One of my best gigs for a while.
I thought I'd do a longer post than normal to describe my gig last night.
It was a wedding at a venue where I worked last year, and you may remember me posting then about the function official who would not let me use a table. No such problem this year so I guess the guy in question has moved on. When I arrived, there was already a table in place for me. I forgot to take my bottle of water, so went to the bar for two pints of tap water, but he suggested bottled water, and got me two ice-cold glass bottles of water and didn't charge me...even though it wasn't a free bar.
I was really admiring the room, which looked amazing compared to the previous times I've worked there. There were a number of white plastic boxes about a foot square and 4 feet high around the room. They had lights in them, and because they were opaque, they were like coloured blocks of light, and looked quite futuristic. There were also a number of LED pars providing uplighting, although they were not too bright, and looked really subtle compared to the uplighting pics I've seen on this forum. In addition, the chairs were adorned with the usual white wedding covers.
When I'd got set up, I went out to meet the bride. They were an older couple (which I had guessed from the requests). I'd say the groom was in his 60s & the bride in her 50s, but they were both really friendly & down do earth. I told the bride I'd never seen the room looking so fantastic, and she told me that luckily her husband to be had given her a blank cheque, which was just as well as the wedding had gone over budget by £12,000! :eek:
I went back into the room to put some background music on, and shortly after that the groom came in to introduce himself & have a chat. He is a director for one of the low cost airlines. He also told me about how he did discos for a while in the 70s, and I instantly knew that everything he was saying was completely true...unlike the youngsters that normally come up to me I tell me they are a DJ!
After about an hour of background music, we had the first dance (Always & forever), and things then kicked off. I'm not saying the dance floor was packed all night, but it was a really good night & a fantastic atmosphere. I'd been looking forward to the gig, as lots of their requests has been for late 70s & early 80s soul & disco, which I love...as that was my era. I also played some modern stuff for the youngsters & some of the standard cheese & party stuff. The best reaction of the night came from YMCA, with a completely packed dance floor all doing the actions. I only wish I'd remembered to take my camera, as it would have made a great photo for my website.
The time flew by, and the end I got a nice round of applause which seemed to go on for ages. A number of people asked for cards, including a guy who asked if I travel. When I enquired further, he informed me he was from Stratford-Upon-Avon (wherever that is!), so I just told him I'd need to charge extra due to the travelling, and that if he got in touch I'd try & work something out with him.
I then went up to the bride & groom and used my usual line "I hope that was OK for you" and they couldn't have been more complimentary. I wasn't too surprised, though, as most of the songs I'd played had been from their request list (50 played out of 52) and the rest had largely been from their guests.
All in all a brilliant night which could hardly have gone better. I'm now going to find an online map to find out where Stratford-Upon-Avon is...but I'm guessing the word Avon might be a big clue!
:)
