Quote:
Originally Posted by steaustco
But it ain't a Motown tune.
It is a good party tune though, I've given it some hammer this Christmas. S Club 7 - Reach is a good cheesy follow up.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steaustco
But it ain't a Motown tune.
It is a good party tune though, I've given it some hammer this Christmas. S Club 7 - Reach is a good cheesy follow up.
This DJ lifestyle is never dull. Up early Saturday morning for a wedding in Sheffield, as the easiest time for setup was before guests arrived. 9.30 am, and I'm loading onto the stage, and setting up. Thoughtfully, they'd provided full curtains to hide the kit, so that could have the big reveal for the evening. Fearful that heavy duty stage curtains wouldn't totally obscure me, they'd reinforced it with a three metre high starcloth! Highlight of the evening was watching three venue staff do battle with this unfamiliar piece of kit as they attempted to move it out of the way. The Chuckle Brothgers weren't in it, believe me. ( And watching the young lady who had set it up deal with it singlehanded was a reminder that enthusiasm is no substitute for experience )
10.30, and the kit's all set up on stage, ready to rock and roll. Since my daughter lives in Sheffield, having the day free was a pleasure, not a penance, so I returned in the afternoon, in time for speeeches and room turn round.
As did the other DJ! :eek:
We both ante'd up a contract, I raised him a playlist, and took the pot due to my kit being all set up on stage. :D He wasn't unduly worried, said he'd had a busy fortnight, and fancied a pint at home with the wife, so handshakes were exchanged, and no blood was spilt. The groom ( who had booked me ) reckoned the venue had forgotten to tell the resident he wasn't needed, but the other DJ seemed to think he'd been booked in the name of the groom, not the venue ( allegedly ). I played and got paid, so was happy enough.
On to the gig, well it was knee deep in young children, so Gangnam Style was quickly brought to bear, as were many other of its ilk. My brief was to play kiddies and modern early on, followed by Tamla and Northern Soul, with a full hour of Indie to finish with. Sounds simple, doesn't it? :whistle:
I did the kiddies and modern early doors, no worries, and B&G turned up only ten minutes late for the cutting of the cake, ( The cake deserves special mention. It was a three tier pork pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Different. :D ) the first dance(s) and announcing the buffet. As I said, Indie was the groom's passion ( although to be fair, he was mindful of the need to cater for everyone there, so I was given licence to play guest requests as and when I could fit them in. The first dance was Arctic Monkeys-Baby I'm Yours. Worked a treat, swiftly followed by Bright eyes- First Day Of My Life and announcing the buffet and photo booth, both in other rooms. I got on with some easy listening for Great Aunt Maud and her mates, and worked my way up to the less frenetic Tamla tracks. I got diverted by some requests, and was then asked to play more Tamla as "We were having the buffet when you played them". Fair enough, it gave me the chance to play the floorfillers, and the crossover tracks into NS, so no problem. Then I got the second wave of requests from the under twelves, some leftfield ones from the adults, some Stones and Bowie, and the usual mixed bag. All thoughts of cohesion went out of the window, and I hopped from style to style as best I could.
Then I got a request for Specials, Madness, and Heaven 17- Temptation. Up till this point, the floor had been reassuringly busy, but from this point it got packed. By now, I was within range of my desired last hour ( with the tracks on the playlist, I knew I needed to make it more than an hour, and the venue brought the finish forward, from 12.30 to 12.15, so time was of the essence.
By now, many of the youngest and oldest had left, so I had a hardcore of the bride and groom's contemporaries. I have to mention that I've never sen a bride and groom go for it in such a big way. They rarely were without a drink, and the bride danced with everybody, from the smallest children to the oldest uncles. The groom almost matched her, but for the fact that he tended to gravitate to his mates more, and he certainly knew their musical tastes. Everything from his list met with universal approbation from the dancefloor, and the choices of mine that I slipped in were received equally well, particularly Fratellis-Chelsea Dagger, which raised the roof.
I didn't think they could do the full hour at this pace, but they managed it effortlessly. ( There seemed to be talk of going on to clubs! ) I had fifteen minutes between bar closing and music off, so was getting even more pushed for time. At ten past twelve, I played the last two songs, first dance again, and finished with Champagne Supernova. Fantastic, as the bride and groom were surrounded by their sing and clapping mates, I've never had such an obvious, easy and rewarding finish. Packed up, and headed back up the M18 in a really good frame of mind. :D
:zip: ;););)Quote:
Originally Posted by mattydj50
Had a great one last night.
Fairly local venue, very nice bride and groom and when I got there, the staff told me that it was a really nice bunch of guests.
I was able to set up some of the stuff in a corridor outside the room before hand and when it got time to the turn round - I got everything in sharp to be met with another example of daft (admittedly minimum wage students no doubt) working arse back wards and doing every table except the top one where I was due to set up.
I got the mood lights set up and they still hadn't touched it so I had to go over and tell someone to start moving it - an hour for a turn round isn't actually an hour if your space isn't ready until 20 past...
To be fair they got right on it at that point and I was ready to go by half past.
The groom and maid of honour came over to have a quick chat - they didn't want the token Loch Lommond finish to the evening and had just told me to surprise them with something up beat. I spoke to the groom about this and he was still happy to go ahead with that plan and would consult me close to the end of the night.
Just as I was about to get changed the event co-ordinator came over for a chat. He said "I've never seen a set up like this young man, do you have a card? We're redoing our list of suggested suppliers and would like to put you on it." The card request was nice, the "young man" was very nice :)
Got everyone in, first dance, lots of pop stuff for the kids. I went round to get requests during the buffet and ended up with probably 50 songs from Boyzone to Salt n Peppa to Elvis and Sinatra to Old Skool 90s rave.
Was a pretty big ask to string it together coherently and keep everyone happy but I think I really hit it on the head last night. Not once did I get a snidey "wtf is this you're playing?" or "when's my song coming on?" comment and at the end of the night I got a nice big cheer and some nice comments from the Bride and a bunch of the guests as I tore down.
Best part of the night - I got to play Purple Rain in it's entirety as she was a huge Prince fan :D
2nd best part of the night - I was in the house for 1.
Last one of the yea tonight - big wedding an hour or so away where the bride is adamant she wants an hour of ceilidh music and calling. I can't see it happening - lots of drink, a 3 course meal and a long day, doesn't really lend itself to extended periods of frantic ceilidh dancing but we'll see how it goes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattydj50
Oh no, not so soon after we got him calmed down the last time. Now we're all going to have to sing Jerusalem. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Corabar Steve
Opening bars sampled from Where Did Our Love Go - The Supremes though:)Quote:
Originally Posted by mattydj50
p.s Neither Is Stop her On Sight - Edwin starr, a Motown record(recorded for Ric -Tic records later bought out by Motown!), but i 'll bet we've all played it in a Motown Spot at some time:approve:
No, because Motown is a record label not a genre. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by MusicCity
Come on folks, all together now, nice and loud:Quote:
Originally Posted by Corabar Steve
"AND DID THOSE FEET, IN ANCIENT TIMES............................................. ....... "
And stand in a packing case?Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
hi. had a great new years eve party last night the second year at same venue.i would say one of the best i have ever done! I think everyone was saving up all their energy for n.y. eve .as xmas parties were very quiet this year.dancing right thru until 1.30 am lots of requests ,messages and banter with the crowd. a great atmousphere.the place in my room was buzzing .after buffet we did the big ben countdown, auld lang syne which then some how turned into gangnam style? .then the scottish piper followed up by donald wheres ya troosers' after fireworks all back in for last hour and a half to locomotion reet petite and all the rock n roll and party stuff, finished with abba's happy new year. happy 2014 to you all!!!