When things go wrong, they do :(

[DazzyD]

Hi All,

...
One last thing, who has priority over requests?
Later in the evening, I was playing the classic cheese, cha cha slide, etc, which the dance floor was loving, then the oldies where wanting more 70's / motown one, so I played some more, then the younger guests were wanting more up to date music on. Help, how to you please everyone????

The problem here is that the event was for the 'older' generation, i.e. 25th wedding, so 70's/motown when requested by them was played, however, the event was put on and paid for by their children who were asking for modern music. What a juggling act.

...
Edward.

Try and play some "mini sets" of requests. ie Group your requests in to genres and play 3 or 4 together at a time. This means that your groups of requesters are not up and down after every song and the dancefloor gets to flow a little. Obviously, if you start playing a mini-set and no-one gets up to dance then think about switching genres earlier. It is a juggling act pleasing everyone but it can be done. Don't let people put pressure on you to play their request out of order. Like has been said, you're in control!

I did a gig at Annan (southern Scotland) football club a few years back.
It was long lift in which was a pain as it was red hot too.
I eventually got set up with lights working.
I put on a CD only to find even with amp and mixer turned right up I could barely hear anything.
I started to panic a bit as I only had the one set of gear with me.
I had a good look around and unplugged all the mains and plugged it back in, still the same.
I then looked at the leads going into my mixer and one lead wasn't quite in.
I pushed it in and everything burst into life.
It was a jack plug that I hadn't pushed in hard enough.
Big sigh of relief and it then turned out to be a great night with the dance floor full all night and a great crowd singing along to the music.

If there are sound issues then always check the leads/cables first. Make sure they are all plugged in correctly and fully. I'd say more often than not this is where your problem will lie. And, if so, it's an easy fix!

Sorry to hear of your trials, everything does seem to come at once. I've not forgotten you're due a reply on another matter, either, sorry for the delay.
Re juggling, I have no helpful advice, except to say that don't do what I once did. Having been driven way past breaking point by two age groups of punters asking for their music in turn at each new song, I turrned the music off altogether, and pointed out over the mic the impossibility of pleasing two totally disparate factions simultaneously. Funnily enough, it didn't go down too well.

[Shaun]

Messy site!

Charming! Perhaps you can elaborate as to what you find "messy"?

[Gonzo.pete]

With your obvious time constraints can I ask what you were doing giving lifts to your daughter and faffing around leaving your clothes at home to change into? Surely with a job on, no matter how local, you'd take a change of clothes and leave your daughter/wife to take care of themselves for the duration? Just might have saved you that half an hour or so and given you time to check your mic.

[fullcontact68]

With your obvious time constraints can I ask what you were doing giving lifts to your daughter and faffing around leaving your clothes at home to change into? Surely with a job on, no matter how local, you'd take a change of clothes and leave your daughter/wife to take care of themselves for the duration? Just might have saved you that half an hour or so and given you time to check your mic.

I guess some people cannot / do not read English?

Points for you to note :-

1) My daughter was there to help me set up.
2) We turned up in plenty of time to set up at the venue, with my daughters help.
3) The venue did not let us in due to the fact that the room was still in use. Even though the venue said we could turn up to setup at the time we did.


Do I need to go on?

[Shaun]

I guess some people cannot / do not read English?

When you post on an open forum you'll always get comments and opinions from both sides of the coin. I don't see the need for rudeness.

[fullcontact68]

When you post on an open forum you'll always get comments and opinions from both sides of the coin. I don't see the need for rudeness.

Fair point.

My apologies.

Sometimes frustration kicks in when events are out of your control, and there is not a lot which you can do about it.

[Shaun]