Thank god I'm home!

[Unnamed Disco]

Hi All,

Just had my worst gig ever. It was a 21st birthday at a local function hall, 8 - 11:30, requested 'a mix' of modern, RnB, Dance, Cheese etc...Lovely job, I thought.

6:30 - Turn up and start setting up, all good so far.

8:00 - Official start time but nobody under 25 EVER seems to arrive on time so I'm playing to a crowd of about 6

9:00 - Not many in and those that have arrived are either propping up the bar or outside smoking. Try a little banter and a token 'dance' tune...no avail

10:00 - Loads arrived now, still nobody dancing (although requests for new RnB tracks coming in). All requests (bar one) played but requestees nowhere to be seen

11:00 - Almost everyone retired to bar downstairs or outside smoking.

11:15 - People finally start dancing....too late I'm afraid guys

11:30 - Finish, most people I've seen all night but this means I get the full set of 'one more', 'you didn't play my song'...etc comments.

11:35 - Start to de-rig, fight breaks out in venue. No security so just protect the gear and start moving out. Go outside to find more of the same with windows broken on the venue and basically a full-scale riot errupting.

12:00 - I've had to move my car (just bought a new x-trail an it's not too be ruined by thugs) so I have a LONG walk and two flights of stairs with all my gear (no help obviously).

Get home about 1am in the end. No thanks, just grief, no dancers and just a really bad atmosphere. Was it something I did or are all 21st's like this? (lack of girls may have been the issue as the ratio was about 4:1). Also, is this smoking ban going to be the death of the us or what?

Thanks for reading my ramblings but I had to get my annoyance off my chest.

[Stormin' Si]

Not your fault at all. I've done 21st's where fights have kicked off. Luckily the police have turned up, but we did wait before moving kit outside to the van. It's usually the alcohol.

[Vectis]

I avoid 18ths & 21st like the plague for this very reason... they've not yet learned how to behave with alcohol. :o

[rob1963]

Hi Unnamed,

Sorry to hear about your nightmare gig.

I think fights are more likely to happen at 18ths or 21sts that any other occasion, which is one of the reasons I don't touch them with a barge pole these days.

I've only had 2 or 3 fights in 23 years...although one of those was at a wedding!!!

Hopefully you won't get another one for a very long time.

:)

[discomobiledj]

I had a similar one, just without the fighting, a total of 16 people turned up for this girls 21st birthday party which cost her parents a grand total of £600 for disco, food and venue hire!

[rob1963]

I had a similar one, just without the fighting, a total of 16 people turned up for this girls 21st birthday party which cost her parents a grand total of £600 for disco, food and venue hire!

Wow...so they spent £550 on food & venue hire?

:p

[discomobiledj]

Wow...so they spent £550 on food & venue hire?

:p

no, £575! :D

[rob1963]

no, £575! :D

:Laugh: :Laugh: :Laugh:

[Corabar Steve]

You're cheap, considering you're the one and only mobile disco in Essex.

I would have though with the demand you'd be able to command a much higher fee. :sj:

[PropellerHeadCase]

Turns out he isn't the one and only, Chesney :)

My 21st tonight went just fine - relatively little dancing until the last 90 minutes, but plenty of lovely legs to look at ;)

Oh and birthday boy and family are originally from Wakefield, Yorkshire.

[Penfold42]

Oh and birthday boy and family are originally from Wakefield, Yorkshire.

Yokshire born (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5234444.stm)
and bread (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOWJECdobqk)........:D :D

[Have a disco]

Being an upfront DJ 18th and 21sts are my favourites next to 40th's but there is an element of male ego's at them or cat fights off the girls that can pop up on occasions

Most of the times I have found that unless you have doorstaff it isn't worth doing them most venues in Haverhill now refuse to do the 18th & 21st now unless a minimum of 3 doorstaff are present this has lead to a downturn in people booking venues unless they pay for the door personnel in advance.

It has solved the fighting issues as well as kept underage drinking under control. 18th birthdays are worse for this & NO ID no drinking policies hammer the issues as well to calm the situation

Can only suggest ensuring these are in place at all private funtion halls before accepting any bookings

I do seem to find that Most fights over the last 20 years have been at weddings???

[Paul James Promotions]

Can only suggest ensuring these are in place at all private funtion halls before accepting any bookings



Don't know about anyone else, but I cannot remember the last time the venue had arranged doorstaff for a private party we've done? :confused:

[Have a disco]

I think you'will find reputable venues will demand it if they wish to keep there Licence to serve alcohol.. Even council halls are now expecting people to get temporary alcohol licences to rent halls around here which has an attachment on the hall hires also booking door personnel.

Its getting very silly around here recently making it awkward to have a party

[JAMdisco]

Sorry to hear abut your nightmare disco. I had a similar one (without the fighting). It was a 16th birthday (boy) and it was upstairs. There was no bar in the function room so most of the guests were either downstairs at the bar or outside smoking.
I had a few women dancing at one point til they got thirsty and went downstairs for a drink. End of the night just before I packed away there was one couple left - they asked me to play Don't Want To Miss a Thing by Aerosmith, which I did - and they took my card saying how good I was... very odd.

[Thames Valley Discos]

Don't know about anyone else, but I cannot remember the last time the venue had arranged doorstaff for a private party we've done? :confused:
I did a joint 18th at a posh golf club. They insisted the night had a minimum of three door staff so it does happen.