30th Birthday Review from last night.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Hi all,

Well, it's time for a review of my gig last night so sit back and...er...get bored!

Loaded the van in the morning as I couldn't get into the venue until 5.00pm. Quite a large venue with a stage and they allowed smoke too so that was cool. The booking was for a 30th Birthday and she wanted Uplighting set to either Pink or Purple as the theme was 'P'. (I set it to Lilac so inbetween the two!).

Load in was a bit of a pain in the backside as 3 sets of double doors to get through but got there and was a sweaty mess by the end of it. Decided to do the Uplighting first and was instantly peeved off as there were no plug sockets along the walls at all. The birthday girl's husband was there bringing in the booze so I pulled him to the side and explained about the Uplighting. He didn't seem to happy at first when I said it would be a bit of a mission to do it and make it look presentable in the time frame that I had to set up everything. He said that 'she' would be absolutely gutted if she didn't get it as she was really looking forward to it. In the end he said that he didn't care about wires or cables or anything just as long as she got what she wanted.

It WAS a mission but I got there in the end and hid cables and extension leads under covered drinks, buffet, cake and presents tables. It looked really good actually.

On to setting up the gear and as it was a larger venue with a really high ceiling, I decided to take the bigger gear with me. The stage was quite big too.

Sound:
2 x Peavey Pro Subs (Yes...Peavey)
2 x JBL JRX 125's
1 x Peavey CS3000 Amp (Peavey again...oops)
1 x Crown XLS800
1 x Denon HD2500
2 x Pioneer CDJ500 MkII

Lighting:
2 x Mystic LED's
1 x MarvelLED
2 x Acme Dynamos
1 x Purelight Green Laser
1 x Purelight Red Laser
1 x Laser UK Moonbeams Laser

I also decided to take the laptop and projector with me and projected the moving stars on to the ceiling which looked really good (I mentioned this in another thread a while back). I edited a 'Happy 30th Birthday' over the top of it and set it to loop.

There were around 80 guests and I had a list of requests from the birthday girl which were predominantly 80's tunes mixed in with some up to date stuff and some 'Must Have's'.

For the first half hour I played more of the slower and chilled requests as the meet and greets went on and then kicked in for the full on party with Pink 'Get the party started' around 8.30pm. From then on and up until the 11.30pm finish, everyone danced all night. It was a brilliant atmosphere and I really enjoyed myself. The venue looked awesome. No'one could see me on stage and I was actually having a bit of a boogie up there myself and singing along to the likes of The Killers and Kings of Leon knowing that no'one could hear me or see me!

Almost every track I played went down well and it was a great feeling despite me feeling absolutely knackered. Everyone was in fancy dress as something to do with 'P'. There was a Mr Potato Head, a few Policewomen (one was very nice), Popes, Pirates, Popstars and Pimps too. The best however was a group of 30 somethings dressed as the Pink Ladies from Grease. There were about 10 of them and all of them looked very nice. I played 'Summer Nights', 'You're the one that I want' and 'We go togeather' and they went mad for them. Last songs of the night were 'Never Forget'. 'The One and Only' and '500 Miles'. As the last notes finished, the lights went on and everyone started applauding. I said thankyou to everyone for being up for it and it was a pleasure. The birthday girl got on the mic, thanked everyone and then did the embarassing bit by asking everyone to cheer me for a good night so I knelt down behind the decks and hid which made everyone laugh out loud. I thanked them again, wished them a safe journey home and started turning everything off.

I gave out 3 cards on the night to people who asked me for them. The venue has a kicking out time of Midnight so it was a total rush to get everything packed away and out the door as quick as possible. I managed to get it all out and in the van by 12.15am. The caretaker was actually fine with that and didn't have a problem. Me however....well, I thought I was going to have a heart attack!! It was funny as when I was taking the last couple of bits out, I looked back at the venue and it had gone from an amazing looking venue, full of colour back to an empty boring looking shell.

Got back home about 12.30am, cracked open a beer and was in bed around 02.00am. Woke up this morning aching like I've done a massive workout. Just got an email from the birthday girl though which has made it all worthwhile which said "Fantastic Party Gary, I couldn't have wished for better. You were brilliant".

Lovely Jubbly!
Cheers :beer1:

[Excalibur]

Well done as usual Gary. Do you not ever consider the services of a Roadie? I'd offer, but it's a bit far for one evening. :( :D :D :D

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Cheers mate.
Roadies? Nah, never had one to be honest. I don't do much excercise so I guess it's a good workout for me. As I said, the caretaker on this occasion was a decent bloke so didn't rush me at all.

[Excalibur]

Cheers mate.
Roadies? Nah, never had one to be honest. I don't do much excercise so I guess it's a good workout for me. As I said, the caretaker on this occasion was a decent bloke so didn't rush me at all.

The only time I get one is when John or Justin fancy a ride out. :( :(

Caretakers? They can't say much when you're pushing a trolley the size of a supermini at about fifteen miles an hour!! :D :D

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Very true!
As I was walking out with the big 'Road Ready' flightcase housing the Denon, Mixer and 2 x HD's (awkward thing it is), the caretaker said "Oooh, that looks heavy mate"...I laughed (out of breath by the way) and said "That's because it IS!".

[CRAZY K]

Hi all,

Well, it's time for a review of my gig last night so sit back and...er...get bored!

Loaded the van in the morning as I couldn't get into the venue until 5.00pm. Quite a large venue with a stage and they allowed smoke too so that was cool. The booking was for a 30th Birthday and she wanted Uplighting set to either Pink or Purple as the theme was 'P'. (I set it to Lilac so inbetween the two!).

Load in was a bit of a pain in the backside as 3 sets of double doors to get through but got there and was a sweaty mess by the end of it. Decided to do the Uplighting first and was instantly peeved off as there were no plug sockets along the walls at all. The birthday girl's husband was there bringing in the booze so I pulled him to the side and explained about the Uplighting. He didn't seem to happy at first when I said it would be a bit of a mission to do it and make it look presentable in the time frame that I had to set up everything. He said that 'she' would be absolutely gutted if she didn't get it as she was really looking forward to it. In the end he said that he didn't care about wires or cables or anything just as long as she got what she wanted.

It WAS a mission but I got there in the end and hid cables and extension leads under covered drinks, buffet, cake and presents tables. It looked really good actually.

On to setting up the gear and as it was a larger venue with a really high ceiling, I decided to take the bigger gear with me. The stage was quite big too.

Sound:
2 x Peavey Pro Subs (Yes...Peavey)
2 x JBL JRX 125's
1 x Peavey CS3000 Amp (Peavey again...oops)
1 x Crown XLS800
1 x Denon HD2500
2 x Pioneer CDJ500 MkII

Lighting:
2 x Mystic LED's
1 x MarvelLED
2 x Acme Dynamos
1 x Purelight Green Laser
1 x Purelight Red Laser
1 x Laser UK Moonbeams Laser

I also decided to take the laptop and projector with me and projected the moving stars on to the ceiling which looked really good (I mentioned this in another thread a while back). I edited a 'Happy 30th Birthday' over the top of it and set it to loop.

There were around 80 guests and I had a list of requests from the birthday girl which were predominantly 80's tunes mixed in with some up to date stuff and some 'Must Have's'.

For the first half hour I played more of the slower and chilled requests as the meet and greets went on and then kicked in for the full on party with Pink 'Get the party started' around 8.30pm. From then on and up until the 11.30pm finish, everyone danced all night. It was a brilliant atmosphere and I really enjoyed myself. The venue looked awesome. No'one could see me on stage and I was actually having a bit of a boogie up there myself and singing along to the likes of The Killers and Kings of Leon knowing that no'one could hear me or see me!

Almost every track I played went down well and it was a great feeling despite me feeling absolutely knackered. Everyone was in fancy dress as something to do with 'P'. There was a Mr Potato Head, a few Policewomen (one was very nice), Popes, Pirates, Popstars and Pimps too. The best however was a group of 30 somethings dressed as the Pink Ladies from Grease. There were about 10 of them and all of them looked very nice. I played 'Summer Nights', 'You're the one that I want' and 'We go togeather' and they went mad for them. Last songs of the night were 'Never Forget'. 'The One and Only' and '500 Miles'. As the last notes finished, the lights went on and everyone started applauding. I said thankyou to everyone for being up for it and it was a pleasure. The birthday girl got on the mic, thanked everyone and then did the embarassing bit by asking everyone to cheer me for a good night so I knelt down behind the decks and hid which made everyone laugh out loud. I thanked them again, wished them a safe journey home and started turning everything off.

I gave out 3 cards on the night to people who asked me for them. The venue has a kicking out time of Midnight so it was a total rush to get everything packed away and out the door as quick as possible. I managed to get it all out and in the van by 12.15am. The caretaker was actually fine with that and didn't have a problem. Me however....well, I thought I was going to have a heart attack!! It was funny as when I was taking the last couple of bits out, I looked back at the venue and it had gone from an amazing looking venue, full of colour back to an empty boring looking shell.

Got back home about 12.30am, cracked open a beer and was in bed around 02.00am. Woke up this morning aching like I've done a massive workout. Just got an email from the birthday girl though which has made it all worthwhile which said "Fantastic Party Gary, I couldn't have wished for better. You were brilliant".

Lovely Jubbly!
Cheers :beer1:

Well done again Gary you have gone up in my opinion because...................


































your using Peavey;)

CRAZY K

[rob1963]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the report.

A couple of things stuck out to me.

Firstly, if the finishing time was 11.30pm & you had everything (including all the uplighting) packed down & taken out by 12.15 in a venue with awkward access, you must have really bombed it...so well done!

Secondly, wouldn't it have been better to visit the venue beforehand just to check out the wall socket situation for the uplighting? I certainly would have done. I'm not having a dig, it's just an observation.

Sounds like it went well, so well done!

:thumbsup:

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Hi Rob,

I would normally totally agree with you with reference to visiting the venue for the Uplighting.....BUT...on this occasion I can tell you that I have played in the venue about 10 times over the years and this is the first time I had ever done Uplighting there. Because everything is usually on the stage, I take the power from there. Actually I still had to take the power from there for the Uplighting apart from 2 units that were up the other end of the venue as there was a socket hidden behind a radiator.

With reference to packing up, I saved a bit of time as in the last half hour I turned off the laptop and projector and packed them away during some songs and also took down the lasers which were on a seperate T-Bar which was directly behind me. I wouldn't normally take equipment down during a function but when I did the sound and light check I stood out front to see how the lasers would look. I positioned them so that they filled the gaps between the lights almost as if they were on the crossbar. I turned them off firstly and nipped out the front to see if there was a big difference or else I would've kept them on but there was still plenty of colour and movement so I turned them off and packed them away.

[rob1963]

Hi Rob,

I would normally totally agree with you with reference to visiting the venue for the Uplighting.....BUT...on this occasion I can tell you that I have played in the venue about 10 times over the years and this is the first time I had ever done Uplighting there. Because everything is usually on the stage, I take the power from there. Actually I still had to take the power from there for the Uplighting apart from 2 units that were up the other end of the venue as there was a socket hidden behind a radiator.

With reference to packing up, I saved a bit of time as in the last half hour I turned off the laptop and projector and packed them away during some songs and also took down the lasers which were on a seperate T-Bar which was directly behind me. I wouldn't normally take equipment down during a function but when I did the sound and light check I stood out front to see how the lasers would look. I positioned them so that they filled the gaps between the lights almost as if they were on the crossbar. I turned them off firstly and nipped out the front to see if there was a big difference or else I would've kept them on but there was still plenty of colour and movement so I turned them off and packed them away.

That's fair enough then.

Thanks for the response.

:)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Well done again Gary you have gone up in my opinion because...................your using Peavey;)
CRAZY K

I know from past comments on this forum that certain people don't like Peavey. All I can say is firstly, the Peavey Pro Subs aren't brilliant but they fill out the sound a bit more when I use them with my JBL's as the JBL's can sound a bit brutal high end wise.

The CS3000 is a monster of an amp, bloody heavy but a workhorse (in my opinion). I actually got it off a mate for nothing a few years back and it has never let me down. I only have the volume on it up to 12 o'clock.

...for the record...I know someone that swears by Peavey (not swears AT Peavey) and his sound set up is actually quite nice. Not my first choice if I am being honest and that's nothing against them, I just like JBL personally.

[Corabar Steve]

Very true!
As I was walking out with the big 'Road Ready' flightcase housing the Denon, Mixer and 2 x HD's (awkward thing it is), the caretaker said "Oooh, that looks heavy mate"...I laughed (out of breath by the way) and said "That's because it IS!".
Lightweight! :sj:

Slant or workstation ?