Last night's gig was a wedding for me and as I previously mentioned, it included a singing duo that were good friends of the Groom. More on them in a second but to go back to the start when the enquiry came in..... I was booked for the gig just over a year ago and I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that the Groom had been in constant contact with me right up until last night. He would sometimes call me just to say hello believe it or not.
When he enquired about my services he was very particular about what he wanted music-wise but also sound-wise. I ran through some of the various sound systems I use and he wasn't interested in JBL or DB Technologies and said that he loved the Mackie sound so booked me (strange but anyway...).
He asked if I would be able to supply mics and effects etc for 2 singers that he would be flying over from Benidorm to do some songs at the wedding so I quoted slightly extra for it and he booked.
We finally went through everything a couple of weeks ago and he told me a bit more about the singers. They were on the X Factor the year that Leona Lewis won the show, appear in Benidorm on TV regularly and a few other things. It sounded like it could be a bit different. The Groom advised me that they can sometimes be a bit OTT with regards to their sound etc and can moan a bit so I was ready for that. I'm no sound man expert but I know what I am doing as I have done a number of gigs myself and also used to do regular acoustic and band nights.
On Thursday I met the 2 singers as arranged and I set up and soundchecked them. They were over the moon with the sound, saying that it was exactly what they wanted and weren't akward at all and were actually very good. We got on very well. My first reaction to them when I heard they were going to be there was that they would be glorified Karaoke crooners. They are a father and son act called Matthew & Son and the son is also in a Take That tribute band. I was also advised by the Groom that I shouldn't expect too much dancing etc from the guests as they were an older crowd (and they were).
Last night went very well. I bigged the singers up and at around 10.00pm they went on and did their set of around 45 minutes going through classic singalong tracks etc. They were very good but there were some funny moments.
They'd originally said they would go on at 9.30pm but for some reason (not sure what it was?), it didn't happen. After the first dances earlier, it was a bit of a struggle getting people to get up and dance but it wasn't too bad. Around 9.45pm I played some of the rock tracks that had been requested in advance and the dancefloor started to fill up. The funny moment came at around 9.55pm when the dancefloor was at it's busiest when I was playing 'Sweet Child O' Mine'. The singers came over and said "Right, we're ready Gary". The older guy nudged me and said "Come on then, introduce us" so I got on the mic with around 3 minutes left of the song. There was a big "BBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" when I started fading out the song so I turned it back up and said to the guy "Sorry, you'll have to wait a moment". He wasn't happy at all and got in a right strop! The other singer then asked "What's happening?"....I could sense some awkwardness coming on from them both and said "Can we give it another 15 minutes or something? I have a full dancefloor here for the first time all night" but they wouldn't have it and I heard one of the funniest things come from their mouths. I had to keep a straight face.
"We're in our stage gear Gary. We can't stand here for 15 minutes dressed like this, let's just get on with it".
Their stage gear was identical black shirts, blue jeans and black shirts!! Nothing out of the ordinary at all. I think their 5 minutes of fame had really gone to their heads big time. Anyway, I introduced them and they went into their set which was actually very good to be fair. The father stopped halfway through and the younger one carried on the rest as a solo. He had people up dancing and singing along to stuff like The Mavericks and Temptations and obviously chucked in a couple of Take That ones too. The crowd loved them.
They did the obvious though and at times I knew exactly what they were going to say and I cringed... "We were on the X Factor", "We met Simon Cowell", "We're on Benidorm on TV regularly and it's not as bad as the TV makes out" etc etc
I finished off the night from 10.45pm - Midnight with lots of requests for 70's (Disco and Glam) and 80's and it picked up with the remaining guests dancing.
We'd arranged in advance that the last song of the night was going to be 'Greatest Day' by Take That. About 15 minutes before the end of the night, I went and saw the Bride & Groom and asked what they thought of the singer singing their last song seeing as he was in a Take That tribute band. They thought it was a great idea so I asked him and he jumped at the chance. I said my usual bits to everyone and then handed over to the singer. He bigged me up and everyone applauded me and then he did a brilliant version of the last song.
I was there a lot longer packing up as people kept being complimentary about the evening (which isn't a bad thing is it). The Bride & Groom were over the moon and I got a £50.00 tip from them too.
