Good Gig, Bad Gig.

Hi all, I had my 2nd job on Saturday night since starting my new venture, was a members night at a local WMC type place. Not a great paying job but they have already put a couple of private bookings my way so I was happy to do it ...just trying to get myself out there at the moment.

The night went great, had people on the floor for most of it, managed to fulfill most of the requests and even found myself feeling a bit more confident doing the mic work. Did my last song, wished everyone a safe journey and even got some nice feedback from a few of the punters so was feeling good.

Just packing my gear down and there were lots of people still in the venue finishing their drinks, then all of a sudden I hear raised voices and all hell breaks loose. Simultaneously 2 seperate fights between women break out, then loads of people pile in and the blokes start rucking too ...chairs and glass flying everywhere it was like a war zone!

I was literally stood there thinking right, if any of this starts coming in my direction what's my defensive strategy? Luckily it didn't but I did make sure one of the poles for the stand was in easy reach :( It was all a bit unnerving and for a good half an hour there were arguments and the odd extra punches being thrown while I was packing up as quick as possible.

The management finally managed to get most of them outside but then they were still at right by my motor so I had to wait. Finally the coast was clear and I got packed up, but then the police turned up to sort out the last punchy punter that was inside refusing to go and they blocked me in. So I had to wait another 45 minutes until they finally nicked her!

So all in all it was both a good gig and a bad gig ...an experience if nothing else and fortunately it wasn't my face on the receiving end of any of it :beer1:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jammus

Hi all, I had my 2nd job on Saturday night since starting my new venture, was a members night at a local WMC type place. Not a great paying job but they have already put a couple of private bookings my way so I was happy to do it ...just trying to get myself out there at the moment.

The night went great, had people on the floor for most of it, managed to fulfill most of the requests and even found myself feeling a bit more confident doing the mic work. Did my last song, wished everyone a safe journey and even got some nice feedback from a few of the punters so was feeling good.

Just packing my gear down and there were lots of people still in the venue finishing their drinks, then all of a sudden I hear raised voices and all hell breaks loose. Simultaneously 2 seperate fights between women break out, then loads of people pile in and the blokes start rucking too ...chairs and glass flying everywhere it was like a war zone!

I was literally stood there thinking right, if any of this starts coming in my direction what's my defensive strategy? Luckily it didn't but I did make sure one of the poles for the stand was in easy reach :( It was all a bit unnerving and for a good half an hour there were arguments and the odd extra punches being thrown while I was packing up as quick as possible.

The management finally managed to get most of them outside but then they were still at right by my motor so I had to wait. Finally the coast was clear and I got packed up, but then the police turned up to sort out the last punchy punter that was inside refusing to go and they blocked me in. So I had to wait another 45 minutes until they finally nicked her!

So all in all it was both a good gig and a bad gig ...an experience if nothing else and fortunately it wasn't my face on the receiving end of any of it :beer1:

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Dont let this experiance put you off, it doesnt happen very often. Ive been DJing for over 20 years and ive seen about 10 fights. Most have been at 18th's or in dodgy, rough areas, both types of gig i now try to avoid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jammus

Hi all, I had my 2nd job on Saturday night since starting my new venture, was a members night at a local WMC type place. Not a great paying job but they have already put a couple of private bookings my way so I was happy to do it ...just trying to get myself out there at the moment.

The night went great, had people on the floor for most of it, managed to fulfill most of the requests and even found myself feeling a bit more confident doing the mic work. Did my last song, wished everyone a safe journey and even got some nice feedback from a few of the punters so was feeling good.

Just packing my gear down and there were lots of people still in the venue finishing their drinks, then all of a sudden I hear raised voices and all hell breaks loose. Simultaneously 2 seperate fights between women break out, then loads of people pile in and the blokes start rucking too ...chairs and glass flying everywhere it was like a war zone!

I was literally stood there thinking right, if any of this starts coming in my direction what's my defensive strategy? Luckily it didn't but I did make sure one of the poles for the stand was in easy reach :( It was all a bit unnerving and for a good half an hour there were arguments and the odd extra punches being thrown while I was packing up as quick as possible.

The management finally managed to get most of them outside but then they were still at right by my motor so I had to wait. Finally the coast was clear and I got packed up, but then the police turned up to sort out the last punchy punter that was inside refusing to go and they blocked me in. So I had to wait another 45 minutes until they finally nicked her!

So all in all it was both a good gig and a bad gig ...an experience if nothing else and fortunately it wasn't my face on the receiving end of any of it :beer1:

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It may have not been nice at the time but in one night you have gained much experience!

Thanks guys, not gonna let it put me off, definately taking the positives from the night rather than the negatives. next gig is for a load of 9 year old girls ...now that's really scary!

Hey now it is not as bad as 9 yr old boys. Being a children's entertainer as well as full time dj I do a lot of 8 and 9 yr old birthdays and the girls are definately easier.

Last night i did a 40th in the local wmc and i have to say it was one of the best nights i have ever had behind the decks.
The birthday girl is a friend on facebook although i have never really spoke until she booked me, today going on facebook has been fantastic as she has put the nicest comments about me and highly recommended me to her friends, lots of great comments on her wall about a brilliant night and how good the DJ was!
She gave me a list of about 50 songs she liked, The Smiths, Cure, Coldplay, depeche mode, OMD etc and these went down a storm, the venue is a proper old fashioned club with a lovely stage and dressing room, the stage has starcloth curtains the whole lengh of it and some LED lamps to create an awesome effect.
The dancefloor was packed all night and at the end i got whistles and applause which almost brought a tear to my eyes and inspired me to carry on as i had a bad night recently which almost made me give up!
Got 2 more bookings from this party including a girl booking me for her civil partnership and asked if i would DJ in drag?!! of course i said yes im willing to make a fool out of myself so already looking forward to that one!

Matt, sounds fantastic!. Post the pics of your civil partnership!

Good weekend again for me....
Friday was the 'Cheese Fest' which I've already reported on and that was great.

Last night was a 50th Birthday at one of my residencies and was for a very nice guy. I was a tad apprehensive on the build up to the gig as I wasn't able to meet him in advance as he was working overseas. I literally got a list of requests from him by email yesterday morning.

I shouldn't have worried at all because the gig was great. I recognised a few faces even though the guests were a few years older than me because a number of them were 'faces' from back in the day around the town when I was growing up. The list of requests that I received looked great and the room in the hotel was absolutely rammed. It was the busiest I had seen it.

I did the usual welcomes at the start of the evening and encouraged requests but didn't really get any for around 3 hours. I could see people enjoying themselves but there wasn't much action going down on the dance floor. It seemed like everyone wanted to catch up and have a few drinks before they got down to it but when they did, it was mad. It was one of those occasions where I was in my element playing the music that I like but due to it being so busy, I was constantly worrying about the equipment being knocked into.

The moment where it all started to really kick into gear was when I played 'Living on the Ceiling' by Blancmange. The dance floor was rammed and so it was lots of music from around that era (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Human League, Duran Duran etc.). Someone then came up and asked if I had any Ska, Two Tone, Northern Soul etc. It was amazing and I had shivers up my spine as the likes of 'Night Boat To Cairo', 'Gangsters', 'Too Much Too Young' and '54, 46' to name but 4 actually moved the dance floor up a gear. I loved it.

The guy whose birthday it was couldn't thank me enough. He'd said to me at the beginning of the night that he really didn't want a big deal made of it. He simply wanted a party with his old Football and Cricket mates and old School friends with music that reminded them all of those days and he said it was perfect. I gave him the mic to say thanks to everyone and to introduce the final song of the night and he got a bit emotional. He actually said that it was one of the best nights of his life and that really meant a lot.

He then introduced the final song which was 'Sweet Caroline' and everyone sang along to it. There were still at least 100 people in the venue and it was deafening. It has to go down as one of my best gigs ever in all honesty.

A funny thing to mention just to finish this report - I always find it funny when I do things like this for a slightly older crowd and I play the Ska stuff. It's both amusing and cool to watch a bunch of older guys bouncing around getting hot and sweaty and acting like they did back in the day. Some of them were asking me to slow it down because they were knackered and couldn't take anymore but they were joking. When I played 'Teenage Kicks' and 'God Save The Queen', they were all pushing eachother about and loving it with massive smiles on their faces.

Top night!

Gary im thinking of giving the mobile disco up and coming to roadie for you :D

Excellent night on Saturday , The ship inn at South Harting.
Again a very low ceiling , even lower than the previous gig at Midhurst , with the ultimax uprights touching the floor , there was only 6 inches spare , jist managed to get a pair of ADJ comscans in-between the beams.
It was a joint 60th and 65 birthday , they asked for karaoke as well , the places was packed ( well 40 people , that's the max the bar can take) , dancing all night , even on the karaoke secessions , I use a slightly different set up , main music was the normal laptop/ultramixer , but the karaoke was on a separate laptop with a external creative sound card , advantage was , when the karaoke track was fading out , I could hit the play on the denon and fade in the music , so unless doing announcements , or to get the next singer up , the music was continuous , one guy was funny , he asked for hit me with your rhythm stick by Ian Dury , no problem , apart from the fact the only words he sung were "hit me" all through the song...:D .
Worked out after a while it was Karaoke , music , karaoke music , etc etc , a good balance.
Play list of songs , I use the free karaoke player from sunfly , am as far as I am aware, you cannot get a played songs list.


10cc _ _ Art For Art's Sake 20:14
Abc _ _ Poison Arrow 20:18
Gloria Jones _ _ Tainted love 20:21
Al Wilson _ _ The Snake 20:23
Coldplay _ _ Viva La Vida 20:27
The Real Thing _ _ Toni D Bart 20:31
Maroon 5 and Christina vs. Modjo _ _ Moves Like Lady Jagger 20:34
Men At Work _ _ Down Under 20:38
Diana Ross & The Supremes _ _ Baby Love 20:42
All Saints _ _ Lady Marmalade 20:44
Tina Turner _ _ Proud Mary 20:48
Cheryl Cole _ _ Promise This 20:53
Pixie Lott _ _ All About Tonight 20:56
Rihanna _ _ Only Girl (In The World) 20:59
Roy Orbison _ _ Oh Pretty Woman 21:03
Alison Moyet _ _ All Cried Out 21:06
Will Young _ _ Jealousy 21:09
Shakatak _ _ Night Birds 21:12
Shalamar _ _ I Can Make You Feel Good 21:17
Average White Band _ _ Let's Go Round Again 21:21
Madonna _ _ Into The Groove 21:25
Erasure _ _ A Little Respect (Extended Mix) 21:32
Avicii _ _ Levels 21:38
David Guetta Fe. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida _ _ Where Them Girls At 21:41
Human League _ _ Don't You Want Me 21:49
Kajagoogoo _ _ Too Shy 21:56
Ray Parker Jr. _ _ Ghostbusters 22:05
Rick Astley _ _ Never Gonna Give You Up 22:14
Kylie Minogue _ _ Spinning Around 22:17
Lady Gaga Feat Beyonce _ _ Telephone 22:21
LMFAO _ _ Sexy And I Know It 22:29
Madness _ _ One Step Beyond 22:37
The Jam _ _ Going Underground 22:42
Robin S _ _ Show Me Love 22:46
4 Strings _ _ Take Me Away [Into The Night] (Vocal Radio Mix) 22:50
Corona _ _ Rhythym of the Night 22:58
Faithless _ _ Insomnia 23:05
Merton parkas _ _ Tears Of A Clown 23:15
Mud _ _ Tiger Feet 23:22
Kenny Loggins _ _ Footloose 23:30
Ferrer _ _ La bamba 23:38
Beyonce _ _ Crazy In Love 23:46
Shakira Feat. Wyclef Jean _ _ Hips dont lie 23:55
The Monkees _ Day dream Believer 23:59

Had to play the monkees last , massive response by all.

Nearly forgot , There were 6 people having a meal when I arrived , they were informed that I would be setting up , they were happy, and did not mind , they were all French , so instead of doing a sound check , I played an album by Alizee , they were very grateful....:D

Daryll