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Shakermaker Promotions
28-09-2008, 05:48 PM
Hi all,

Friday Night I was at my local and it was a great night, lots of really obscure requests and a few beers sunk. Stayed on aftewards and ended up getting in at 4.30am. Felt rough all day but sorted myself out and off I went at 7.15pm to DJ at a friends 35th birthday party in a pub function room just outside town. It was only until 11.30pm and he wanted Indie and Retro all night which was fine by me. Set up a nice little system and kicked the night off with the theme tune from 'This is your life' and did a short introduction regarding my mate to which everyone showed their amusement. Thought it would be a classic night from that moment but it wasn't. I was stuck in a corner on my own whilst everyone else was round the otherside where the bar was. I was more or less playing to an empty room all night.

Well, I say all night.... I actually finished at 11.00pm as things went a bit pear shaped. When I turned up my mate was on crutches, apparently he had slipped up in his garden and broken his ankle the night before and had been up the hospital most of the night. He was also on really strong painkillers and those coupled with the alcohol (one of his mates kept buying him shots all night) was a disaster waiting to happen. During the night he had come up a number of times and said that the music was perfect and he was loving the occasion. At about 10.45pm I could see people who had obviously been sat round the corner almost running away and they were moaning and holding their noses.... Yes, he had been sick everywhere and was in a right state. The painkillers and shots had made him really ill and it was about 5 minutes later that he was literally carried out of the pub. He was absolutely gone and the landlord said "Let's knock it on the head"...so I did. A bit disappointing as my mate is a really good bloke and had been looking forward to the night big time....BAD TIMES.

Anyway, packed up and then it was a rush back to town where I was playing my own set of Electro music. It was an all day 12 hour charity gig featuring local artists in aid of a local musician who passed away a couple of months back. I was last on at 01.00am. The band on before me were kind of Jazz/Funk ish and a 7-piece. When I got to the venue and saw that the place was rammed (about 300 in), I got quite nervous. I got even more nervous when I saw that the crowd were loving them and I thought that when I came on it may be a bit of a shock for them. Anyway, once they had finished and the stage was clear, I started to set up my equipment. Once I put up my projector screen you could see that people were intrigued as to what was going to happen. It wasn't long before I was ready to go and from the first track they were all up for it. I had the stage quite dark with just haze, the projector screen and an ADJ Mystic LED on the floor pointing outwards towards the crowd. It looked really good and the reaction was excellent...GOOD TIMES.

Strange night all round but enjoyable...I'm really knackered today though.

djsteve10
28-09-2008, 05:51 PM
Sounds like you had a great weekend Gary, Keep them coming I enjoy reading your reports.

UltraBeat Entertainment
29-09-2008, 08:06 AM
Hope your friends OK. think he learnt the hard way that booze and pain killer don't mix.

Glad to hear it turned out well in the end.

theoloyla
29-09-2008, 11:24 AM
Blimey Gary! How long was the turnround between the band and you? Some bands can take forever to clear and if you were on your own how long's it take you?

Shakermaker Promotions
29-09-2008, 12:00 PM
The band had to clear away a big drumkit, percussion section, 2 guitars, Bass, Brass section and also keyboards but it was really quick. I wasn't DJing and my equipment was really easy to set up. I had one stand with a laptop and USB synth on it and another with the other laptop and projector on it and the screen at the back. I have a couple of photos which other people took that aren't the best quality but I'll chuck them up in a few minutes. It looked a lot better than you can see in the photos to be honest.

EDIT: Some photos, not the best but an idea. Because of the setup and slight lack of room, I had to have the projector to the side, hence the screen not being full up and slightly off centre but it worked and the reaction was excellent.