Good Gig, Bad Gig.

Well last night, I did something shameful. :o Disgraceful. :eek:Reprehensible. :eek:Something I can hardly bring myself to type. :(


What was my crime?














I "let the music do the talking". :sofa: After arriving home on Thursdy night/Friday morning, I was struck down by the dreaded lurgy. ( Not Norovirus, so I suppose it could have been worse. ) By Saturday, I had effectively lost my voice. ( But don't worry folks, I can still type! Phew, eh? :whistle: ) I was walking wounded, but capable of setting up for Saturday's 50th birthday in a local village hall. I got there before the band, and snagged the power supply from another room. The one double socket at our end of the room was filled with all manner of fairy lights and suchlike, so I left that for the band.
Naughty me. :o
In the end, I gave them a socket from mine, and we coped just fine. I managed to cope by sign language, hoarse croaks, and a sign on the laptop explaining my predicament. A couple of folk made announcements, a helpful band member announced the Buffet and the cake, so I managed. It was a great night, which I would have absolutely loved, had I been on top form. I knew a lot of folk there, but couldn't have conversations with them. With the crowd predominantly around fifty years old, I was in my element playing loads of sixties and seventies tracks, just as the band had done.

Anyway, all I have to do now is recover fully for Tuesday, when I have what is effectively an all day ( and some of the night ) function in a bakery. I'll keep you posted.

I DJ'd every night last week and have to say that everything went very smoothly with lots of great feedback too.
Bit of a pain packing down the equipment to go to different venues and I had a bad case of the (how can I put this?)....er...squits!
This made me quite nervous to be honest and there were times when I didn't think I'd get through them but I did.
Now chilling for a couple of days before the last batch of parties.

Attachment 15054Attachment 15055Well,having basically retired but still making myself available if the need arises,I have just done a couple of bookings.Friday was a very cheap rates mate for a leaving 'do' that was always going to be a low key affair and so it was,only about 20 in a school hall.Not a lot to say about it really,music wise it was all over the shop,most of those present were teachers,basically a bit of a non event.The only drama of the night was my laptop/Traktor froze on me in the middle of the night.Retrieved the situation ok with my backup while I rebooted the laptop twice and got back on track.It meant a bit of a squeeky bum time for Saturday nights booking.
Saturday was the Xmas party for Waitrose at the local Conservative Club.Excellent get in from the car park at the rear.Parked up to double doors,straight in to function room via kitchen to set up on a stage in the corner with ample sockets and controls for room lights.Not a big room but it felt right for the expected 60 or so guests.
Because it was a store and there werre still some guests at work and were not expected till later it was difficult to get any structure to the early part of the night.I was booked from 8 till 12 and I had been told that there would be a buffet and a raffle which would take up a considerable part of the night but in truth that wasnt quite how it turned out.
The vast majority of the guests were teen/early 20's,a few middle aged and a table of older people.The rest were either in the bar or outside in the smoking area.
If I am honest I got the music wrong in the early part of the evening and I think that might have impacted on the rest of the night.I think in retrospect I should have had a better structure to the nights intended playlist because what I had planned didnt seem to really work how I had imagined it would.
I'm beginning to feel a bit like a clone(no not clown) of our currently resting scribe,Shakermaker.
I was playing a mixture of easy listening/upbeat stuff with the odd chart track to a crowd that really didnt seem as though they wanted to get up off their backsides,apart from a couple of girls who seemed as though they were at least up for a party.
Anyway a young lad comes up and asks for 'some more up to date stuff because they are mostly youngsters who are here'.So I am thinking there goes my after buffet/raffle floorfillers.Maroon5,LMFAO and Psy
were duly played and you guessed it - they still sat there,that is all except the two girls mentioned earlier.Oh, that meant I lost the table of older people,into the bar and never seen again.Asked for request and yes my two dance floor buddies came up with an assortment of boy/girl requests.The girls were no problem,you know the sort of thing,Olly Murs,Robbie WilliamsRihanna and Pussy Cat Dolls but the boys!!!Golf Boys,Die Antwoord,Electric Six and Mr Goodall.Yeh right.
Some how we got thro to about 11:15,I cant remember now what I played it certainly wasn't anywhere near my prepared idea of a playlist,thank God for Traktor at least I will be able to check the saved playlist.
Back to the evening,at 11:15 up comes middle-aged Malcolm and says get some 60's/70's/80's on,stick with that and you'll have a packed floor for the rest of the night.So I did and it didnt. Where was middle aged Malcolm?Oh he buggered off to the bar in the other room and came back just before 12:20.Anyway I managed to hold it together by entertaining the younger ones with their requests and for the last 45 mins of the night actually had a reasonably full floor.I was so relieved and pleased I asked the barman if I could go on for another 30 mins after 12 midnight.(Paid?Of course not.But thats another topic and I am not going there).
I packed down and loaded the car and it was nice to be able to take my time as the barman and two or three of his regulars were having a lockin or whatever they call it.Got home about 2:15, left the stuff in the car to unpack this morning and decided to wind down with a nice cup of tea and watch the Amir Khan fight on TV.Eventuall got to bed at 5:50.
Oh and to cap the night off so to speak(give over she was asleep)middle aged Malcolm took my card as he has a anniversary/party next April he might want me for.
Hopefully at my age I might have recovered by then.I'm knackered.
Well dear readers thats my weekend report.It's the first 'in depth one' I have done and the last because I just cant be doing with all this.I just wanted to show that not all gigs are plain sailing,fab nights with wall to wall dancers.Whose fault is that? Mine I would suggest.It's been a bit of a learning curve this weekend to be honest.

chin up Trev sounds like a tough one for any of us.

Don't worry too much trev, my one saturday was just as bad if not worse, they happen :)

Its seems like there is a bit of a trend! On Saturday night it was a 30th party. Expecting 70 guests, with the dancefloor in one room, and the bar next door. Never great. I was getting worried for the birthday client when an hour in, I counted 18 people. Her playlist listed artists, not songs, but she wanted current chart only, and some Michael Jackson! Expressly No party songs, no slow songs. Two hours in, there were 22 people, and they were not interested in dancing, apart from one drunk guy in a hoodie asking for gangnam style every 10 minutes. Most were propping up the bar next door, or smoking outside. Most of the tables set up around the dancefloor were empty, apart from a couple closest to the stage. I was asked to announce the buffet, and after that to play "its raining men" for her mum. I did this, and her mum and a few older guests were on the dancefloor. I decided to play a bit of music they would fancy to keep them on, so I went to the 70s and they stayed on for the next track, until birthday girls boyfriend had a moan and said we have to stick to the playlist. I explained what we were doing, he said didn't care about the older guests, play her music only. So I did, and the few people dancing vacated. It got to 10.30, and I counted 30 people, half at the bar in the other room. I asked for requests, with no response,and then walked around to the guests with the request book, and passed it round. It came back with 5 songs, all of which I had already played, but played again for good measure!

Boyfriend came up and asked for "more current and upbeat music" when I was playing LMFAO and Rihanna and Niki Minaj, from her playlist, all 130 BPM. He said there were 30 people at the bar wanting to dance! He must have had double vision at that point. I asked what he wanted and he said Amy Winehouse! :daft: So I obliged, and it made no difference at all, other than I guess it provided a key change, which then meant when I went up tempo again a few drifted onto the dance floor. At 11.25 a cranky bartender came wondering in waving his arms like an air traffic controller, signalling me to stop, Even though I was booked until 11.45. So I switched off,and packed up, and said my goodbyes.

I think this has to be the function I have enjoyed the least, for as long as I can remember.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HeartandSoul

Its seems like there is a bit of a trend! On Saturday night it was a 30th party. Expecting 70 guests, with the dancefloor in one room, and the bar next door. Never great. I was getting worried for the birthday client when an hour in, I counted 18 people. Her playlist listed artists, not songs, but she wanted current chart only, and some Michael Jackson! Expressly No party songs, no slow songs. Two hours in, there were 22 people, and they were not interested in dancing, apart from one drunk guy in a hoodie asking for gangnam style every 10 minutes. Most were propping up the bar next door, or smoking outside. Most of the tables set up around the dancefloor were empty, apart from a couple closest to the stage. I was asked to announce the buffet, and after that to play "its raining men" for her mum. I did this, and her mum and a few older guests were on the dancefloor. I decided to play a bit of music they would fancy to keep them on, so I went to the 70s and they stayed on for the next track, until birthday girls boyfriend had a moan and said we have to stick to the playlist. I explained what we were doing, he said didn't care about the older guests, play her music only. So I did, and the few people dancing vacated. It got to 10.30, and I counted 30 people, half at the bar in the other room. I asked for requests, with no response,and then walked around to the guests with the request book, and passed it round. It came back with 5 songs, all of which I had already played, but played again for good measure!

Boyfriend came up and asked for "more current and upbeat music" when I was playing LMFAO and Rihanna and Niki Minaj, from her playlist, all 130 BPM. He said there were 30 people at the bar wanting to dance! He must have had double vision at that point. I asked what he wanted and he said Amy Winehouse! :daft: So I obliged, and it made no difference at all, other than I guess it provided a key change, which then meant when I went up tempo again a few drifted onto the dance floor. At 11.25 a cranky bartender came wondering in waving his arms like an air traffic controller, signalling me to stop, Even though I was booked until 11.45. So I switched off,and packed up, and said my goodbyes.

I think this has to be the function I have enjoyed the least, for as long as I can remember.

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Sounds like the gig from hell mate, but I suppose we all get them from time to time. You'll probably find at your next one, you can do no wrong.

Couple of rubbish sounding gigs. It's no fun when you're trying all the tricks and nothing seems to be working. Having the bar in a seperate room is usually asking for stuff like this to happen.

I've just been drafted in to play bass for my brother's wedding band on Wednesday night at a fancy hotel in town.

It's a corporate do where they want "band-e-oke". Karaoke but with a live band.

2 hours worth of playing, decent cash and I'll only need to take my bass guitar and an amp so it's a 1 run load in. :D

Never done a band-e-oke gig before but my brother assures me they're usually pretty fun and easy so it'll be interesting to report back on it.

Hey ho folks, this could turn into a live commentary. Courtesy of Paul G , ( who is out of commission presently, due to heart problems ) I'm in a Bakery,"entertaining" the shift workers. Early this morning, I set off, clutching my visa ( no, not the plastic card, the paper that allows me across the border into the West Riding ) and arrived at the bakery in good time. That was until I started filling in three pages of forms to get in!!!!! Blimey, Andy Neen and I had less trouble getting into an Army Camp last week! Mind you, getting out was harder )


And the best bit? As many of you know, I'm follically challenged, with a wide centre parting. And I'm wearing a rather fetching yellow hairnet, to keep my flowing locks under control!! The good news, I'm based in the canteen, and I've had my first Christmas Dinner of the day. If I play my cards right, I can have two more before I finish. :D

Well, rather than bleating on about every single recent gig, I'll just say all December so far have been blinders, not one hitch or problem. Here's a couple of highlights...

Last Saturday (15th) I was doing a wedding, really nice couple and a great crowd. There was also a live 7 piece brass band playing which apart from early on background music saw me playing no more that 1 1/2 hours music. Brass band were good and very entertaining and I got a nice hog-roast sandwich and crackling, yummy!!!
I also got to spend a lot of time with the photographer and picked up a few tricks-of-the-trade (logged in memory bank for future purposes).

Friday (14th) was a normal residency but a lot busier than normal and a good turn-around of punters obviously doing the Goole 'circuit'...

On the homeward stretch now, I've cancelled the residency on the 28th (don't need the money and I reckon it'll be very quiet). I had lengthy discussion with the landlord & lady and they agreed with me that best to leave it til the new year now.

Got a few more gigs to do before I see the year out at The Altisidora in Bishop Burton...

On the plus side - I've booked my holiday for next year - Icmeler in Turkey for 2 weeks from 29th July with me, the missus & my daughter. Now that I AM looking forward to :)

Oh, and I've picked up a few photography jobs, a couple of portraits and a wedding in May 2014...