Shakermaker Promotions
25-03-2007, 02:51 PM
Hi all,
Last night I did a 40th birthday disco for a guy which had been organised in secret by his missus. I have to say that so far, it was the best thing I have done this year. It was organised perfectly. I set up in the morning on the big stage in the hall and everything looked really nice (sorry, didn't get any pictures).
When I turned up at the venue at 7.30pm for an 8.00pm start, the 150 guests were all there chatting. The venue had been transformed with decorations and a huge buffet and there was a laptop and projector set up with the usual cheesy pictures of the guy from various stages of his youth projected on to the back wall.
I had been booked following a 40th I did in December which his wife attended and we had been communicating by mobile in secret as she didn't want him to know anything about it. Anyway, the 40th I had done in December which was for one of her friends was more girly and there were a number of kids there too. That was one was billed as an 80s night and it was excellent but I was told in advance that there weren't going to be any children there, just lots of his old school mates etc and she gave me a list of the kind of bands that he liked and for me to work other stuff into it. The list comprised of The Smiths (his favourite band), The Cure, The Police, Erasure, Blondie etc etc... I was also told that the first song to be played as soon as he walked in and all the poppers went off should be 'I Predict a riot'.
Anyway, he walked through the door, the lights went on, the poppers went off and the Kaiser Chiefs blared out of the speakers. He was straight on the dancefloor from the word go and I knew straight away that the next 4 hours would be special.
Best tunes of the night easily were 'This Charming Man' by The Smiths and 'In Between Days' by The Cure. You don't get many parties if you are honest where every single guest gets up and dances at the same time but these tracks got everyone up...even the OAPS that were there!!! In fact, a funny moment was when this grumpy looking old lady (bless her) trotted up to me and handed me a request slip. I expected it to have something older on it but was amazed to see 'James - Sit Down' scribbled on it. She looked at me and said "Have you got that one, it's my favourite?!"...I said that I would put it on next and when I did, she was up and prancing about like a woman in her 30's not her late 60's!! I found out that she was the birthday boys mum when I was packing up afterwards and that she was absolutely wrecked on sherry! Ha Ha..
So, the whole night was a mix of the bands above with some Fratellis, Arctic Monkeys, The View, Happy Mondays, Blur, Madness, Specials, Human League, Erasure, Soft Cell and a whole lot more. Not one Abba track involved and I didn't want it to finish to be honest as they were so up for it. They had the cutting of the cake in the last hour and then they were really going mad on the dancefloor. As the night came to an end and I got to the last couple of songs, I played 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol to slow it down slightly and then the original '500 Miles' by The Proclaimers which saw everyone in the hall up out of the seats and in a huge snake stomping around the hall. When it finished and the lights went up, everyone turned my way and clapped and cheered and it was almost embarassing. Then the guys missus (who was now a bit worse for wear) borrowed my radio mic, thanked everyone for coming and then bigged me up so they all started cheering again. She hugged me, kissed me and started getting tearful saying how much of a good night she had. I got another 2 enquiries on the night afterwards where the guests asked if I was available and I got another definite booking for December when they all want to get back togeather and have a knees up.
Well chuffed today....but knackered too!
Cheers
G
Last night I did a 40th birthday disco for a guy which had been organised in secret by his missus. I have to say that so far, it was the best thing I have done this year. It was organised perfectly. I set up in the morning on the big stage in the hall and everything looked really nice (sorry, didn't get any pictures).
When I turned up at the venue at 7.30pm for an 8.00pm start, the 150 guests were all there chatting. The venue had been transformed with decorations and a huge buffet and there was a laptop and projector set up with the usual cheesy pictures of the guy from various stages of his youth projected on to the back wall.
I had been booked following a 40th I did in December which his wife attended and we had been communicating by mobile in secret as she didn't want him to know anything about it. Anyway, the 40th I had done in December which was for one of her friends was more girly and there were a number of kids there too. That was one was billed as an 80s night and it was excellent but I was told in advance that there weren't going to be any children there, just lots of his old school mates etc and she gave me a list of the kind of bands that he liked and for me to work other stuff into it. The list comprised of The Smiths (his favourite band), The Cure, The Police, Erasure, Blondie etc etc... I was also told that the first song to be played as soon as he walked in and all the poppers went off should be 'I Predict a riot'.
Anyway, he walked through the door, the lights went on, the poppers went off and the Kaiser Chiefs blared out of the speakers. He was straight on the dancefloor from the word go and I knew straight away that the next 4 hours would be special.
Best tunes of the night easily were 'This Charming Man' by The Smiths and 'In Between Days' by The Cure. You don't get many parties if you are honest where every single guest gets up and dances at the same time but these tracks got everyone up...even the OAPS that were there!!! In fact, a funny moment was when this grumpy looking old lady (bless her) trotted up to me and handed me a request slip. I expected it to have something older on it but was amazed to see 'James - Sit Down' scribbled on it. She looked at me and said "Have you got that one, it's my favourite?!"...I said that I would put it on next and when I did, she was up and prancing about like a woman in her 30's not her late 60's!! I found out that she was the birthday boys mum when I was packing up afterwards and that she was absolutely wrecked on sherry! Ha Ha..
So, the whole night was a mix of the bands above with some Fratellis, Arctic Monkeys, The View, Happy Mondays, Blur, Madness, Specials, Human League, Erasure, Soft Cell and a whole lot more. Not one Abba track involved and I didn't want it to finish to be honest as they were so up for it. They had the cutting of the cake in the last hour and then they were really going mad on the dancefloor. As the night came to an end and I got to the last couple of songs, I played 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol to slow it down slightly and then the original '500 Miles' by The Proclaimers which saw everyone in the hall up out of the seats and in a huge snake stomping around the hall. When it finished and the lights went up, everyone turned my way and clapped and cheered and it was almost embarassing. Then the guys missus (who was now a bit worse for wear) borrowed my radio mic, thanked everyone for coming and then bigged me up so they all started cheering again. She hugged me, kissed me and started getting tearful saying how much of a good night she had. I got another 2 enquiries on the night afterwards where the guests asked if I was available and I got another definite booking for December when they all want to get back togeather and have a knees up.
Well chuffed today....but knackered too!
Cheers
G