Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Nakatomi]

Didn't you know already Peter? Chart music is absolutely guaranteed to get all the hip cats & cool daddyos up on their feet hollering & a-wailing! Any fule knows that! Dead cert floor fillers, every single one including Lukas Graham!

Meh. Anybody who thinks XYZ is guaranteed to do anything is in for a shock. Hopefully of the electric sort, hopefully on their nether regions.

I've got 'no cheese, no madness, no rock, no bryan adams, no disco, no michael jackson, no Take That. Nothing with a 'dance move'....'... Just floor fillers like Umbrella by Rihanna..... I can hardly wait!

[Imagine]

Nothing with a 'dance move'....'...

I'll wager that Whip Nae Nae is exempt from that category

[Nakatomi]

I'll wager that Whip Nae Nae is exempt from that category

Oh no it isn't "You categorically said NOTHING with a dance move associated with it. So there."

Mind, they also didn't say "no Eminem. no heavy metal, no death metal, no opera, no Sacha Distel, no Enya" ... so I could have a whole lot of fun

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Last night I was at a very, very nice venue around 5 miles away from me. It's one that I have visited a number of times and is probably the best in the area.
The booking was a wedding for 2 ladies in their late 50's. They'd gotten together 37 years ago to the day and 10 years ago to the day they had the 'warm up' with a civil ceremony. I met them a few weeks back and they were hilarious, down to earth and up for a good old party BUT they also realised that it was a Thursday night wedding with only 52 guests and that half of those were going to be leaving straight after the wedding breakfast.

Set up in the morning. The brides had mentioned previously that they didn't need "all bells and whistles" and wanted it to look a bit discreet so I didn't take the Ultimax cross bar with the 8 effects and instead opted for a couple of the Equinox baterns placed on the floor on automatic program, the trussing with the spherion on it and 2 x ADJ X Moves placed around the room. To me, it was a refreshing change and I have started to use the moving heads a bit more of late...

((Incidentally, does anyone know the type of bracket I would need to fix them to a T-Bar? There are 3 holes drilled in the bottom of the unit but I don't know what to do with them? - Any advice or help would be appreciated)).

So....It took me around 40 minutes to set up. A bit longer than expected but access wasn't that great as I had to move in and around tables that had already been made up.
Original plan was to set up after wedding breakfast but then the co-ordinator realised that doing that would mean a late start as they were due to finish it and the speeches by 8.00pm and I was supposed to start at 7.30pm!

Arrived at the venue for 7.15pm and let the toastmaster know I was there. Chatted with the photographer out in the sun in the garden for a while and then the brides came out to say hello and I congratulated them. The first thing they did was to apologise for keeping me waiting. I told them there was no need to apologise and to just enjoy themselves. Things were running slightly over and so when the guests eventually started pouring out into the garden so the room could get turned around, it was around 8.20pm. It was a lovely evening and the tables outside filled up with an older crowd chatting and drinking.

I nipped back inside and eventually at just after 8.45pm, the room was ready. I started playing some music from the brides big list of requests and played them to an empty room at first. I had a feeling it may happen. Just slightly after 9.00pm in came a handful of guests and they headed straight for the dance floor.
Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing was followed by Christina Aguilera - Candy Man and Bette Midler - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and within minutes most of the guests were inside and dancing.
We eventually got the first dance out of the way at 9.30pm (over an hour late). The brides kept telling me they could wait because they wanted everyone to have a dance. I apparently performed a miracle by getting one particular guy on the dance floor as he "never ever danced" according to one of the brides (Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle did the trick - One of my favourites from the 70's that I had never played at a Disco before!).

First dance was Jimmy Durante - Make Someone Happy followed by Elton John - Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

After that I went into all out 70's and Rock mode (which was predominantly what was on their request list)....and it worked well.
A large number of guests did leave around 10.00pm and more followed 30 minutes later but it was surprising to me just how many came over and thanked me for a great night even though they must have had 2 hours of music.

At just after 11.00pm one of the brides came over and asked me to play a Status Quo track and then their last song of the night (Jeff Beck - Hi Ho Silver Lining).
She said everyone had enjoyed the night but it was probably the right time to finish so that's what I did. Rockin' All Over The World got everyone that was left on the dance floor and Jeff Beck kept them there.

I was packed up and back home a couple of minutes before Midnight enjoying an ice cold can of Stella.
A good night!

[Nakatomi]

I believe the bracket you need is called an omega clamp. This will mount to the mover's base & you'll then need a half coupler or pole clamp to secure the omega bracket to the pole. I don't think omega clamps are universal so you'll have to find one specific to your movers.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Thanks!

[mattydj50]

((Incidentally, does anyone know the type of bracket I would need to fix them to a T-Bar? There are 3 holes drilled in the bottom of the unit but I don't know what to do with them? - Any advice or help would be appreciated)).

My X Moves came with some brackets that you connect to the base with allen key bolts. These allow them to be suspended using Ultimax type hanging brackets. Mind you, I never hang mine so don't know where the brackets are, so can't post photos...... yet!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Thanks again. Kind of changed my mind about hanging them.
I have been looking at making some home made stands for them. Seen a few videos on YouTube. Not interested in skrims at all (no offence to those that use them).
I have lots of spare speaker stands and the top hat bracket for them is cheap. Screw a platform to that and then some kind of strapping or something to the X Moves and that should be ok.

(Yes, I'll make sure that they're very sturdy and almost bomb proof before they go out on the road).

[Nakatomi]

Anyway this looks like the kind of thing you'd need.

Mind, I looked in the X-Move 25 user manual & could find no mention of how to mount it. Very poor, ADJ. Very poor.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Agreed! It was the first thing I did and was surprised there was nothing there.
Anyway, I've got the bits I need and have spent a total of £10.00. It will take me probably 10 minutes to get the rest sorted but I will wait until midweek.

I went to ***lins and bought 2 x top hat adaptors - £1.99 each. Went to B&Q and bought a laminated black shelf and got them to cut two 9" x 9" pieces out of it (£6.00).

Just got to screw the adaptors on to the wood and then secure the moving heads to the wood too and that should do the trick.