyed that weekend & I'm actually disappointed the Christmas party season ends for me this coming weekend.

Speaking of which, Friday sees a dancing through the decades night (another 1st) & Saturday a James Bond theme night (you guessed it another first!).

Before that though, I'm fitting a castor upgrade to my (apparently knockoff) rock n roller after the other original (probably counterfeit) castor sheared its mounting bolt on Friday. Thankfully I'd already got the last load inside & spent an hour on Saturday drilling a hole through the broken castor to fit a 'get it rolling again' 8mm diameter bolt.

[DJWilson]

Unexpected request of the night was The Police - ROXANNE which I'd never have figured as a peak time hit.. But oh how it took the roof off. Oddly Living on a Prayer & Sweet Child of Mine, while both had been requested ended up being cut short, so bad was their reception. Onto the naughty step they go!

That's quite surprising!

I think I can top that with this...

Played two Christmas parties last weekend and on both nights (which was going strong from the first song) Jackson 5 - ABC cleared 50% of the floor on one night and 90% on the other!

That's in the bin for a little while!

[Nakatomi]

That's quite surprising!

I think I can top that with this...

Played two Christmas parties last weekend and on both nights (which was going strong from the first song) Jackson 5 - ABC cleared 50% of the floor on one night and 90% on the other!

That's in the bin for a little while!

I'm right with the crowd on this one. Screechy. Hurts my ears even with plugs in. I rarely play it & it's never been requested.

[Imagine]

That's quite surprising!

I think I can top that with this...

Played two Christmas parties last weekend and on both nights (which was going strong from the first song) Jackson 5 - ABC cleared 50% of the floor on one night and 90% on the other!

That's in the bin for a little while!

Funny enough, I'm seeing that with a LOT of the Motown stuff recently (not just Mr Jackson and his clan).
It's only started happening this year though.....last year I was playing loads of it.

Livin' on a Prayer is the strange one for me at the moment. It used to pretty much guarantee a reaction for me (and yes, I'm THAT DJ that lowers the faders to allow the crowd to sing along ). Just lately it's been a 50/50 gamble as to whether it's going to work or not.

[Retrodisco]

I had no dancers to Mr Brightside the other day, I was stunned

[ppentertainments]

I had no dancers to Mr Brightside the other day, I was stunned

Every Xmas I seem to find a floorfiller that just doesn't work for the month, yet will work for others.

Last year was Mr Brightside - cleared the floor every night, yet this year works great.
This year it is Come on Eileen which is the surprise floor clearer, yet last year was the song I used to get people dancing between the Main Course and Desert.

[Nakatomi]

Every Xmas I seem to find a floorfiller that just doesn't work for the month, yet will work for others.

Last year was Mr Brightside - cleared the floor every night, yet...

In a party residency though clearing the floor can be good for the bar take but if something bombs more than once I tend to put it on the naughty step. I've been pleasantly surprised by how well all the Christmas tunes are being received though. A couple of years ago all the big 5 were causing groans & boos to different extents. Annoying & confusing at the same time.. People, you'd think, expect Christmas tunes at a Christmas party at some point or other

[ppentertainments]

In a party residency though clearing the floor can be good for the bar take but if something bombs more than once I tend to put it on the naughty step. I've been pleasantly surprised by how well all the Christmas tunes are being received though. A couple of years ago all the big 5 were causing groans & boos to different extents. Annoying & confusing at the same time.. People, you'd think, expect Christmas tunes at a Christmas party at some point or other

Yeah it is strange, normally I get told off if I play any Xmas songs other than during the last week. This year though even the parties in late November were asking for Xmas music - just can't win