Last night's 40th Birthday (80s night)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago I posted the playlist for this function and had some great comments on it. Well, last night was the night and it was great.
Quite a long night though in the end.
Got to the venue at 5.30pm. A plain old venue really, quite large too with a very high ceiling so the sound (to me) was allover the place and sounded quite echoey. The walls were all magnolia and pretty boring to be honest but once we had finished with it, wow!

((I can't take photos to save my life and had loads of opportunities. They all came out really fuzzy and don't do the function justice so I haven't attached any to this post)).

The guy works in Printing and had done some huge vinyl print outs of him and his wife (joint 40th by the way). The tables were all done out really nicely in red and white with red roses on each table, love hearts, heart shaped balloons etc...it looked really cool. I put 8 LEDJ Colourburst units around the venue and set them to red and it looked really, really nice. There was a free bar (they had purchased far too much alcohol) and a really nice hot buffet (Curries, Lasagne, Sheperds Pie etc).

It took me around 90 minutes to set up the uplighting and the rig.
2 x ADJ Mystic LED's
1 x Acme MarvelLED
2 x Acme Dynamo Scanners
1 x Half Mirror Ball
JBL & Peavey Speakers
Crown & Peavey Amps
Denon HD2500
Pionner CDJ's

From 7.30pm - 9.30pm I played their requests as they had drinks and then sat down for food. I had the missus coming up asking me to turn it down slightly and then 5 minutes later telling me to turn it up when a track came on that she had requested, only for the guy to then come up and say that his mum couldn't concentrate and could I turn it down slightly (again)...I didn't know what to do but it wasn't negative at all...they were very nice people and loved what I was doing. They were insistent that I also sat down with them and had something to eat. I said that I had to take care of the tunes so I ate some Lasagne behind the rig...I would never normally do this as I don't eat when I am working.

When the lights went down and the volume went up, I started off with 'Prince Charming' by Adam & The Ants as the birthday boy was dressed up as Adam Ant. From then on it was a full dancefloor all night with probably 3 or 4 of the older people sat down. The songs I played worked a treat. I worked off their requests and added some of my own ideas in there which also worked really well. People had travelled from Manchester, Huddersfield, London, Belfast etc and all of them were up for it which was great.

Best songs of the night which had everyone going mad (cheering and screaming!) were:
The Smiths - This Charming Man
Madness - Nightboat to Cairo
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Lost Weekend
The Cure - The Lovecats
George Michael - Careless Whisper

The night seemed to go far too quickly and I was supposed to finish at 11.45pm. I looked at the clock and I had 5 minutes to go so I announced my last tune and played 'Baggy Trousers' by Madness. Once again, the place went mad. When it had finished I turned the lights down and then came the inevitable "More! More!" chants. I got the nod from the venue person so then played 'In Between Days' by The Cure. The lights went on and then off after it had finished and they still shouted "More!" so I looked over at the venue guy again and he gave me the nod again so I then played 'Happy Hour' by The Housemartins and finally '500 Miles' by The Proclaimers. The venue lights went on and everyone was cheering me and still shouting "More!"...The birthday boy came over, thanked me for a brilliant night and asked if he could use the mic. He thanked everyone for coming and then asked them all to give me some applause...it was really cool.

The venue guy came over as it was now approaching midnight. I thought he was going to moan but he didn't. He asked for a card so I gave him a brochure and I asked if I could play one more as I had totally forgotten to play one of his requests....he agreed. As everyone was getting their coats etc I asked for their attention. Everyone looked around and I said "Ladies & Gentlemen, many thanks for making it a great night this evening,. It's been a pleasure. I have one more very important song to play which is for the birthday boy and also me" and I played 'I'm forever blowing bubbles' as he was a big West Ham fan and there were a whole bunch of other fans there too. Everyone sung along and it was brilliant....(and by the way, I ended up NOT wearing my West Ham top...I wore a claret and blue Fred Perry).

Got a £20.00 tip at the end from one of the guests and also 2 bottles of wine and a case of Stella from the birthday boy and girl.

I'm gutted I haven't got any photos worthy to post so you'll have to take my word for it that it was one of the best parties I have done with a bunch of the nicest people I have had the pleasure to play for....

One negative though....
One 'lady' at the party...who had obviously consumed far too much free alcohol stormed over to me on more than one occasion and shouted "Where's Wham? Why aint you played Wham yet...Come on!". I was just about to say something to her and she stormed off. I then actually read her lips and she said "He's rubbish, I've asked him 3 times" (this was after the first time). Then I had other people from her table come up and ask me for her...I explained that it was coming on but I didn't appreciate being shouted at or spoken to rudely. I left it a while and then she came up again..."Come on mate, you are taking the :Censored: " she said...I had, had enough by then. She stormed back to her table so this time I followed her back and sat next to her. I told her that Wham would be coming on but she shouldn't be so rude and she shouldn't shout at me as that wouldn't get her anywhere. Her boyfriend laughed and said "You've got guts telling her mate, but I agree with you". In the end she came up after I played Wham and apologised.

Anyway, overall a great night. 90 minutes to set up, 30 minutes to take down and leave. Aching today like I've had a workout but well worth it.

Apologies for the long review, you know what I'm like by now.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Good way of dealing with the 'lady'. Glad you enjoyed it, sounded like a right good time.

[Babybob]

Tremendous read as usual and glad you had a good night, I find 40th's are the most enjoyable as it's the same era as me so you tend to have a good idea of the musical choice.
Well done again. :beer1:

[djsteve10]

Glad you had a good night.

Also a great read, Keep them coming.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

sounds like a great night well done.

I know you mentioned about the photos but it does seem a shame you couldnt capture some for promotional purposes. A couple of good photos showing a dancefloor full of people enjoying themselves is properly best way to sell your service?

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Definitely!..and that's the only real negative of the whole thing. Part of the reason I got there early was so that I could take some photos for promotion etc. When it was all set up and the venue was dark with just red uplighting and candles on the tables, it looked awesome.

[Danno13]

Sounds like a good one, mine was pretty good too. I had a dinner dance for a dog show, third year I've done it now and last year I had a rude lady waving her arms at me to turn it down during the meal. Now, I blame this on the room as it's an L-shape so it does need to be up more than usual so that people can here it around the other part, but still.. there was no need for her to be rude about it.

Anyhow, this year they've changed rooms at the hotel and I explained to the lady who books me that it might be an idea to put a couple of extra speakers in around the room (conference style..) to spread the sound without being too loud to talk over, this worked a treat and was really good for the raffle & presentations too. And of course I charged a bit more for it too :D

So, after all the formalities are out of the way I kick off and the venue staff are no where to be seen, so lights are still on full.. normally I would just turn them off myself but its a partitioned room so I've no idea what panel does what!

So i'm walking around trying to find someone to sort it out, and the same woman from last year starts waving at me. So I walk over to her and she opens with "Will you look around and gauge the age group in the room and turn this racket down!!" Now I must add we were about two tables back from the dance floor and she didn't have to raise her voice for me to hear her, nor did she have any problems hearing me when I replied.

I explained that I was trying to get people up dancing, which is why I'd turned it up, and she tells me she can hardly hear herself think, or something equally dramatic. I apologise and again explain that I can hardly have it at background level when I'm trying to encourage people to get up and dance, anyway at this point she just acts like I'm the most unreasonable person in the world and turns away making a huffing sound, now I have no desire to try and reason with people like that so I just left her.

A few minutes later she got up and moved to the back of the room, and sat at a table nearer the back, she did get up to dance a few times during the night anyway, but still, I can't stand rude people especially those who are old enough to know better.

Anyway apart from that, was a good night, plenty of dancing and no more complaints!

[DeckstarDeluxe]

its the proplem ive encountered with mine and hence why most of my promotional material is video as the lighting looks better. I just brought a nikon d60 which is £300 of camera and the lights still dont look that great if you take a photo looking at them but fine if your taking photos of the effects on the walls. (in all fairness its all led dots).

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Good stuff. We have all had to endure people like that I'm sure. They do my head in as they think it's all 'me, me, me' and they don't take other people into consideration and the fact that they may want to get up and enjoy themselves. I've had times like this when the people moaning are the ones that have been nearest to the speakers and more often than not, they are older people who probably hate Discos with music that is past 1960 and flashing lights.

I'm always polite but sometimes even being polite can get you nowhere. I remember on one occasion a few years back, some old guy in his 60's with attitude came up to me whilst people were dancing and shouted at me to turn it down so that people could talk to eachother. This was at around 10.30pm and I TRIED to explain to him that I had played background music for 2 hours and now it was party time. He didn't like that and obviously thought I was being cheeky. He kind of (not saying that he actually did), steamed towards me with a clenched fist because I didn't bow down to him and do as he said..."You gonna turn it down or what!!?" He shouted. I suggested to him in the nicest possible way that he may want to move away from the speakers and go and sit elsewhere as it wasn't the brightest move sitting right next to them. He looked like he was going to blow his top and in the end, walked off shaking his head.

I hate it when people THINK that WE are being unreasonable when it is simply NOT the case. In my opinion, unless it is ear shatteringly loud (which it isn't) then people should respect the other guests and either keep their mouths shut and their opinions to themselves or use their brains and move away from where it is loud to a place where it is a bit quieter.

[Babybob]

I did a 50's/60's night a few months ago in a local club and there were a few "old boys" in their 60's and 70's there sitting right in front of the speakers, I know them all so had a bit of banter with them and told them to move back up the room a bit if it got too loud, they stayed where they were and sung and tapped their feet all night because they could relate to the music. A few weeks later they sat at the back of the hall for a solo artist who does a disco spot as well and ended up leaving the room because it was too loud, the artiste was no louder than I was but the old boys could'nt relate to the music. There were far more younger people there who had a great time so she played to them.
It goes to show how some of the older generation are a bit selfish when it comes to playing to a mixed audience.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

yeah but you have to put up with people like that in any industry. More often than not its people requesting really stupid songs or things that dont match what your playing. If i had a pound for everytime someone came up to me and said can you play something decent/we can dance to etc... and ive said to them look behind you (dancefloor full of people) and they're still not happy.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I did a 50's/60's night a few months ago in a local club and there were a few "old boys" in their 60's and 70's there sitting right in front of the speakers, I know them all so had a bit of banter with them and told them to move back up the room a bit if it got too loud, they stayed where they were and sung and tapped their feet all night because they could relate to the music. A few weeks later they sat at the back of the hall for a solo artist who does a disco spot as well and ended up leaving the room because it was too loud, the artiste was no louder than I was but the old boys could'nt relate to the music. There were far more younger people there who had a great time so she played to them.
It goes to show how some of the older generation are a bit selfish when it comes to playing to a mixed audience.

works both ways. Young people have such an short attention span(I confuss im the same) but unless its one of the few tracks young people know they just dont care. For example the "do you love me" track from the t mobile advert now gets a far better reaction from the younger people because they've seen the advert and know some of the dance to it. You wack on some little richard and they will give you the same look as when you put estelle on and the older folks take exception to it.