Good Gig, Bad Gig.

Marquee Wedding last night for some lovely people. Had easily 150 people but the DB sub and Mackie tops did ok with it.

First time ever I've used two fixtures on tripods (EFX 600's) and I was very happy with it. I did have four uplighters behind me too which helped.

Only downside was an idiot that asked me four times did I have Angels and a mic. I said no four times yet it didn't stop him from asking. I actually told him I didn't have Angels so if he wanted to sing it would be accapella and it would only happen if the bride/groom told me themselves. I spoke to the groom awhile later and he vetoed it too but it didn't stop the gentleman from "kicking off" about it. Felt sorry for the bride considering it was her uncle...

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Originally Posted by DeckstarDeluxe

Marquee Wedding last night for some lovely people. Had easily 150 people but the DB sub and Mackie tops did ok with it.

First time ever I've used two fixtures on tripods (EFX 600's) and I was very happy with it. I did have four uplighters behind me too which helped.

Only downside was an idiot that asked me four times did I have Angels and a mic. I said no four times yet it didn't stop him from asking. I actually told him I didn't have Angels so if he wanted to sing it would be accapella and it would only happen if the bride/groom told me themselves. I spoke to the groom awhile later and he vetoed it too but it didn't stop the gentleman from "kicking off" about it. Felt sorry for the bride considering it was her uncle...

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You have spread that out nicely. Looks impressive.

Looks very nice.

Thanks chaps, not sure how happy I would be to perform like that without 4 uplighters behind me but it is so nice not having the overhead there.

Yet another good children's gig , this on was less than 1/2 mile away from me , if fact it is further to get the gear than the distance to the gig , after using a tried and tested formula from our very own children`s entertainer genius Mr Mayhem.

started at 2:00pm.

Music
Game
Music
Game
Music

1/2 hour to let the little ones have food/drink etc ( background ish music)

Sing happy birthday
Music
Game
Music
Game
Music
5:00pm
End

Games were musical statues , Sleeping lions , one where I stop the music , and tell the children to be a cat,dog,bird etc.
And one using ping pong balls and a paper plate , havent got a clue what it is called . but great fun.
I seem to be doing an ever increasing amount of children`s partys , and I really enjoy them , apart from the money side , give me a kids party over a wedding anyday :D

Cheers

Daryll

I have a childrens party next sunday for around 40 x 8 year olds. I have designed some 'Best Dancer' certificates (used to use them when I did lots of kids parties years ago and they work well).

My gig last night was an 80's night at my local. It was awesome actually. I don't usually put lighting in the place as it's a very low ceiling and it can dazzle people at the bar sometimes but I thought I'd give it a go. Used 4 uplighters to make my area nice and colourful and 2 x Mystics with smoke and it worked very well. Also used VDJ with the Numark DJ2Go and DJIO and it was faultless and very easy to use. Some great 'electric/new wave/new romantic' requests during the night but the funniest moment was when a packed pub all sang along and did the moves to 'Man in the Mirror' by Michael Jackson.

Just got back from setting up a small hire rig for an engagement party in a country pub down the road from me and whilst I was setting up, the customer booked me for the wedding next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSPN6e2vzog

Bit of a hard work event on Friday
it was The Afton Hotel in Eastbourne, So very local to me. The first 2 hours no one wanted to dance as everyone knew the couple who were getting engaged but didnt know any of the other guests, I guess after the drinks started flowing I threw on some 80`s and whoooop the dancefloor filled up for the rest of the night, This was my first attempt at using a camcorder, I have started another thread for criticism http://www.forum.mobilediscodirector...344#post551344

Got a ton of thanks at the end of the night and a possible booking for a ska night

Wedding in a Hotel Saturday night along with one of Crazy K's dance callers. For once, access was superb, the room was split by a divider, so after they had the ceremony in the first side, they moved into the other half for the meal, and I could get access to the room from 3 o'clock!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: Luxury. :D :D Only downside was the room was on the first floor, but there was a huge lift, and the Hotel even had a big trolley available, so pretty good.

As an aside, the entire staff I met at the venue, ( The Village, Hull ) were a credit to the company, polite, helpful, and really accomodating. If every venue was like this, the job would be a doddle. I shall contact venue management to say so.

Once again, I used the Powerbar and two Spin3's, and I have to say that rarely have I been so happy with my lighting rig. It gave a superb effect, even though I had a problem with my DMX controller. Sound was lovely as well with the W Audio tops over the Class D subs, so all in all, a very satisfactory weekend for me.

Hi
For me thursday night was a great night.It was at a high school in hednesford..We also did all the balloons..It was in a marquee which was in the school hall..Started at 7 o clock and by 7.30 the dance floor was full.I was told i could play what i liked,sort of gigs i like to be honest..Finished at 10 0 clock when everyone cheered and clapped me..Excellent job..

Friday night was a very nice wedding at a menzie's hotel at strafford..It was half irish..The couple sent me a list of around 20 irish songs to play and a few guest requests to be played sometime in the night...I told customer i needed 90 mins to set up with me providing uplighters as well..access was ok but they was late coming out of room only leaving me 40mins to set up next to a singer who did elvis and then swing music..There was around 200 guest and i managed to get disco ready in 40 mins and some of the uplighters..The bride and groom said do not worry about it cause it was there fault..I did get all the uplighters set up while the guests was coming back in to the room with no trouble..The night went as follows
8 till 8.30 - dj (this would include 1st and 2nd dances)
8.30 till 9.15 - elvis
9.15 till 9.35 - Irish Dancers
9.35 till 10 - Dj
10 till 11 - singer singing swing and ratpack (food being surved)
11 - throwing the flowers to the single ladies
11.05 - Bride wanted to dance to a song called i loved her 1st with her father
11.10 - main disco till end. finished at 1 o clock and did the leaving arch for the bride and groom..
I had a really good night and had excellent comments from the staff and guests..Job DONE

Saturday night.. Wedding in halesowen..Customer sent me a very large play list..I started at 6 and finish at 12..There would be around 120 guest and the bride told me they would all be up for dancing to the music she requested..I told her i was a little worried about her playlist cause i felt it was to heavy for a wedding..Loads of trance and house music..She said it would be fine..She told me 1st hour play 60s,2nd hour 70s. 3rd hour 80s and so on..They had good at 8.30 and no one had got on the dance floor yet..They had there 1st dance and told me to play i got a feeling after the 1st dance..I did and guess what? they all sat back down..I was then told to play all there songs and 1 hour later over half had gone home..I decided to play party and 90s dance cause of the type of guests there..Within 10 mins i had a good dance floor with the people which was left.At 11 0 clock bride come over and said where are all my house and trance music.I said i think your guests are not suited to this music..Her said i want it on within the next 5 mins..I started putting her requests on and within 20 mins most people had left..The bride was not happy but i knew this would happen.I finished at 12 with only 10 left in the room..The bride and groom left with out saying good bye to me but i knew they would cause they got there requests wronge..The venue also had loads of problems with the couple with the food etc, saying they would not take any advise on the type of food etc..I have not had a event like this in over 10 years and hope i do not get another one..Glad its over

YES absoulutely stormed it last night 21st 10 -3 from first tune to last had dancefloor packed - client wanted it like a club - mixed every tune in - plenty of hands in the aire moments - ended it on smack my bitch up !!!! !yeeeesss

Thursdays Wedding:

Well despite visiting the venue a week beforehand and being shown around by the 'Wedding Organiser', when I arrived the Banquet Manager had no idea I was setting up early, and told me (in the nicest possible way) he didn't like the idea as the ceremony was also taking place in same room and didn't want speakers and lighting stands around (even though they'd be right at the back in a very large barn type venue)

Fair enough I told him, but it had been agreed with the B&G and confirmed earlier in the week at my visit. But as I was supposed to be playing background music straight after the ceremony we compromised - set up my DSB and hid everything underneath and pushed it against the back wall where it pretty much disappeared against the dark wood panelling.

Then he asked me to play some background music as the guests arrived before the ceremony - I explained I couldn't as he had asked me not to set-up!

After the ceremony, during the quick room turnaround I put up the speakers and lights, plugged in and.....no power! Another thing not mentioned in my visit was none of the power points near me were live (the Wedding Organiser had actually pointed out the plug sockets as being convenient for me!). So had to take all my extensions half way around the room and past a few doors to the gardens that I was assured wouldn't be used during the evening (yeah right -no one told the guests!).

Apart from that it all went very well. B&G bought the Banquet Manager over to me and asked him to make sure I had food and drink throughout the day and evening on their tab, which he was more than happy to do (he and his staff were really lovely - we had a good moan together about the lack of communication from the 'Organiser').

Had 4 solar 250's positioned in a minstrels gallery projecting various effects on the walls and ceiling (love barn conversions for this). And some Martin Ego's on the dance area.

Music was quite varied, System Of A Down, Rage Against The Machine, Led Zep, Prodigy, Motown, Audioslave, Hollywood Undead, Who (grooms Dads favourite band), 60's, Disco, Party Classics etc.

The only other thing that went wrong was me forgetting my belt so had one hand holding my trousers up all night!

Last nights 40th.

In a small WMC function hall. Minimal lighting requested as quite a few older guests were coming, so a couple of mini parbars and a starball were ample (slow fade colour washing ceiling at the start then S2L later).

About 60 guests, great atmosphere, birthday girl gave a speech and handed out presents to some special people (with stories about them as she did it).

First half of the evening was Abba, Weather Girls, Motown etc, and bit of jiving to Rock'n'Roll, then the strong Irish connection kicked in and it was the likes of the Dubliners, Clancy Brothers, Pogues, Mike Denver, Big Tom, Robert Mizzell and C&W the rest of the night, lot of singing and clapping along, brilliant fun (need to build my collection up of similar Irish artists though, just about had enough with me but I would've liked more).

Birthday girl told me some guests had asked her for my details throughout the night, so hopefully a few more parties coming up.

Mis-communication....does your head in doesn't it!
I was at my local last night and there were 3 birthdays so the place was rammed. Loads of great tunes requested and all on an Alternative/Rock/Indie tip. Had a couple of beers too which I'm suffering from today but I have tonight off and then 8 year old birthday party tomorrow for a member of staff at my residency.

40th birthday at the bricklayers arms in midhurst.
Yet another great night , they really are a great crowd , well up for a dance in the limited space , you really have to see this place to believe it . low ceiling, small compact . but great fun.
Only problem was this one drunken woman , I am half way through a 901s set , floor full , every one bopping along , she demands ,Crystal gayle , gypsy woman , I did explain that if I played that now , the floor would clear , so off she went in a huff , saying words that I cannot repeat on here :D , apparrently she is like this all the time , me,me,me , stuff everyone else , still never mind/
Play list from last night, request are in red ( mostly from birthday boy)

Artist -----------------Title
Electric Light Orchestra -Mr. Blue Sky
The Platters - The Great Pretender
10Cc - Wallstreetshuffle
Boston - More Than A Feeling
Diana Ross & The Supremes - Baby Love
Kate Bush - James And The Cold Gun
Alison Moyet - All Cried Out
MERTON PARKAS - Tears Of A Clown
The Beat / The English Beat (USA) - Mirror In The Bathroom
All Saints - Lady Marmalade
R.E.M. - Man on the Moon
U2 - Beautiful Day
U2 - New Year's Day
Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman
Bad Manners - Lip Up Fatty / Ne-Ne Na-Na Na-Na Nu-Nu
Ace Of Base - All That She Wants
The Specials - Too Much Too Young
Cheryl Cole - Promise This
Rihanna Feat Drake - Whats My Name
Lady Gaga - Alejandro
Jessie J Feat B.o.B - Price Tag
The Kinks - All Day and All of the Night
U2 - With or Without You
Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World)
Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand
madonna - open your heart (extended version)
Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory (DMC Edit)
SoundGirl - Don't Know Why
Ferrer - La bamba
Ingrid Dumosch - Happy Birthday Dear... (With Space To Sing Name)
Madonna - Where's The Party
Lady Gaga - Judas
Jennifer Lopez - Agains The Floor Ft Britney Spears & Rihanna edit remix
Run-D.M.C. - Walk this Way
Bruno Mars - Grenade
Reef - Place Your Hands
Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
Rihanna - S&M (Come On)
Alexandra - Burke Feat Pitbull All Night Long
Basto! - Gregory's Theme
Fragma - Toca's Miracle 2008
Ian Van Dahl - Castles In The Sky
Corona - The Rhythm Of The Night
Faithless - Insomnia
Robin S - Show Me Love
Alex Party - Don't Give Me Your Life
JX - Son of a Gun
Scooter - Jumping all over the world
Scooter - How Much Is The Fish
Shamen - Ebeneezer Goode
Ultrabeat - Pretty Green Eyes
Oceanic - Insanity
Cascada - Evacuate The Dancefloor
Dj Sammy - The Boys Of Summer
Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
Wild Cherry - Play that Funky Music
Shakatak - Down On The Street
Lionel Richie - Dancing On The Ceiling
Kool and the Gang - Celebration
Chic - Le Freak
Billy Ocean - When the going gets tough
The Gap Band - Oops Upside Your Head
Little Nell - Time Warp
Mud - Tiger Feet
Bill Haley - Rock around the clock
Public Domain - Operation Blade
Darude - Sandstorm
LMFAO -Party Rock Anthem
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Jennifer Lopez - Agains The Floor Ft Britney Spears & Rihanna edit remix
Gloria Jones - Tainted love
The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Rihanna - Rude Boy
Katy Perry - Firework
Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup - We No Speak Americano (Original mix)
Enrique Iglesias - Dirty Dancer (with Usher) [feat. Lil Wayne]
Erasure - A Little Respect (Extended Mix)
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer
Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Good kids party yesterday. 8 year olds and only 20 of them in a very small function room. Disco & Karaoke and they absolutely loved it. The 3 hours flew by.

I stopped for 15 minutes halfway through as they all sat down and had some food so I went and sat with them and had a right laugh. I drew funny faces on balloons for them, they did impersonations and some of the parents loved it. At first they were calling me "Mr DJ" but after the food and we'd had a laugh and I knew all of their names, they started calling me Gary. I also made up some certificates for the Best Dancer / Best Singer etc and they went down really well.

Really enjoyed the day even though I'd had hardly any sleep again.

Ok well lets start with saturday. A prep school in high wycombe. It was their summer ball. When taking the booking i asked if there was a theme/dress code and this was not given, i said i would find out at a later date.

Anyway, fast forward 6 months and i arrive at the gig. Huge marquee, with a huge stage. Eeeek i only have 2 quadzillas which sit on a stand each. Managed to spread the set up across stage using it all up. My nexos sounded great too. People start arriving in roaring 20s clothes, which was the theme. Nobody told me, so there i was in black trousers and a shirt. I felt underdressed but the client was cool. She admitted they should have informed, in hindsight i shouldve found it, schoolboy error.

There was auctions and raffles and tops and tails games etc so i didnt play my first song until 10.45pm. I played a real mixture of songs ranging from the 60's upwards, after a while some people were moaning saying play some new stuff so i announced we would go back to the older stuff later and it was time for a 15 minute modern set. 1st tune was barbara streisand which went down a storm, then rihanna. I played neyo, forever, and this chap was giving me the cut throat sign saying it was crap, i shrugged my shoulders in agreement but pointed at the floor to show everyone dancing, he then came over and asked for the mic but i wouldnt it give it to him. He then started saying 'this is wrong, the average age in here is 40' so i said 'if you think this is bad, wait for the next one'. That was me trying to keep it lighhearted but then he leant over and said this effing siht. He tried staring me out and was almost becoming aggressive but i stood my ground with him and said, once again, 'the next ones even worse'. He left me alone at that point and i carried the night on. I was a bit annoyed by this guy, i had been playing older stuff all night and i changed it for 15 minutes and didnt like it. You cant please everyone!!

Yesterday i did a kids party in london hotel, 1-3pm. Fairly easy corporate type thing for american airlines management children. Ended up doin 1.30 til 2.45 in the end. They had to leave early to go to a show in the west end. I did the usual jokes competitions, best dancer, statues etc. I was booked by the hotel direct but the client was very happy and asked for a card. All in all a good weekend except one grumpy twot in high wycombe sat night.

Thanks for reading.

:Censored: bands. Especially teenage ones. More later.

Exceptional night over in Nottingham. I was anxious as this was my first ever gig for 'special needs children' - They were so appreciative and danced to everything. I had a boogie with them and learnt a few names. The teachers were surprised I went over and had dinner with them and then taught a few how to DJ.

Most of them couldn't speak or move but they were smiling and clapping away. I did a huge 'O Jays Love Train' around the room and into the Garden which they enjoyed. It was nice to see the parents involved, pushing the wheelchairs etc.

A complete mix of music with loads of requests. I found it very rewarding and worth while. During 'firework' and 'bring it all back' I had to turn around to hide my tears. The guests were 17+ which made me realise how bloody fortunate I am.

I have offered to do their next party free of charge. I'll also donate a 'wedding fee' once a year.

God bless them.

Nice to see someone thinks of others in this game Charlie. I got a few 'you're running a business not a charity' comments on another forum when I posted about doing gigs for little or nothing. I did one last year and charged less than i would do normally, then when she paid me I said give €XX to the cause. That way she still paid me my fee and the chairty got something from me.

As my ma used to say 'there for the grace of god go I' Those kids might not be able to speak or move but they probably loved all the flashing lights and the music. Good on ya ! :angel: :clap:

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Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

Exceptional night over in Nottingham. I was anxious as this was my first ever gig for 'special needs children' - They were so appreciative and danced to everything. I had a boogie with them and learnt a few names. The teachers were surprised I went over and had dinner with them and then taught a few how to DJ.

Most of them couldn't speak or move but they were smiling and clapping away. I did a huge 'O Jays Love Train' around the room and into the Garden which they enjoyed. It was nice to see the parents involved, pushing the wheelchairs etc.

A complete mix of music with loads of requests. I found it very rewarding and worth while. During 'firework' and 'bring it all back' I had to turn around to hide my tears. The guests were 17+ which made me realise how bloody fortunate I am.

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This is the Charlie Brown we really like :approve: :D :D :D

Well done Charlie. I do a few gigs every year for people with special needs. They are usually fantastic nights and the feedback and interaction from them is excellent.

I have to say well done Charlie.
I do two discos a year for a special needs school and as you said, it's great. They appreciate everything and absolutely love it and it humbles you.

had a wedding last night, meant to have 180 guests, actually had about 100. Was in a venue that insists their sound system is used, which is not loud enough and sounds terrible.
Decent amount of dancing and requests thoughout the evening but, as often happens with 1am weddings, a lot of guests started leaving 11.30 onwards. By 12.30 i had just 20 left.
bridge & groom were happy and a few cards went out, so im happy, but i wish people would finish weddings at 12.

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Originally Posted by djdave01

had a wedding last night, meant to have 180 guests, actually had about 100. Was in a venue that insists their sound system is used, which is not loud enough and sounds terrible.
Decent amount of dancing and requests thoughout the evening but, as often happens with 1am weddings, a lot of guests started leaving 11.30 onwards. By 12.30 i had just 20 left.
bridge & groom were happy and a few cards went out, so im happy, but i wish people would finish weddings at 12.

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I would agree with that. Unless it's a really jumping night. But I think you get a better finish with everyone still there at 12, rather than people drifting away if it's a 1am finish.

My Wedding last Saturday was like that, in fact it looked like people expected it to finish at 1am. I've had Weddings finish at 3am and everyone has stayed and wanted to carry on it just depends on the guests themselves really.

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ford

:Censored: bands. Especially teenage ones. More later.

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Come on Jonathan! We're all waiting with baited breath! :D :D :D

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Originally Posted by Corabar Entertainment

Come on Jonathan! We're all waiting with baited breath! :D :D :D

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Ah...I'd forgotten about this. So, did a surprise 50th for one of my best friends on Friday night. It was so much of a surprise that by 1600 his other half still hadn't told me what was happening in terms of start times, playing times etc.! Anyway, mad rush from work in Leicester during Friday evening rush hour traffic to Belper, and arrive at the venue still in my work clothes, and barely on time. I knew I was working with a band beforehand, but despite asking, hadn't got their contact details. Anyway, they'd taken up every square centimetre of the stage-type area (though it wasn't raised)...so my options were in front of the bar or in front of a fire escape. I had a bit of a moan, and they squish up a bit. I load in, set up in the smallest space (my crossbar is touching a wall at one side, with a speaker in front of it) and have to have the most asymmetrical light show because of this. So, all rigged up, just need to add a little electricity...but my extension has disappeared!! I knew I'd brought it in from the car...thought I was losing my mind....until I noticed it. To the side of the drum kit. With a couple of guitar amps plugged into it!!! Cheeky :Censored: !! Wound me up a treat...

Last night was a wedding at a really stunning location (http://www.osmastonpark.com/weddings.aspx). Turned into a bit of a heavy night, songs of the night were "Killing In The Name" - Rage Against the Machine, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana. Turned into a brilliant night. Incidentally, just want to say thanks to Booche, who sent this bride my way.

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ford

Cheeky :Censored:

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:eek: ....and then some!!!

What did you say & what was their response?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Corabar Entertainment

:eek: ....and then some!!!

What did you say & what was their response?

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Sorry I missed this. I asked if it was theirs, and they claimed it was the venue's...until I pointed out a couple of grass clippings inside the spool as I'd used it to do the lawn the evening before. In fairness, they were very polite and apologetic.

Great gig last night,it was a wedding reception at a rugby club.The bride was polish,so alot of her family and friends were there.Right from the first dance untill the last song i always had a full dancefloor,everyone was up for a good party.songs from the 1980s along with some current tunes were very popular.

I am having a night of tonight due to the fact that i dont have any bookings.

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ford

Last night was a wedding at a really stunning location (http://www.osmastonpark.com/weddings.aspx).

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I was there earlier this year lovely place. Got one there next year with 22 x12 Starlight floor & full uplighting. Did they plug you into the mobile sound limiter?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ford

Incidentally, just want to say thanks to Booche, who sent this bride my way.

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And I'd like to inform Booche that the price of the mixer has just gone up :p ;)

Hi
At the Castle Hotel in Tamworth..Access was a lot better than i thought and even managed to get my 3 x 2 led curtain in,so i was happy.Started at 7.30 and once they had there buffet the dance floor was busy all night..I was told to play musical youth pass the douchie at least 3 times..I asked why and i was told the band was there..Yes they was there but i felt they did not like there song being played and then all the guests kept looking at them..
Overall a excellent Gig

Weird one for me...
One of those classic ones where you think it's not been much cop but the customer can't praise you enough.

It was a retirement party for a very nice bloke (met him for the first time last night as everything was supposed to be a surprise). Disco was from 8.00pm - Midnight. Everyone was in the venue at 6.00pm for a hot buffet and from 6.00pm - 8.00pm it was background music. I actually started playing at around 8.45pm as there were lots of speeches.

100 guests and half of them left after the speeches. By 10.00pm, there were around 20 people left and we could've finished then to be honest as it felt like the night was coming to an end. Not many dancers during the night despite me saying I took requests etc. I also had a number of requests in advance. These went down ok. Ended up finishing the night at 11.45pm with 8 people left.

As I said, the customer was happy and so was her husband who had retired so that's cool but I didn't really think much of the night myself. There were a lot of older people there, work colleagues etc and a number of very nice young ladies too but all people seemed to want to do was talk.

One chap made me laugh though. He was about 70 and looked like he had previously been a boxer (he had 'Boxers Nose'). I'd just started the Disco and played (as requested), 'When I'm 64' by the Beatles. Within seconds he came over to me and said "Why have you turned all of the lights off?". I explained the situation, I hadn't turned them off and that the evening entertainment was starting etc etc... He turned his nose up, shook his head and walked off only to turn around and come back to me and say "I'll get them turned back on".

They never came back on!

Great night for me, the Wedding guests were off an average age of 30ish and they had given me a playlist containing a lot of indie, the dance was full most of the night and the last hour was mental, at the end of the night got the usual " one more song" but this time it was about 50 of them chanting it over and over, so i played 2 x extra songs and said goodnight, but they kept chanting " one more song" so i had be a little more abrupt and i told them " that there would be no more songs".
They stayed on the dance floor singing without the music for another 30 - 40 mins and the hotel had two complaints from guests in the rooms upstairs.
The Bride and groom were very happy and came over to thank me :)

Absolutely amazing gig for me last night.
It was a wedding with aqua coloured uplighting for a very nice couple in a lovely venue around 5 miles away from me. I did a wedding last year for the best man and a number of guests attended that one too. Lots of people saying hello to me when I arrived made me feel really relaxed and at ease and the funny thing is, in September I have another wedding where they will probably all be there again because I have been booked for one of the guests too.

Anyway, I won't make this a long review. I have been up for ages now as I just couldn't get to sleep properly. I had to leave most of the equipment at the venue as I just couldn't get it all out in the alloted 30 minutes (I know the venue well so it's not a problem and it's very secure).

I was booked from 7.30pm - Midnight. Set up the Uplighting on Friday morning and the Disco on saturday morning. It was chucking it down with rain big time all day and I felt sorry for the couple but on arrival found out that the sun had come out when they got married, just like it did when I got married and that wasn't the only coincidence (more on that in a second).

First dance happened around 9.10pm. It was delayed as the couple were having photos taken. I had been playing background music up until then and lots of people were outside on the patio. First dance was 'It Must Be Love' by Madness which went down brilliantly with almost every single one of the 130 guests singing along. Followed that with 'I'm in the mood for love' by Lord Tanamo and then straight into a Ska/Reggae set for a while.

The dancefloor was full all night. I had a few requests in advance and worked round those, adding some of my own in that I thought would work and they worked well. An Indie set was the highlight with lots of classics in there and everyone singing along. There was an Old Skool set with the likes of 'Out of Space' by The Prodigy and 'On a Ragga Tip' by SL2 and some Drum N Bass (Roni Size / Aphrodite etc). The night seemed to fly by and when it got to the last song, I made the announcement that it was 'You got the love' by Florence & The Machine and everyone went absolutely mental for it. Massive circle, bride and groom in the middle in tears because they were so happy, it was brilliant. I loved every minute of this wedding, it was a pleasure to be there.

Now, I mentioned some coincidences....it was quite freaky. Today is my wedding anniversary. I got married 7 years ago today.
Firstly, as I said...It poured down with rain all day but when we got married, the sun came out same as yesterday.
Secondly, it was my wife's birthday on Friday, same as the grooms but the most freaky thing above anything is that the couple fly off to Italy on monday for their honeymoon. They are going to Sorrento which is where we went but not just that, they are staying in the same hotel that we did too!!

Corker of a gig last night for me. A mature (30) students' graduation party as they've successfully completed 6yrs of training to be a doctor. I've been looking forward to this one as doctors and nurses tend to be more up for it than the guests at your usual family birthday party.

Very odd gig though in a number of ways, firstly the first hour of the night was a keyboard player providing background music and secondly the customer asked me to let a DJ friend of hers do an hour set at some point in the middle of the night (it was a 2am finish - if it'd been midnight then I would have said no, as usually there'd only be an hour of "proper" party time!)

I asked the customer to get her DJ friend to introduce himself when he arrived so that we could get him set up and he did, and he was immediately very apologetic as he also DJ'd from a laptop, except his wife had tipped cranberry juice down it earlier in the day and now the sound card had died and the touch pad was going absolutely mental. However, he was determined to do his set, so he found a USB sound card from somewhere and hooked up the laptop - and Virtual DJ locked up on him. We eventually managed to get the laptop running to the point where we could get the playlist out of Virtual DJ, and I had all of the tracks he was planning on playing, so I handed over my decks to him at about 12:40, and was back on the decks by 13:10 as what he was playing didn't go down as expected with the guests. Now, I've got to hand it to him for having the nerve to use someone else's decks and mixer with no rehearsal - and he did a pretty good job, the only issue he had was with what he was playing. He'd been asked to put together a 90's R&B set, leading into 90's house - which I could have told the customer wasn't going to work (I've done a couple of weddings playing 90's "house classics" and seems to be a genre which has it's fanatics, but if you're not one of them, then it doesn't appeal). For some reason he also started off at 100bpm and had the set list planned out to build it up to 130bpm+ over the course of 30 tracks over the hour - but he started playing at 12:40 when the party was in full swing so a "warmup" wasn't really needed. After about 25mins he handed the decks back to me because "The customer was really starting to get on his nerves" (she kept coming over and telling him to go more "cheesy").

I nicked a few choice cheesy numbers from his list (Montell Jordan, Nelly, etc) and picked up the pace again.

I had a chat with him at the end of the night and he was a big R&B/UKG DJ along with another guy who specialised in House who worked as a double act in some of the London clubs back in the 90's so I've no doubt he knew what he was doing - it just didn't work at this the party. He did thank me though for my patience and pointed out that many DJ's would have not been anywhere near as tolerant, but it made the client Happy :D I made a good contact anyway, as it turns out he's an IT recruitment consultant and I'm looking for a move in my day job at the moment (I've got his number to give him a call on Mon)

All in all, very happy customer, massive round of applause at the end and me very pleased with the new RCF 422's I picked up yesterday :D Oh, and I'm not even going to mention the guy who gave me two fingers for not playing "The Lazy Song" (dedicated to his wife).

As a bonus, the closest I got to playing current chart stuff last night was Katy Perry's TGIF during the warmup :D

Julian

Well done mate. Good review, nice and informative. The other DJ's choice of tracks obviously weren't suited to the party goer's tastes.

I was chatting to a couple of young blokes (21-ish at a guess) after my gig last night. I wondered why every now and then when they were near the gear, they kept looking over into the booth to see what gear I was using. Not sure why but I actually got paranoid at the time as I thought that they were bedroom DJ's and just taking the mick because I wasn't using vinyl or something (you know the score).

It turns out that they both want to get into DJing and currently practice on VDJ and Traktor at home. That's the only equipment that they have. They asked me what I was using and I explained about the Denon. The comment they gave me was "It looks like something out of a space ship!".

having worked in the same venue before, and been moaned at about the bass level, i left the HK system at home and took the Mackies to last nights 40th.

I was deliberatly keeping the volume & bass down low, but still got moaned at for being to loud by the management. I had guests asking me to turn it up, and managment telling me to turn it down.

turned out that smokers were going outside and leaving the doors open, so neighbours were complaining about the noise. Unfortunalty, drunk smokers dont care about shutting doors.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by djdave01

Unfortunately, drunk smokers dont care about shutting doors.

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Yeah, from experience, they don't even care in winter when the guests are freezing.

Julian

Wedding last night - the venue was De Vere's Gorse Hill Hotel in Woking.

B&G were a lovely couple and very into their music, as were there guests (found out there were about 5 other DJ's there, including he Groom).

I was in the Boardroom, which was tiny, it was absolutely packed with 50 people in it, which created a great atmosphere (so much better than large function rooms with too much space).

I had 3 Solar 250's on the walls and ceilings (with rotators to spread the images around) and a pair of Martin Ego 2's on the floor. I did have some parbars but there wasn't any room for them, so they stayed in the car.

Music was Ska, Punk, 2-Tone, Indie, Funk, R'n'B, Northern Soul, Motown etc. Not one chart or cheese tune played or requested all night - people were asking for Parliament, The Meters, Roy Ayers, Jackson Sisters (I Believe In Miracles - tune!) - and it was an absolute pleasure to play them. Also weaved in some Irish bands for the Grooms family who had travelled over - Pogues, Flogging Molly, Saw Doctors,The Hooks as well as more traditional ones - these resulted in a mass influx from the adjoining bar and much cheering, clapping and stamping with everyone else joining in.

It was the best gig's I've ever done in regards to the audience reaction, at the end the whole room chanted my name and the Groom said a few nice words about me to the crowd - not really used to all that, certainly made a welcome change from being totally ignored as you pack up!

Judging by the groups that you played I certainly wouldnt have done the gig.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by djtrev

Judging by the groups that you played I certainly wouldnt have done the gig.

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Who's gig you referring to? And why not?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by djtrev

Judging by the groups that you played I certainly wouldnt have done the gig.

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We already established a few months ago that you won't do any gigs that involve anything adventurous or out of your comfort zone. My God your gigs must be boring :sj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by funkymook

Music was Ska, Punk, 2-Tone, Indie, Funk, R'n'B, Northern Soul, Motown etc. Not one chart or cheese tune played or requested all night - people were asking for Parliament, The Meters, Roy Ayers, Jackson Sisters (I Believe In Miracles - tune!) - and it was an absolute pleasure to play them. Also weaved in some Irish bands for the Grooms family who had travelled over - Pogues, Flogging Molly, Saw Doctors,The Hooks as well as more traditional ones - these resulted in a mass influx from the adjoining bar and much cheering, clapping and stamping with everyone else joining in.

!

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I guess it would be relatively easy to wing it with Indie,Funk,R'n'B,Northern Soul and Motown but as for the rest(in bold) I either dont know enough about the genre or I haven't got any.

Steve.Yep I guess so.
Face Bothered

Quote:

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Originally Posted by djtrev

I guess it would be relatively easy to wing it with Indie,Funk,R'n'B,Northern Soul and Motown but as for the rest(in bold) I either dont know enough about the genre or I haven't got any.

Steve.Yep I guess so.
Face Bothered

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Think you need to bold out at least a couple of other genres as well - unless you're up on New Orleans Funk and vintage R'n'B. Believe me, my skill at 'winging it' was not why I got booked!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by djtrev

I guess it would be relatively easy to wing it with Indie,Funk,R'n'B,Northern Soul and Motown but as for the rest(in bold) I either dont know enough about the genre or I haven't got any.

Steve.Yep I guess so.
Face Bothered

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TBF - I agree.

I don't know hardly any of those songs/bands. I'd be way out of my comfort zone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

TBF - I agree.

I don't know hardly any of those songs/bands. I'd be way out of my comfort zone.

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What songs?? Only one was mentioned

& in fairness you've been DJing for a lot less time than Trev (who incidentally was DJing while the genres he has admitted difficulty with were at their peak of popularity)

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Originally Posted by Corabar Steve

What songs?? Only one was mentioned

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by funkymook

W
Music was Ska, Punk, 2-Tone, Indie, Funk, R'n'B, Northern Soul, Motown etc. Not one chart or cheese tune played or requested all night - people were asking for Parliament, The Meters, Roy Ayers, Jackson Sisters (I Believe In Miracles - tune!) - and it was an absolute pleasure to play them. Also weaved in some Irish bands for the Grooms family who had travelled over - Pogues, Flogging Molly, Saw Doctors,The Hooks as well as more traditional ones - these resulted in a mass influx from the adjoining bar and much cheering, clapping and stamping with everyone else joining in.

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Pretty much a lot of them!

Above is a perfect example of why winging it doesn't work! I rest my case!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

Pretty much a lot of them!

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Nope, I still only see one (I believe in miracles)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by funkymook

Above is a perfect example of why winging it doesn't work! I rest my case!

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I wouldn't have taken on the booking.

Did they book you knowing you specialised in the above?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

I wouldn't have taken on the booking.

Did they book you knowing you specialised in the above?

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No Charlie. Lucky guess on their part. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Excalibur

No Charlie. Lucky guess on their part. ;)

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Martin has a general 'disco website' and then one dedicated to what he specialises in. I was wondering where the enquiry came from. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

Martin has a general 'disco website' and then one dedicated to what he specialises in. I was wondering where the enquiry came from. :)

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From IndieRetroDJ.com of course!

Sorry Funky,winging it was obviously inappropriate.

Crikey it makes you wonder how on earth I have managed to keep going so long with such a blinkered outlook.
Back in those days I didn't know what Ska was.Punk and 2-Tone wouldn't have got a look in and Northern Soul probably hadn't been pigeon-holed at that time.

So for a couple of years in the early 80s when the entire population of the country aged between 10 & 25 was wearing black & white, 2Tone didn't get a look in????

Tell that to Jerry Dammers

:ontopic:

Wedding last night in a bowling club,its the first time in a while that i have worked till 1am.It was 7.30pm till 1.I arrived at 6.30 to set up,most of them were already there as the meal was served at the bowling club.

I hate having to squeeze past everyone when carrying my equipment in,the kids were running round out of control.I thought to myself of no its going to be one of these nights where the adults just leave the kids to do what they want while they sit drinking.

Turns out it was an excellent gig.Good selection of music.Played a few oasis tracks as they were into the indie rock as well as modern dance.

Hope tonights wedding is another good one

Well, after the soap opera / saga style thread dedicated to last nights booking has finally been and gone, here is the review.....get yourselves comfortable.

Firstly, to everyone that said "I'm sure it will be fine on the night" or words to that effect.....You are (kind of) correct. It was OK, nothing more, nothing less.....BUT....it WAS a bit of a strange one.

It was a 7.30pm - Midnight booking and due to the number of people attending in the day, I was unable to set up early so had to do it when they turned the room around. I was there at 6.45pm and was set up and ready to go by 7.15pm. Started off with some background music using a number of the slower requests that had come in.

Finally met the Bride after 9 months and as soon as we met, she gave me a massive cuddle. She said that I had been very helpful and understanding as she was very stressed during the build up to the big day but woke up at 6.00am yesterday morning and it was as if it had all disappeared from her. She certainly wasn't what I expected and she said herself "The Bridezilla has left the building".

Bizarre Thing Number 1: As I was playing the background music and people were coming into the room, a guest came up to me to ask for some requests. She actually said to me that they had all been told that no'one was allowed to dance until after the first dance! Very strange!

First dance was at 8.15pm and it was 'A Moment Like This' by Leona Lewis followed by 'Time Of Your Life' by Green Day (lots of cheers when this got played). Just before the first dance, the Bride asked me if I would invite the parents of the Bride & Groom on to the dancefloor halfway through the song. I did this and they seemed reluctant to join them but in the end they did. When the Green Day track started, the dancefloor was packed and it would have been a perfect opportunity to get the night started......

BUT........Just as the Green Day track was finishing and I asked everyone to congratulate the Bride & Groom, she came over and asked if I could announce that they were going to cut their cake and could I stop the music. I did this and some of the faces of the guests looked a bit confused. Once the cake had been cut and pictures had been taken etc etc....I kicked off with a current chart set and the dancefloor packed out instantly. It was more or less like that all night which was good.

What wasn't good was when a large chap who had apparently flown in from Australia yesterday morning (the excuse was jet lag and beer), started swaying from side to side on the dancefloor right infront of my set up. He had a stumble but just stopped himself from falling into my decks. The Groom was with him and I mentioned to the Groom to keep an eye on him. Within 2 minutes he had fallen over on the dancefloor. They got him to sit down and all was well for around 10 minutes but then he decided to get up again and as he made his way to the dancefloor and past me, he fell over again and this time banged straight into my speaker (JBL) which toppled over...(these are heavy speakers too). I wasn't happy as you could imagine and called the Groom over and told him to please keep the guy away from my equipment.

There was no damage to the speaker but I guess he must have knocked something else too as for most of the night from then on, I had just sound from one channel on the amp. I spent most of the night worrying about it and looking down at the LED's to see if it would kick in. I couldn't stop the music and no'one else noticed as there was plenty of volume anyway. The Groom came over and asked if all was ok and I explained. He said he would pay for any damage (too right he will....it's in my Terms & Conditions) and I said "Let's just get through the night and worry about that afterwards".

Dancefloor was busy all night with Chart / 70s / 80s and especially when I did an Indie / Rock set.

Bizarre Thing Number 2: The Bride was up dancing to a lot of the stuff during the night and looked very happy. I wondered at one point if she was an imposter :D as the person I had been dealing with in the run up to this wedding was, if I am honest...not very nice at all. Now, if she had made the effort to attend the pre-wedding meeting, I may have done a couple of things differently and I may have known the reaction that a certain track would've given. At the meeting, the Groom said that one song he definitely wanted to hear was 'Sex on Fire' by Kings of Leon. I didn't think anything other than "Ok".

I had played Reef, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys and Fratellis to a packed dancefloor (Bride included) and made the announcement "This is a special request from the Groom" as the intro to 'Sex on Fire' began. As soon as the Bride heard it, she legged it across the dancefloor and actually slapped the Groom! I could hear her say "Why did you ask for this, you know I hate it". He cuddled her and she wasn't interested. You could see the awkwardness on his face as everyone else on the dancefloor danced and sung along to it. She wasn't having any of it and I felt a tad embarassed for all of 3 minutes. As soon as it had finished and I went into Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi etc...she was like a different person! I think the Groom got what he deserved. I reckon he knew she wouldn't like it but wanted to wind her up....it worked.

As it got to around 10.30pm, the number of guests had halved and there were about 50 left. The Bride & Groom were going around the tables and letting people know that they were knackered and calling it a night. They eventually got to me and the Groom thanked me for a brilliant night. The Bride stood there and didn't say a word but just mouthed the words "Thank you" from afar. I made an announcement that they were off early and asked everyone to congratulate them, which they did.

As soon as they were gone, a few more people left and then it was just the hardcore that were left. Requests started flooding in and in the last hour I did possibly the cheesiest and most cringeworthy set I had ever done. That's just a personal opinion though because they all loved it and requested the tunes. One lady had asked me for 'YMCA' at 8.30pm and was a bit confused as to why I wouldn't play it at 8.30pm. It's not something I do to be honest. I usually wait until the latter part of the evening.

Steps, Rednex, Spice Girls, Black Lace etc were all played and they loved it. DJ Casper had the dancefloor going mental and when the Macarena was requested and played, it was as if they'd never ever heard it before. Girls were actually screaming :eek: :eek: and not in disgust either. They were mad for it....

Bizarre Thing Number 3 I mentioned that I had one channel on the amp for the majority of the night. As I said, no'one noticed apart from me and the Groom who I had told. In the last hour I started to see a faint flicker on the channel and then it came back....very weird! :confused:

Last song of the night was supposed to be 'Never Forget' for the Bride & Groom but as they weren't there, I had a request for 'Champagne Supernova' by Oasis. I played that, thanked everyone and that was it. The Bride's mum came over and hugged me and also said that she understood that I had a problem with the equipment due to the bloke (her cousin) falling into it. She said to let her know if there was any damage and she would pay for it which was a nice gesture.

As the last of the guests left the room, I decided to check everything out so took down most of the equipment but left the sound stuff until the end. I turned the amp off and then on again. There was no fault indicated on the LED's when switching it on. I tested a track and it seemed to be fine although one channel was showing slightly quieter than the other. I swapped leads around and it seemed like a channel had gone but after a bit more investigation and swapping, it all seemed ok? I am a bit confused as to what it could be so may get it looked at and the customer can pay for it. I think I am right in doing that eh? I will thoroughly test it this week too.

Once again, didn't sleep much last night as it was on my mind but today I have that feeling of "Well, thankfully that gig is now gone" and I don't like feeling like that. It wasn't just stressful for the Bride but for me too. They were happy, everyone else was happy so that's what matters really.

Apologies for the epic review once again.....I could've said it was a rubbish gig but it wasn't. It was OK.

did an 18th last night, 100 invited, 35 showed up, and many of them didnt arrive till 9pm.

despite the small numbers, there was plenty dancing and requests. a few cards went out and the girls dad couldnt thank me enough at the end.

Both the soundmaster djs were out last night.Alan had a 21st birthday,i had a wedding.Alans 21st was a joint celebration,one of the girls were greek,and she asked for zorbas dance,Alan said this filled the floor and everyone went crazy.The hotel manager was very impressed with our sound and lightshow.

At my wedding,it was arranged that around 11pm it would play a 30 minute old school rave set.This was brilliant,groups such as ttf,tom wilson,qfx,qtx,base generator,love decade,dream frequency.There was also a guy who used to mc at events such as the rez and the fubar,so he also joined in.

This was also my kind of tunes so i to enjoyed the 30 minute set.