Whats been your favourite gig of 2013

[soundmaster mobile disco]

on reflection of 2013 what would you say gas been your best gig?

All of my weddings have been great but the one that I enjoyed the most was way back in April, it was a Dutch couple who came over here to get married, and what a party it was. I did my research into the Dutch music scene, and had a full dance floor all night, it was one of these nights where I could do no wrong and have played on passed midnight and everyone would still be up for it.

Here is a video clip from that same event

http://youtu.be/doeVTjb4A7U

[Excalibur]

I did my research into the Dutch music scene,
Pah, amateur!! You mean you weren't already fully conversant with its subtle nuances? :confused: I bet you didn't even play Windmill in Old Amsterdam. :p

I've had some gems this year. A string of teen parties at a village hall in midsummer, one in particular where the birthday girl's Mum said " She's been to all her mate's parties, and kept a book on the DJs. Only one got five stars". :o:o:o

A 60th birthday in Harrogate, where I was on with a great live band, wore fancy dress, and played 70's all night.

My first boat trip disco, which went so well.

My two most favourite were an all day Humanist Wedding, in a marquee by a river in Ripon, in a field with Alpacas. Awful weather, lovely people, great day, and probably best of all, an 18th party for a girl who didn't really want a party. Grim load in, and the nicest bunch of 18 year olds I've ever met. Played anything and everything, had an absolute ball, and had half the kit carried out for me. :D

[par6]

I did a 30th birthday back in April and despite the lady only having been born in 1983 it was an 80's fancy dress and she was very insistent that I ONLY play songs from that decade and on no account play anything before or after !
The eighties was when I was in my prime and I was a resident DJ at our local Reflex bar for 3 years but even I was worried about filling a whole night with just eighties, no need it turned out to be probably the best night I've had in the last ten years. That decade has so many different genres of music and it was great to hear songs I haven't played for years. One of the highlights were people stood on tables singing and dancing to Boy meets girl, waiting for a star to fall ? Bizarre.
The only downer on the night was when I was driving home thinking of songs I could've/should've played, damn!!
Top Top night, if they were all like that I'd do them for free, ha!

[Sapphire Disco]

Two that I really enjoyed first one was a 50th birthday all the guests were dressed in 60s gear flower power or mini skirts etc and the birthday girl was most insistent 60s music only , not that easy to do for 5 hours but turned out a great night.

Second one an end of season / xmas party for a local bowls club mostly 60s to 80s music with a lot of tunes couples to could dance together , mostly older people many who danced all night nice atmosphere and I was booked at the end of the night for next year.

[Excalibur]

but even I was worried about filling a whole night with just eighties, no need it turned out to be probably the best night I've had in the last ten years.
I did one in September, and thought exactly the same. Afterwards, I couldn't believe how spoilt for choice I'd been. There really was a lot of variety in that decade.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

As I said on the Facebook group Gary, it's hard to pick one but the Yorkhill (sick kids hospital) fundraiser in April a girl had instead of an 18th was a cracking night - tonnes of money raised, everyone had a blast and as a teacher, I get to see the best and the worst of kids on a daily basis and this was definitely one of those times I thought - "maybe we're not doomed as a race after all" :)

Band gigs - Insider festival where I got to cut about like a bit of a hippy wastrel for a weekend with my djembe drum, full on authentic Saudi dress (the theme was around the world and the 30 odd piece band all went as different nationalities and being the only member who's ever had the misfortune to live in that particular :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored:hole, I got the short straw) and copious amounts of cider. It was so much fun and such a muso fest that providing I've no gigs on that weekend I'll be going back next year even if it's just as a punter.

A close second was Wickerman as apart from getting to take it in for free, it not only remind me of T in the Park when I went as a lad (before it turned into an overhyped, over priced, regurgitated ned fest) cool to see Chic absolutely storm it, cut around with an artist / VIP bar pass looking a bit smug and we got a great reception.

Roll on 2014

[Kernow]

Not exactly spoiled for choice as I've only done the one since last NYE..... but what a cracker !! :D.
My annual night out with the naturists, in November..... highlights being that during the raffle interval they started by presenting me with a card and a bottle of bubbly and a speech thanking me for five years of wonderful entertainment followed by a standing ovation. Also at the end a lady dragging her bemused husband up to the stage and telling me excitedly that he had danced more on that single night than in 40 years of marriage collectively. :beer1:
A great way to finish on a high, but the phones are now permanently on the peg.

[STEVE HANLEY]

I did a 30th birthday back in April and despite the lady only having been born in 1983 it was an 80's fancy dress and she was very insistent that I ONLY play songs from that decade and on no account play anything before or after !
The eighties was when I was in my prime and I was a resident DJ at our local Reflex bar for 3 years but even I was worried about filling a whole night with just eighties, no need it turned out to be probably the best night I've had in the last ten years. That decade has so many different genres of music and it was great to hear songs I haven't played for years. One of the highlights were people stood on tables singing and dancing to Boy meets girl, waiting for a star to fall ? Bizarre.
The only downer on the night was when I was driving home thinking of songs I could've/should've played, damn!!
Top Top night, if they were all like that I'd do them for free, ha!

Mine was also an eighties night. A gig I did for one of Mary's friends, so she got it at mates rates. That didn't matter as it was a truly memorable night. All of my best gigs always include a huge chunk of eighties music. This particular night was fancy dress a red hot evening in July and boy were her guests up for a good time. Once you get started on a decade you love it's amazing what tracks spring to mind. I didn't get a single request that night as they just left me to get on with it. The highlight of the night was when I played the 8.5 minute version of Male Stripper by Man 2 Man meets Man Parrish. I wish I'd videoed the dance floor. The sights were something to behold and something I'll happily take to my grave with me:):). I've often fired up VDJ on my lappy and played that entire set from the archives and still get a buzz when I listen to it.

I've noticed apart from Gary no-one else on here so far has said their favourite gig was a wedding.;);)

Edit: Sorry scratch that. Peter did a humanist wedding. Whatever one of them is:D:D

[Excalibur]

Edit: Sorry scratch that. Peter did a humanist wedding. Whatever one of them is:D:D

I'll freely admit I had to Google it first. The quotes seem to agree with my understanding of it (https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/)

Even though I normally regard Weddings as being among my least favourite gigs, I must say that a couple of them are probably in my all time favourite gigs.
One in a marquee where every half hour someone came up to make sure I was fed and watered ( Well fed. I had the same sit down as the guests, lovely ) the crowd were just lovely, and I got the nicest thank you letter afterwards.

More surprising, the city centre hotel one I covered for Twinspin, where the entire crowd were an absolute pleasure to deal with, danced to everything, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

If I can be greedy I'd like to pick my 3 favourite gigs from the year.

One was a wedding I did at a very posh venue back in the summer. It gave me a chance to use the subs for once and the playlist / request list was mainly Indie/Alternative/Electronic/Mash Ups. Every guest was into it and it was a belter of a night. 1.00am finish with the dance floor still busy. It was also a really hot day yet people stayed inside to dance.

The other one was also a wedding at one of my regular venues outside town. The guests were some of the nicest people I've ever met and the whole vibe was really cool.
Again, the music was like the above wedding but they also wanted a scattering of cheesiness too in the last hour. Everyone was up for it and I received lots of praise and a couple of bookings for 2014 from it too.

The final one was an 80s Night that I did in a marquee in the grounds of someone's house for a birthday party just before the summer. The vibe was great. I was looked after really well. I didn't get one request all night and just did my thing and had a packed dance floor for most of the night. Got another booking from that one aswell.

[Jonathan Ford]

Not a gig on it's own, but a series of gigs. I've just done the Xmas residency at The NEC, with a nightly crowd of 1,500. It's my first time doing anything like that, and the thrill of having 1,000 people sing "Don't Look Back in Anger" to me will stay with me for a while. I suspect it may have ruined me for "normal" gigs!

[DiscoMagic]

Saw you post Jonathan, and I remember seeing an advert looking for a DJ for this gig - so pleased you got it and had a great time.


Not a gig on it's own, but a series of gigs. I've just done the Xmas residency at The NEC, with a nightly crowd of 1,500. It's my first time doing anything like that, and the thrill of having 1,000 people sing "Don't Look Back in Anger" to me will stay with me for a while. I suspect it may have ruined me for "normal" gigs!


I have to agree that amongst the best gigs for me was playing at Tobacco Docks in London (last minute venue switch from Battersea Power Station), and the set up was fantastic. with me in the middle of the dance floor on a bandstand with best part of 1200 people around me dancing, having a good time, and all with a great atmosphere.

The other best gig for me was New Year's Eve. It was a lovely evening at a upmarket Golf Club who held a black tie ball, and its the 8th time I've been there, but it was just a great buzz playing mostly 60's and 70's and everyone enjoying themselves. They are also kind enough to let me bring my wife.

[JTRS]

Two gigs really stand out for me from 2013

The first was booked as a birthday party, but that turned into an engagement announcement (very much spur of the moment), but she said yes so I sorted out a bottle of champagne for them and they have now booked me to do the wedding. The night was a real pleasure to do, crowd were really up for it, I couldn't play a bad record (not that I tried), and the time just flew by. The surprise 'popping the question' was done very tastefully (as oppposed to some of the tacky ones I've seen) and it was the look on her face that I remember, The wedding is booked for this June and I'm really looking forward to DJing that.

The second one was an 18th, one of the guests was physically handicapped and struggled up to make a request in person, really really politely he asked for some heavy metal (just when we had nicely got them up and dancing to 90's), so when the chance came up I sneaked it to Indie (thank you Killers for Mr Brightside), then into a bit of Classic Rock so the slide into heavy metal wouldn't be so drastic. I dedicated it to him (naming him, not in case it bombed but because I thought he'd appreciate the mention) and the place erupted, just about everyone piled on to the dance floor to dance with him (even people who wouldn't normally get up for that genre were doing their best (OK not exactly headbanging but they were on the floor), so I played about 2 or 3 more and then he went to sit down so I switched it to chart and his mum came up to say thanks, apparently he always asks for heavy metal at every party he goes to but according to his mum hardly any of the other DJ's would play any and certainly none of them ever gave him a mention, that according to his mum had made his night. At the end of the night both he and his mum came up to say thanks again and good night and then the person whose 18th it was came up so say thanks for doing the heavy metal spot, turns out they were related. I didn't know that beforehand and to be honest It wouldn't have influenced me, it just felt right to do it so I did.

That's the two that stand out for me, quite diffrent reasons but the same result, happy customers.

JTRS

[Shaun]

The second one was an 18th, one of the guests was physically handicapped and struggled up to make a request in person, really really politely he asked for some heavy metal (just when we had nicely got them up and dancing to 90's), so when the chance came up I sneaked it to Indie (thank you Killers for Mr Brightside), then into a bit of Classic Rock so the slide into heavy metal wouldn't be so drastic. I dedicated it to him (naming him, not in case it bombed but because I thought he'd appreciate the mention) and the place erupted, just about everyone piled on to the dance floor to dance with him (even people who wouldn't normally get up for that genre were doing their best (OK not exactly headbanging but they were on the floor), so I played about 2 or 3 more and then he went to sit down so I switched it to chart and his mum came up to say thanks, apparently he always asks for heavy metal at every party he goes to but according to his mum hardly any of the other DJ's would play any and certainly none of them ever gave him a mention, that according to his mum had made his night. At the end of the night both he and his mum came up to say thanks again and good night and then the person whose 18th it was came up so say thanks for doing the heavy metal spot, turns out they were related. I didn't know that beforehand and to be honest It wouldn't have influenced me, it just felt right to do it so I did.


JTRS

:like:

[yourdj]

Mine was one I did on the 29th. I had not done a wedding for about a month and really got on well with the couple (all day).
I have never been so chilled out and it was really noticeable with the way the guests treated me. Great day - nice and straight forward too (same room etc.) Had a super nervous bestman - so I made a big fuss of him and got everyone to scream when he came on as it looked like he was going to throw up LOL.

This sums up the day!

16348

Complete polar opposite of the wedding the night before as the client did not want to meet me or supply me with any information.

[simonp]

With hindsight I think the best (certainly most memorable) gig I did last year was the one with the Russian Bride/English Husband and a multi-nation guest list. The Bride & Groom were mid/late twenties and every inch the picture postcard B&G. When I met them for the pre-wedding meeting they wanted me to do mini-sets to please the different nationalities including some Polish and Slovakian music, Indian, Brazilian stuff as well as some traditional and modern Russian music!! They supplied first and last dance for me as well as some of the Eastern European music they wanted playing, and I asked a couple of the Indian DJs including Toni Patti for advice in that area, so come the day I was pretty much well set on the music front. I was also told they were having a Marryoke video made (to follow the first dance).

The venue was the lovely Spa Hotel in Royal Tunbridge Wells, I went in the morning to set up, no dramas.

Evening guests were due at 8pm so I got back to the Hotel for 7.30pm to switch things on and get the backing music up and running. When I got to the hotel there was an extremely stressed Events manager running around and the wedding party were all still seated etc. I said hello and mentioned that it looked as though it was running slightly over. She said "slightly over, you could say that, we're just about to serve the starters!!!!" - It was supposed to be a 4.30pm sit-down for the wedding breakfast. Why so late I asked? Story was, that on the way back from the church (in Maidstone) the Russians decided they 'needed' some vodka so the entire Bridal party stopped off at a random village pub to do vodka shots. They didn't leave village pub until they had drunk it dry of vodka. The English in the party decided that they could keep up with the Russians, Hmmm mistake! Upshot was 95% (I'd say) of the Wedding Party were completely hammered already, and I mean completely shredded. So it was a lot of hanging around whilst they attempted to get through the meal whilst still doing vodka shots and toasts throughout. The evening guests had obviously started to arrive and were gathered behind a partition separating the tables and bar area.

The speeches were a rambled affair from the top table which were practically incoherent, there was definitely a bit in the Grooms speech were he mentioned he'd only proposed as the brides capacity for alcohol outdid his own! It was gone 10pm before the staff could get in to try and turn the room and It was case of trying to get them to cut the cake and do the first dance and marryoke asap so we could kick the night off. When I say cake, it was like nothing I've seen before because it was shaped as a single giant mushroom (and i mean massive) with the B&G perched on top, laying next to the mushroom was the knife - not your normal knife for cutting a cake, it was a 12" Bowie knife that had been sharpened to within an inch of its life!

I got them to cut the cake and was about to go straight into the first dance when the Bride declared "I wear stupid dress no more", she then got hold of the Bowie knife and hacked her dress at gusset level to make a mini dress! They then stumbled through the first dance followed by the Marryoke dance. A 17ft hairy arsed Russian appeared by the console and said "you play good Russian music for dancing, yes", i sort of meekly nodded my head. He then said "in little while I play guitar and we sing drinking song, yes" - whatever you want Ivan!

The night itself to be honest was brilliant, as in the dance floor stayed rammed with the mish mash of drunken nationalities all dancing to the different styles of music with gusto and even Ivans (dunno his real name) guitar drinking songs had everyone cossack dancing! With about 15 mins to go I managed to collar the B&G and get through to them that we'd be doing the finale song very soon. The Bride didn't make it, she collapsed shortly before and was carried up to her room by the Groom, who came back down and did the Finale song without her.

As I was taking gear and packing stuff up in the car I had to fight my way through the smoking area which was packed with 20 or so of them smoking waccy baccy. They disappeared after half hour or so, and then 15 mins later the groom wonders down and slurs "Top night dude, can you give me a lift into Tunbridge as everyones gone on to a club and I'm going to join them, can't wake Viktoriya up". Explained I had no room, he's like "no worries" and disappears. On my way driving home I actually pass home as he's staggering down the hill into Tunbridge!

I had to do it all again (of sorts) 6 weeks later as I DJ'd for the (Slovakian) Maid of honour at this wedding for her own wedding - This one was a little tamer and she managed to get to the end of the night, and with her dress intact!




Mod note: Simon, inserting symbols or similar to avoid the forum censor is against the rules. And in this case, pointless, as you can use Father Jack's oft used word "Arse. " Excalibur, pottymouthed mod.

[2Groove]

Great story, Simon! I bet they booked the Spa Hotel in Tonnbridge as it has its own Vodka Bar!

[simonp]

Great story, Simon! I bet they booked the Spa Hotel in Tonnbridge as it has its own Vodka Bar!

LOL - I think the operative word is now 'Had' it's own vodka bar ;)