70th Birthday Party

[AnthonyG]

Hey folks, I'm doing a 70th for my friends dad, (he's 70!) Whilst i'm happy with my music collection, to suit my ears and years (1977), i would have no clue on how to entertain a 70 year old! However the bash is early to keep all our kids entertained, but i really want to get playing som thing from his wonder years... nice little touch...

My dad (who's 59) has a great love of Al jolson And Roger whittakker.. Ouch... Not in my playlist...

Any good ideas for me to start from - a thread of throught ... at least!

Cheers, Ant

[nisfo]

Tough one depending on the crowd. At 70 I think he wouldn't be interested in what you play as long as he see's everyone enjoying themselves:)

Don't go too far down the "We'll meet again" line, stick with some 50's, but fill with 60' and 70's.

If you find you have more of the younger generation squeeze a few modern ones in without so much Tinchy, N-dubz or Lady ga ga.

[Excalibur]

The first person who says "ask Excalibur" will get a very severe slap. ;)

If you take 18 from 70 you get 52. Take 52 from 2010, and you get 1958. This means the music of their teens was mid 50's to early 60's.

Elvis
Platters
Coasters
Inkspots
Lonie Donegan
Kenny Ball
Jim Reeves
Paul Anka
Perry Como
Everly Brothers
Chuck Berry
Emile Ford

[AnthonyG]

Thanks gents - Theres even a forumla!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Last year I did a 90th birthday party (I wrote a review on it here).

The thing is, it will more than likely be a family event so all ages will be there. Don't take it for granted what he will like. He would've been born in 1940 and so around during his 20's and 30's he would've gone through the 60's and 70's. Might be an idea to contact him and ask him what some of his favourites are. Find out what the song was at Number 1 on the day he was born and his 21st, 40th, 50th and 60th etc...

As I said, I did a 90th birthday and it was very enjoyable. One of the best things was the projection that I did which had some old converted cine film and photos. It worked a treat.

[Penfold42]

So everyones going to be 70 then? :confused:

Treat it as a normal gig and ask him what he likes then put a set together at some point in the evening.

[Excalibur]

So everyones going to be 70 then? :confused:

Treat it as a normal gig and ask him what he likes then put a set together at point in the evening.

No, and because his twenty three grandchildren will be there with their sweethearts, you'll play nothing but Clubland till the birthday boy's little set? :p

Some of us had sort of assumed that the gig would require a very wide mix of music, with a large dollop of the sort of things I indicated perhaps early on, before all us Oldies go home for a Horlicks. :p :p :p

[AnthonyG]

Shaker - I'm assuming that the Cine and pictures were of the birthday person?? not just random cine film... cuz i've got a really old Charlie chaplin cine floating around my loft

Yeah mixed bunch of ages, not a SAGA outing. I just needed advice to tailor music for the older end of the crowd... i've got everything music ranging from 1975 to today sorted... Anything prior to '75, i'm a little blank - other than the beatles!

[visualdjmax]

I did a 70th Once. I think that I posted it on here! The daughters just kept on asking for the Prodigy and Smack my Bitch up all night! When I eventually played it the place and the 70 year old dad went mental. Honest. I wouldn't recommend it though. LOL

[Disco Tech Liverpool]

The usual suspect, Abba, Tina Turner. A bit of Roy Orbison, soul & motown and country music. Make sure you get a big of Hank Williams in early on, "You're Cheatin Heart" and "Hey ! Good Looking" both go down really well with the older audiences. A bit of line dancing music helps too. They like that sort of stuff !

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Why would you assume that someone who is 70 would like country music? That doesn't make sense at all to me.

[ppentertainments]

Does nobody ask the client ??? :bang: :bang:

[StarZSoundS]

Does nobody ask the client ??? :bang: :bang:


Spot on.

Maybe Grandad would like to hear his Kids or Grandkids sing on the Karaoke.Perhaps he'd like to see his Grandkids in a Limbo Competition.Not all 70 year olds like Sinatra and Bing!!

A (FREE....see wedding thread)client meeting is definately the order of the day here!!

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Spot on.

Maybe Grandad would like to hear his Kids or Grandkids sing on the Karaoke.Perhaps he'd like to see his Grandkids in a Limbo Competition.Not all 70 year olds like Sinatra and Bing!!

A (FREE....see wedding thread)client meeting is definately the order of the day here!!

Or you could ask on the phone...

[BeerFunk]

Does nobody ask the client ??? :bang: :bang:
Or you could ask on the phone...Yes, common sense should surely prevail here!

In my experience, men are less predictable than women, in terms of their age relative to their musical taste.

My own father is 53 (admittedly still a good bit off 70), so you would think that the chances are he'd be into either disco, glam rock or punk. Not so, although he doesn't mind punk, he was into Tangerine Dream, Rory Gallagher, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

In actual fact, one of his most played albums is one he pinched from me : Prodigy - Fat Of The Land :o

[Johnny P]

A bit of Cliff Richard, the Hokey Cokey and Conga might go done well - they used to party in a different way in the 'old days'! He might like a bit of a 'knees up' for the want of a better description like what they used to do!!