Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Imagine]

It's a double header this weekend and the first one's done and I'm off to beddie-byes before leaving home again at 10am on the 'morrow.

I was there for the wedding brekkie bit (supplied "Words of Wisdom" and "iPhone i-Spy" games to keep things ticking along). A really drawn out wedding breakfast lasting for nearly three hours! But...the guests were up for the evening party.

It's a big venue with not many guests (around 100 in total), and once the formalities of first dances and daddy/daughter dances were out of the way....we were well and truly out of the stables and running. So much better than the last time I was there where they'd had to tear up the dance floor (due to the 'rona rules at the time), and I was in competition with a telly showing some sort of football thing which Ingerlaaaand didn't win.

A real mix of stuff from cheesy '80s pop to hardcore ACDC and Foo Fighters along the way. You know what, they loved every minute of it. This is the sort of wedding I live for - relaxed, no hard and fast timings, a comedian of a best man (if I ever see him again after he pretended the mic went wrong during the speech...I'll kill him ). A really easy crowd to work with

Tomorrow's job....we'll see what that brings

[Excalibur]

Wedding quite local to me, I'd met the happy couple twice, once on site, and they were well organised in many ways. Just the choice of venue left a lot to be desired for DJs. In the words of Mr McManus " sixteen steps lead down ", or you could use the ro-ro* lift. Stairs seemed a far better option.
They'd gone all out on everything, food was magnificent, splendid love letters, the whole nine yards. Sadly, the placement of the disco left a little to be desired, but at least I had my own private alcove for bags and cases.
Playlist was modernish stuff for the beginning, degenerating into wall to wall cheese later. Suffice to say, the predominantly young crowd revelled in it, particularly my Duracell bride, who never stopped dancing.
Now, the interesting bit. My contract was till 11.30pm, and the venue had intended to call last orders at 12.30! In the interests of getting out alive, I planned to run till 12.30, 9 cos at 11.30, the floor was totally rammed ) and at midnight the venue saw sense, and called last orders. Good move, cos they'd burnt themselves out with dancing and alcohol.
Technically a great night, despite for me a very poor venue. Still, at least in keeping with the traditions of great wedding venues, they had two jellydomes installed specially for the first dance, so the tog could capture the majesty of the red and green dots covering the happy couple. ( Would have had a smiley here, but something has gone mammaries skyward here, well beyond my pay grade to deal with).




*ROll on, ROll off. I've had fun with those before, you have to stay in and hold the button, usually very slow. Designed for wheelchairs, and thus what is a wall at one level becomes the door at the other. Sadly, you've stacked your disco kit there, unless it's all on the trolley.

[Benny Smyth]

This week and next week are a bit of an onslaught for me. In summary:

Mon: Consultations & Admin
Tues: Consultations & Photo Editing
Wed: Consultations & Photo Editing
Thurs: Gig
Fri: Gig
Sat: Gig
Sun: Gig
Mon: Gig
Tues: Site Visits
Wed: Gig
Thurs: Consultations
Fri: Gig
Sat: Gig
Sun: Gig

So last night was gig three of five in a row (a run that mirrors the last weekend of April for me, only this time I'm not suffering as much for some reason). Village Hall about half hour away from me, with a guest list of 170 people. So it's the big lightshow and the big sound system.

Rocked up five minutes before my arrival time and had a nice chat with the caretaker and the family that tend the bar. Things were running behind, and I finally got into the room 10 minutes after I was due to start.

Mr. Photographer is keen to have the first dance start on time. He's going to be disappointed. And offended if he keeps hassling me.

Guests went outside for photos and after I had finished unloading the van, a Bridesmaid popped her head into the room. "Are you ready Mr. DJ?" Apparently folk are under the impression that you just need to add water, and a disco suddenly pops up! After explaining that setup takes about an hour, another Bridesmaid suggests that if it could be done quicker, they would really appreciate it. If it could be done quicker, it would be done quicker!

Father of the Bride comes over for a chat. Really nice chap and someone that I conversed with several times during the night.

Groom is wondering why I'm over an hour late. The same Groom who has still in the main hall listening to his Best Man speech after the start time had commenced. The explanation that I'm not the reason that I'm running late switched a light bulb on in his head.

You'll never guess what happened next (you will, really).

Just about to plug in, and bang. Lights go out. I initially thought someone was being enthusiastic and turned the lights down for the party, but no. Fuse box keeps tripping. DJs fault? Nope. I'm not even plugged in yet.

Caretaker was on the ball pretty quickly, but whatever was going on kept happening. Ended up in a situation where he switched off the circuit to the sockets on one side of the room. Didn't understand why that worked, but we have consistent power now, so let's just get cracking. 90 minutes after start time, and 30 minutes late for the first dance. Mr. Photographer was happy? Sad? Angry? Couldn't tell, as I'd seen more emotion and personality from a brick wall.

From there, an absolutely cracking night. Dance floor rocking from start to finish, and I had a lot of people say nice things about me (but I am a married man, so when I got home, that balanced out pretty quickly). Definitely the strongest Gig of the weekend thus far.

Getting to the point where we could start the party though...sheesh!

[Excalibur]

Groom is wondering why I'm over an hour late. The same Groom who has still in the main hall listening to his Best Man speech after the start time had commenced. The explanation that I'm not the reason that I'm running late switched a light bulb on in his head.

Dear Lord, but does it never occur to anyone that if sufficient space were left for the disco kit to be set up before anything starts, we could nonchalantly stroll in and press play twenty nanoseconds after being given the nod?

Nope, let's make it more interesting for the DJ, he can fight his way in past all the guests, having had to park miles away cos the guests cars have taken the nearest spaces, and while setting up, answer pertinent questions, such as " aren't you ready yet "?

Give me strength.

[DJColsie]

After Benny’s experience last night, pleased to be at a venue where you can set up while the wedding breakfast and speeches are going ahead! Separated by a thick curtain means you can still hear the speeches and glean useful information.

Really was a game of 2 halves (appropriate as the football was on).

Bride and groom had said Billie Eilish, Robbie Williams and indie classics plus you choose the rest. Well first dance well received. And then everyone disappeared outside to enjoy the scenery. Not a bite of action on the dancefloor in the first 90 minutes and was getting really worried.

Then the bride requested Sean Paul and floor fills from nowhere! Why didn’t she say that was her choice at the meeting! An hour of 00’s R&B (one of my favourite genres) later and we switch to an hour of 00’s indie and we had a fantastic 2nd half to the evening. Lots of complements and huge round of applause.

[Nakatomi]

Last weekend, two in a row - both in the same venue. But can I leave my kit there? Haha as if I'd even want to.

Friday was very indie heavy early on - no requests as such just the way things panned out until the bride requested 'wedding classics'. The first I'd heard from this customer was when I met them as soon as I arrived at the venue. I don't mind too much, but prefer they get the impression I care about their big day (because I DO!).

Saturday was a total contrast. They'd had to reschedule 3 times due to lockdowns & whatnot and we'd met a few times at various wedding showcases since they'd booked. There were some requests ahead of the gig but the most interesting aspect was there were going to be Ceroc fans in the crowd. Ceroc, incase you don't (as I didn't) know is kind of modern ballroom dancing, apparently with more emphasis on fun than let's say competitive ballroom.

My remit was to provide room uplighting for the evening & of course my DJ skills - but absolutely no mixing of the Ceroc tracks! Yikes, that's a bit of a tall order for me. Playing tracks from the very start & letting them go to the very end and PAUSING between tracks? Eek! Actually it didn't turn out to be that hard after all & it reminded me of gigs in years gone by when crowds sometimes applauded between tracks.

Thankfully it wasn't hard to spot which tracks were 'Ceroc' & which weren't. It was as simple as observing who was dancing to what - and how they danced There were some surprise requests like Shivers by Ed Sheeran - he's not normally a bloke I play much of unless requested - then there were requests for classic rock n roll tunes which you'd think Ceroc-ers might like but they seemed to sit those out completely - no matter because the 'normal' dancers loved them anyway,

Then there was the act of trying to follow a request from a Ceroc dancer with something suitable. That was pretty hit & miss. I'd guess there's more to it than ordinary programming.

The last 2 songs were preordained by the bride - Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World which absolutely rammed the floor (duh Justin this is an older crowd so of course a slowie is gonna be a belter here) followed by The O-Jays' Love Train to finish with a very respectable conga line around the venue.

As I started to pack down I got swamped by people coming over to thank me for being wonderful (which was nice) and an off-duty DJ/band guy guest came over to congratulate me on being so good at reading the room & programming. Wow. Lovely of anyone to notice!

So - every night's a school night as they often say & oddly I enjoyed this one way more than I thought I might.

For such a genteel function, the console met its first near miss with help from a wobbly young lady who'd come over to ask me to allow a guest to sing an Elvis song. Ummm, no petal I don't have a microphone. Sorry (not sorry). As she turned on her crazily high heels to go she knocked the corner of my kit & spun it nearly 90 degrees. The gear carried on as if nothing had happened. I straightened the rig & sent her packing. Note to self: must remember to order some oversized rubber feet for the base!

[Excalibur]

First up, Justin I'm chortling at the thought of you with oversized rubber feet! Not had many requests for Ceroc, but I did vaguely know what it was. I too had an off duty DJ at a wedding recently, and every time he came up he was mindful of/apologising for committing the cardinal sin of " I'm a DJ". Nice fella actually, just wanted all the ones we know and love people to have fun to.

OK, well with my recent post elsewhere about how we measure the success of an evening, last night I never had more than five dancers at once, less than ten people left at the end, and the bar staff wanted to slash their wrists.

Me, I had a belting night! My musical remit was basically 80s/90s/noughties Pop, Pop Punk, Emo, Rock, Dance, House, Madonna, Prince and Boy George. A tad worrying at first glance, looked as if it could be a bit gloomy. Needn't have worried, once we got going, guests were delighted to have a DJ who was open minded and accepting his role as Human Jukebox. Well, after the first two hours, when the folks with young kids had gone home, and I could stop playing Disney soundtracks, and other similar stuff, I was never getting much dancefloor action. The ( 40th ) birthday girl and her friends said their musical tastes were " eclectic ", and heavens above, they were.

Requests included lots of Metallica, Cha Cha Slide, Smiths, Proud Mary, Nirvana, 9 to 5, Musicals, New Country, Old Country, and lots of way left of centre stuff. Ended the night by getting a round of applause, and lots of thank yous for a job well done.

Just goes to show that contrary to what we usually think, a packed dancefloor isn't the only barometer of success.

[Excalibur]

Again, it's how we perceive success. A 60th birthday for a " young 60 year old " who likes Dua Lipa, Jess Glynne, Ed Sheeran, and wants music in keeping with a 30th birthday, or a wedding.

As is so often the case, we had ages from newborns to well over 60. Folk wanted to talk, the food was a hot affair served from a serving line, so another bite into dancing time. We had a smattering of requests all night, never broke double figures on the dancefloor, until the last song.

Heavens above, the power of this Rod Stewart song*.

Sweet Caroline. The floor filled instantly with waving arms, touching hands, and everything in between. Got a round of applause at the end, handshakes, and praise as I packed up. Obviously some folk had a really good night. One where dancefloor action wasn't as important as playing the right songs at the right volume.

* Tee hee.

[Excalibur]

Huge thanks to Dave Jackson for his work on this one. He put a rig into the venue the night before for a small all day wedding at his local venue where he's preferred supplier. Rock up with playout and microphone, and away we go.

Anglo Italian wedding, some lovely people, and would I do an hour for the anklebiters early on? Out came many Disney favourites, till we got to the first dance. Humorous bit was bride's Mum had requested after the first dance, Etta James-At Last. " At last I've got rid of her, and you can say that"! Said with a huge grin on her face, nice lady.

I must note a "game" played in the middle of the floor. Groom is seated on a chair, and a spoon placed in his teeth by the handle. In the bowl is a lit tea light. Bride meanwhile is handed a fairly puny water pistol, and " helped" by the crowd, attempts to extinguish him. Lots of fun.

The rest of the night sets off at a cracking pace, and burns out quickly, smouldering along till I call last orders, when the flame dies instantly! Never seen a venue empty so fast. Bar staff say that they've been drinking slowly all night, fairly low key affair, but again, I get a " Paul Hollywood " for a job well done at the end. I must be doing something right.

[Imagine]

OK, yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. Down here in the Saaarf, we baked in 33 degrees of humid heat for the day....oh what a day for a wedding in a greenhouse!

This one has been on the books for a while. Nice venue I don't get to go to very often (they have a "pet" DJ) and only 20 miles from home. Add to this, it's an Anglo-American wedding so the playlist is as cheesy as can be in places (and I managed to make it even cheesier )

Loading up the van nearly killed me. The heat from the past few days has been stored in the storage containers and the gravel road in my lockup, and I was absolutely soaked just getting the stuff into the van. Hey ho...it could be worse...it could have been raining.

Got to the venue a little early hoping to get in and set up less rushed due to the heat....first mistake. They're running late much to the Toastmaster's annoyance (I LOVE these guys). His day was going to get worse though!

Managed to get the kit into the bar area before the speeches, stood at the back of the assembled 44 (yes....44) guests in a venue which will hold 150 bodies comfortably and inwardly groaned. This was possibly going to be a long night. Add to this the couple had me booked to 1am and it had the potential to drag. Speeches done and dusted (and the best men's speech was possibly one of the best I've ever seen), the guests are decanted to elsewhere in the venue and I can set up.

It's the classic white rig for this one (or the Zebra as some would call it ), so it's an easy 15 minutes from landing on the not-yet-assembled dance floor to fully operational without breaking too much sweat....that is unless you're in a conservatory on the hottest day of the year.

Eventually, the venue decide to start laying the dance floor. How hard can it be....they snap together. The 7:30 start time was delayed to 8:30 whilst the floor was put in and cleaned (for some reason, they pack it away filthy and clean it when they next put it down). The Toastie wasn't a happy chappy....hey ho!

First dance finally happened and it's party time. And despite the heat, these were up for a party....well sort of. Despite the room being air conditioned (hmmm....it's not overly effective), there were periods of definite heat exhaustion and flagging where they just went and sat down en-masse. It was to be expected and I really didn't blame them.

Now, I had a playlist. 3 hours worth of some eclectic stuff mixed in with cheese. Which do you think worked the best? I went straight in with the Abba, Wham and Whitney in an attempt to fill the dance floor whilst they still had the energy. I may have peaked too soon. There were periods of empty floor with everyone outside, or just a couple of guests dancing in yonder bar. Ho Hum....

The last hour (they really could have got away with killing it at midnight) was left with just a dozen of the original 44 on my dance floor going mad to anything with a DJ Beats tag on it (I was tired by then and the DJBeats collection don't half make life easy whilst making me look like a DJ God at the same time). Would we make it to 1am?

Nope.....not quite.

The venue had been told the last track was to be Mr Brightside (again??? ) and to bring the lights up halfway through the track. For some reason, they randomly blinded us with the house lighting half an hour early, which was the cue for several to leave. Still 20 minutes to go and I play "Don't Stop Believing" (I'd worked out the final 30 mins in my head to end a couple of minutes early), at which point the bride calls out "this is our last song". Well, no....that's not what you asked for but if you believe that to be the case, I'm playing along

Turned off 15 minutes early (or 45 minutes too late depending on your point of view) to a very happy crowd who went home nice and politely without the shouts for "one more".

All in all, not as bad as I'd anticipated. Because of the heat (that those in the North didn't get), I wasn't expecting too much dancing and was more than happy with what I got to be honest.

Oh....and a strange request which will appear in "how clever are your customers" as well

The rest of the weekend....I'm Captain Chaos but it should be a LOT cooler!