Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[CRAZY K]

Too late now. We were ending up with half synced tracks, some not even that. Even after wiping the iPod & doing one short playlist at a time. Never going back there. Ever.

Sorry to hear that--confusing--was this a brand new i pod or secondhand?

[Nakatomi]

Sorry to hear that--confusing--was this a brand new i pod or secondhand?

Brand new. 2Nd generation 3 i think it was. I don't miss it.

[Nakatomi]

Blimey what a weekend!

First there was Friday, which had me playing disco man at the end of a murder mystery night. I don't often cherish these since half the crowd usually have their coats on by the final scores are being read out but not this time. Ooooo no.

Very few requests, but loads of dedications to put out.. which I duly did.. which really added to the atmosphere among all the ladies. Another thing which did that was a little baby being carried around, all wide eyed & cute with his diddy ear defenders on, bopping away in his sling. He got a dedication too by the way.

It went really well - so well in fact I've picked up a couple of bookings next year. Mmmm gravy.

And then Saturday.. I had a wedding with a very different first dance. In the email from the prospective bride, the track was named, and it was said to come from such & such an album. A brave choice, I thought...



Hmmm. Better check she really means this one. She emailed again to say yup.. So I was googling around to show my wife this interesting & brave 1st dance choice when I discovered there's a much more suitable (IMHO) acoustic version. Better get that one too, I thought. Good job I did! Turns out, it was the acoustic version they were intending me to play.



A bit of a contrast I think you'd agree.

Aaaanyhoo.. the broader remit of the customer's requirements was ROCK later on. Ooooh boy, did we ever. Time marched on & I'd had the sum total of NO requests - and pretty full floors til last orders time when the bride asked me to play Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous. By whom, she couldn't say. Found it no problem & smacked it on. Quite a rousing number, innit?

Got to within 10 minutes of midnight & up comes a lad asking me to help him win a bet with the groom by playing the Grease megamix. Oh really. Hmmm. No. He later confided in me they'd all pretty much assumed it was going to be played no matter what (Well, it IS a wedding y'know - it's the LAW or something). Nah. You know me.. if we can get along just fine without that kind of thing we bloody well will. And we did.

Ended the night as usual with the big ups, and less than usually rolled out with Bohemian Rhapsody.

Played a wedding gig.. got to play Smoke On the Water & it only swelled the dancefloor more. TICK!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Top night for me last night at a regular venue I visit around 5 times a year just out of town.
A wedding for a couple in their late 20's who were very, very laid back when it came to the music side of things. The old "You're the expert" line came out once more..... Hold on! Hold on!....I wouldn't say I am an expert!? I'm not a mind reader either and certainly no egotist but I hopefully...no probably know a tad more about the job than you do so ok, I'll go with 'expert'...

Apart from the first dance(s) - Van Morrison - Someone Like You and Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings (Bride/Father dance) and also the last song of the night - Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over, well....I was just told that everyone liked to dance and they were big on the 70's and 80's.....Ok, excellente!

Well, I'm going to treat you all to a short review this weekend (whoopee!)...er, well.. don't get too excited....it'll be short(er) than usual.
Set up on the Friday as the venue was free and I was off.
Pink Uplighting was an add-on and they absolutely loved it (another thumbs up for those Equinox baterns!! I find myself using them all the time for my uplighting at the moment).

Arrived back at the venue on the Saturday evening with 20 minutes to spare once I was let in to the venue after the speeches had been done. Connected the laptop to VDJ for back up and reference as usual and accidentally pulled out the USB cable which in turn froze the unit and turned off the laptop. Restarted everything, reconnected everything and it was as good as gold.....phew!
As the room was being turned around I put on some background music and got the Dynamos warmed up when *Pop!!*....one of the bulbs went! Come on, do us a favour and give me a break! Nipped outside to the van and changed the bulb within 5 minutes and was up and running again. I don't think anybody even noticed.

Chatted to the father of the bride who was "looking forward to a good night" as he'd "heard good things" about me.....right, ok.
He also said that they'd had a bit of a 'mare during the day with the caterers and he was livid, the groom was beyond livid and the bride was very upset.
As I chatted to him the bride and groom came over and welcomed me and as I had them altogether at the same time I told them all to TRY and not to worry about it tonight and just enjoy their night and sort it all out in a few days time. The bride and groom thanked me and went off and the father of the bride said "thanks for that, I appreciate you saying that". I told him it was no problem and that I'd do my best to give them a great night.........and I did!

First dance(s) went well and as soon as I went into the likes of Happy, Marry You, Uptown Funk etc etc....the floor was packed solid. Then the requests started coming in regularly - "Have you got any 80's?" - Yep! Just wait and see! - "Have you got any Two Tone, especially Madness?" - Oh, yes...now you've really hit the spot.....
"Hello mate, don't suppose you have any Libertines do you?" - I'm beginning to really like you lot, can you come every week please?

All of the above and more went down really well and guests did that screaming thing when something came on that was to their liking (Mr Brightside STILL did it).
Some of the moves on the dance floor were unreal and the mother of the groom (who'd obviously had far too many bubbles!), was not only busting the moves out but knocking everybody out of the way and at one point she was heading straight towards my set up. I was stood by the side of the screen ready and as she hurtled towards me uncontrollably and unable to stop, I caught her. She was a tiny thing.

The first time I checked the time was at 10.20pm and that was a good thing because everything was just flowing nicely.
Before I knew it, it was 11.30pm and so I had the last 30 minutes planned out in my head already when the bride and groom came over and asked if I could finish slightly earlier at 11.50pm because the taxis and coach were coming to pick people up.... Ok, no problem!
That has to be the first time I have ever had the majority of the guests still packing the dance floor with a few songs left to play and been asked to finish EARLY!!
(The couple were both knackered....they'd got married at 12.30pm!).

Loved every minute of it last night. A very good one!

[rth_discos]

Not a great one yesterday.

A new venue - which had a sound limiter. I always ask the venue in advance about specifics like sound limiters, but struggled to get any response from the venue, even via the phone. Not a good sign! I'd done 2 weddings recently with sound limiters where it was fine for the music, but every time I spoke on the mic, the limiter would peak, which made announcements like the first dance a nightmare!

Anyway set up early and all was good. Came back ready for the evening and everything was running to time and all was good.

First dance I managed to slightly mis-pronounce the surname - first time that's ever happened. Not sure how I managed it - I had it written in front of me! For me that was about the worst thing I could do, so I was beating myself up inside about it. Not sure if the B/G noticed - it was one letter different from what it should have been.

Very difficult to get anyone dancing - they were mainly outside, or just at the other end of the room by the bar. Had a few requests, but when I played them and started to get people dancing, the bride wanted newer music which cleared the dancefloor again.

And then even at the very end, I really struggled to get everyone on the dancefloor for the last song - even the B & G! Had to spend about a minute on the mic pulling people on to the dancefloor. Was worth it though for the last song - otherwise I fear the evening would have been a wash out!

Was annoyed about the mis-pronunciation but not sure there was much I could do about the rest of the night - I guess every now and then you get a gig that doesn't quite go as you'd like. Just frustrating as I'd had a really good run of great gigs!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Yes it's a pain mate but nobodies perfect are they!!
I've done something like that before when I had a run of 4 weddings in one week and it was the final one of the week and I was just washed out but it was taken in jest.
The fact that nobody noticed should give you some relief but I know what you mean about "beating yourself up" about it.

I was at a venue the other week and a channel decided to play silly buggers on me and so I had to improvise throughout the evening. It happened right at the beginning whereas it was fine when I soundchecked. It was on my mind all night and all I wanted to do was get home and get it sorted and I felt like my full concentration wasn't on the people in front of me.
Same again last week when one of the X Moves decided to stop projecting light and just rotate. That happened at the beginning too and was also on my mind all night but you know what - Both weddings were bloody good and nobody noticed and I expect the same happened with you. They probably had a great time.

I always say, it isn't always about the dancing - It's about the atmosphere we create.

[rth_discos]

The fact that nobody noticed should give you some relief but I know what you mean about "beating yourself up" about it.

Sadly someone in the audience had heard it and mentioned it - it was what alerted me to the fact I may have mis-pronounced it - I wasn't even aware I had at that point. Watched it back on the video I was recording, and sure enough I'd got it wrong

But the B & G were very nervous about the first dance, so everything was probably a blur to them at the time!

It's interesting how sometimes a gig just doesn't "feel" right. Interestingly even the venue staff mentioned that it had been a very different crowd and the evening wasn't how they'd normally expect it (from the bar point of view etc).

On the flip side, I guess you need one like this every now and then to ensure you don't get complacent with what you're doing.

Agree about the atmosphere - bride seemed happy and I managed to get the ending she wanted - was just much harder work than normal!

[Excalibur]

He later confided in me they'd all pretty much assumed it was going to be played no matter what (Well, it IS a wedding y'know - it's the LAW or something).

Evenin' all.

Played a wedding gig.. got to play Smoke On the Water & it only swelled the dancefloor more. TICK!

Oh yuss.

OK, to mine. We're working with two edged swords all the time. Alcohol and youthful exuberance can really help to create a party atmosphere.

Or a sea of drink, food, broken glass and other detritus. Another Legslappers gig, and to be honest it was always heading in that direction. This crowd go for it in a big way, perhaps too big. It's the first time I've had to wait ten minutes to actually start my bit because they're clearing the entire floor in the room!!

With subsequent retirements due to alcohol, the lure of clubs in town, and other issues, my bit was pretty much an anti climax. Not really a very satisfying gig.

[Nakatomi]

Yes it's a pain mate but nobodies perfect are they!!
I've done something like that before when I had a run of 4 weddings in one week and it was the final one of the week and I was just washed out but it was taken in jest.

I've got 5 in one week in August. I'm subbing out the last one. I don't need the money that badly, and I'm taking time off my day job for a bit of recovery time anyway. The hotel is getting a new manager then too, so it's gonna be a whole barrel of laughs I expect.

There've been a couple of times I've dropped the ball with wedding names but last time it happened was funny - I'd for some reason hit on the bride's nickname that everybody calls her - totally by mistake. I swore blind it was just a mistake - somebody thought I'd been put up to it.

[DJColsie]

Wedding at an old barn with a "speaker ceiling system" for me. So frustrating as guests at the other end couldn't hear announcements and under no circumstances could you use monitors.

Made the best of it and bride and groom really happy. So frustrating as the sound compressor kept compressing the microphone and had no idea what it sound d like on the dance floor.