Forgot to mention most of the kids went outside and played football/kickabout for miost of the night and several adults joined them.Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisj
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Forgot to mention most of the kids went outside and played football/kickabout for miost of the night and several adults joined them.Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisj
I had a great night, been at the venue for the last 4 years, and this was the best. 9.30pm to 2am, which extended to 3am..!. Normally, all middle aged country types. Last night there were about 20 teens and early 20's, which turned out to be the offspring of the normal guests.
A true mix of chart and all the decades, and EVERYONE joined in.
Gave loads of cards out and had great comments made.
:beer1:
A good two nights work for me.
Friday night was a wedding that I covered for Charlie Brown, in Warsop. The couple both work for NGO's, he's American, and they met in Tahir Square, Cairo during the Arab Spring uprising. So, plenty of American's around, and plenty of American requests (Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr....anybody?).
Things were very brown trouser to begin with...The B&G had emailed some songs to Charlie, including their first dance and some backing tracks (more later), that aren't available on iTunes. However, my disco email is on a separate laptop from my gigging machine, so I had to copy the songs to my memory stick, and then transfer them to the gigging laptop....quite a challenge for a confirmed technophobe. Anyhow, job done, songs transferred, played them in iTunes....bingo. Or not.
Got to the gig, cued up the first dance in VDJ to have an error message!! I noticed that the file ends in m4a, and wasn't sure if this was the problem, but remembered that someone had previously said on here that it's possible to convert files on iTunes. So, I opened iTunes, found the file, click convert and it says the file could not be found!!! Panic!!!
Had that horrible, sinking feeling that this had gone massively wrong, no first dance, all my fault, want to die....Fortunately, I'd travelled to the gig to set up in the same jeans I was wearing when I sorted the songs, and still had the memory stick in my pocket...plugged it in more out of hope than expectation....and it worked. Pass the loo roll.
It had previously been arranged with Charlie that the Groom's father, who is in a band in the US, would sing 5 songs over the provided backing tracks, and needed to use my microphone to do it. I have to say, I wasn't overly pleased with this arrangement, and it isn't the kind of thing I would choose to accommodate. Things went South when it turned out that he didn't just need a mic, but also a mic stand, and a 1/4" jack input to my mixer, as he wanted to play guitar as well. No chance. I don't have a mic stand, and there isn't a 1/4" channel in to my mixer. This was rescued by the venue who had a guitar amp and a mic stand that the father borrowed. It was far from ideal, as I couldn't control the levels...but worked ok in the circumstances. I have to say, I was supremely irritated by this. None of these requirements were made clear prior to the gig, but I felt responsible nonetheless.
After a shaky start though, it turned into a pretty good night, really receptive crowd who danced non-stop. It was quite a challenge working in their requests, and sticking to songs that would be recognised on both sides of the Atlantic, within the boundaries of no chart music.
I had a really nice text from the Groom yesterday, which was much appreciated as it's so unusual for me to receive unsolicited feedback.
Last night was NYE in a local hotel, that has always been really poorly attended...and last night was no exception, only 30 guests. The last time I worked there on NYE, they also had a casino, so I hardly saw anyone all night. Last night it was just me...and it was really hard work trying to generate an atmosphere. However, it turned into an exceptionally good night.
One thing of note, considering it was an older crowd, was during some 80's music, a woman in her 50's podded up and asked for Flo Rida!!
Nothing like last year. It was 'all right' They kept complaining about the volume ( I didn't reach four bars on my denon mixer - it was background musi at best ) I wouldn't be bothered if I wasn't invited back. I'd appreciate a more lively crowd.
I used to think it was unprofessional, amateur immature idiots who had no respect for another entertainer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions
However the other night at an Xmas Party where I was entertaining what turned out to be a bunch of pro Musicians they :Censored: started doing it as well with equipment in the upstairs part of the venue.
I did ask the Organiser who was required--me or them--in a jokey way--
After all I dont select a track they are playing during rehearsal and play along with it.:daft: :daft: :daft: :daft: :daft:
As it happens they wanted to jam into the early hours so I got 2 hours lopped off my finishing time and no reduction in fee--so I wasnt exactly upset
:D :D :D :D
Been a funny old week for me. Did Weddings Boxing day,friday & last night. Boxing day and friday were good but distintly lacking in guests. Boxing day should have been 70 but 30 turned up, friday there was about half of what there should have been. As a consequence both gigs finished early by an hour on Boxing day and half hour on friday.
NYE was a different kettle of fish at a very nice venue where no expense was spared inc coaches for all the guests that weren't staying at the hotel, nanny service for those that brought their kids with them, fireworks at midnight etc.
Was a great night and a really good way to end the year.
likewise don't think a single light on my power meter lit up all night.....:Sleeping:Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Brown
I had an awesome night at my local. Absolutely rammed and a fantastic atmosphere. 70's & 80's requests all the way until around 01.15am with lots of dancing and then for the last 45 mins I played a few current chart tracks and mixed up some dance tracks too. We could have gone on all night.
Had a few drinks afterwards and got in around 4.00am. Collect the gear and my wages for Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and NYE tomorrow. Very nice!
had a very easy gig in a rugby club with about 80 people the majority were 13 to 16 years old but they were pretty well behaved inside the club played mainly charty music and finished at 1.30am, easy access so packed up and home just before 3 also got some more gigs there in the future starting with a 70s night next month.
My night went very well and the manager asked if i could carry on past 1.30am as everyone was having such a good time :)
It was my first time in the venue and when i turned up at lunchtime to set up i was suprised at how small the pub was as it looks quite big from the outside but i didnt realise half the pub is separated into a restaurant!
When i got the booking i was also asked if i could provide Karaoke as a regular is an ex pro singer and fancied showing the locals what he could do :rolleyes:
I have always kept Karaoke nights separate from the Disco as i dont think they can really go together on the same night as the singers just wanna sing and the rest dont want to hear someone killing songs all night long!
In my head i thought i would allocate an hour (10pm-11pm) for Karaoke then get the dance floor filled building up to midnight but no sooner had i put on the first track and a bloke comes over and asks to sing an Elton John number!
talk about opening the floodgates as requests for karaoke came flooding in!
At 11.30pm i kindly told everyone that there was to be no more singing till after midnight so they could get up and have a dance, played a few disco classics (Bee Gees, The Jacksons, Dianna Ross) and the whole room were up dancing :)
With ten minutes to go to midnight i played Black Eyed Peas Time of my Life and mixed that in with the Dirty Dancing classic version which took me right into Big Ben chimes and then OLS ;)
After midnight i had a whole mix of requests from Foo Fighters, Stone Roses, Guns N Roses, One Direction and even AC/DC:eek:
I happily played some Rock which kept the dance floor busy and held my breath as from Rock i went straight into Old Skool Classics but i didnt need to worry as the whole room went crazy for Pump up the Jam, Show me Love etc:D
As the night drew nearer to my 1.30am finish time i allowed a couple more Karaoke singers to come and sing and then finished with a smoochy number which is when i was begged to carry on by the Manager, she later told me she had never seen the pub so lively and everyone was having a ball, she has promised me all future bookings in the Pub and i also got a booking from a customer for his wifes 40th party :)
Home at 2.30am and after a kebab and a bottle of wine i retired to bed at 4am very pleased with myself :D