Good Gig, Bad Gig.

I wasn't in my favourite hotel after all. No, for reasons I won't go into here I wound up doing a reception at the £5k for 100 people fancy 'posh' castle (it ain't all that).

This one became the subject of a thread in the music section with me fishing for some Mumford & Sons / Kooks tips.

It turned out to be an absolute corker of an evening I thoroughly enjoyed.

Toploader proved to be a valuable tempter, as in it got a warm floor full, early on so I'll keep that in the wings for other times as opposed to relegated to background duty.

The B&Gs pet loves didn't go down so well with more than a handful of guests.. or did the rest of the guests just want to watch the B&G have a good dance with each other? I may never know ;) Little Lion Man went down okay, then I clung on for a few tracks, taking them into 'She moves in her own way' followed by 'The Same Jeans' but didn't feel like it'd be a good gamble to keep going much longer & time was getting on, so out came Mr Brightside & then the floor was full for the rest of the night, finishing off with Meatloaf 'I would do anything' to an absolute storm.

There were loads of thankyous, big cheers at the end of lots of songs throughout the night, and a couple of requests for cards.. . I think I dun alright guv :-)

An unexpected hit of the night was The Goo Goo Dolls' 'Iris' which was requested & I thought 'what the hell, I know how to get em all back if it goes pear-shaped'. But it didn't.

There was only one guest request I didn't feel I could fulfil.. The "put all of Sam Smith's album on from start to finish" one.

As for the other stuff on the B&Gs wishlist.. all I'll say is they knew their guests very well & all their suggestions were spot on. Oh happy day

Saturday saw me back in action after an uncomfortably lean spell. A forty mile trip to a very nice Golf Club, for a 60th birthday, with a brilliant playlist to work from. Guests cami in early, nearly a hundred of them, and then went up for the sit down meal a table at a time. That soon killed an hour and a half! Meal over, and time for me to do my stuff. Very slow start, then a couple of folks got up, then a smattering.
Then I hit a rich seam, and the floor was packed. We had all ages in, from late teens to sixties plus, but the best results were the oldies, Mony Mony, Let's Dance-Chris Montez and that ilk. I had a rammed dancefloor until around 11pm, and the first taxi call came then. Folk then started to drift away quickly, and I probably had no more than twenty at the finish.

A great night, thoroughly enjoyed it. Best bit? Only having to play Uptown Funk once. :D

Two gigs for moi this week.

Saturday was a 40th birthday in my local social club. Im not a fan of the club layout, for me the stage is too high, the room too long and the bar in the wrong place. However its easy in and out so makes up for it a little.

Guess what there is a singer set up on stage when I arrive - I ask the client about this and I was told in a text message - check back and no such message exists. So I just set up in front of her as I am the show lol. Actually I leave her a bit of stage and move the stand up once she is finished later.

Night started well and singer didn't manage to get many more up than me, more annoyingly the guests at the back of the room had made there own dance floor and were loving Apache by the Sugar hill gang. The birthday girl wasn't taking any crap mind - any song she didn't like was greeted with get that off and put on the next - followed by can we have 20 mins of Rat pack. Boosh dance floor murder.

Came back strong with an indie and 90's dance section and they all come to the big house. Lots of shaking the touché for a good 90 mins to end the night. While packing up said birthday girl comes over and tells me it was great and all the guests loved it. This was contrary to how I was feeling. Then later two girls asked me for a lift into town as there were no taxis and they had been left behind. I'll not mention what payment was offered - suffice to say I got a pizza instead.


Next up was an impromptu kids party, was rang at 9pm friday as woman had decided that she needed some music for an hour at kids party. Told her I wouldn't leave the house for less than £60 when I factor in set up - but I knew the club and its the easiest in/out youve ever seen. She was mad for it. The kids loved it, used a minimal set up with my home made gig bar. Got attacked with light sabres and did the running man to show the kids how its done. Played a few games - hour gone. Woman exstatic and got 2 more bookings so probably the best hour of my life work wise.

Very similar weekend to me then Andy

Did an emergency 18th on Friday night....complete disaster.
The client had booked someone else previously, who'd texted her on Tuesday to say he might not be able to make it. Apparently this one doesn't drive. After several texts back and forth, and after him asking if she could move the party to Saturday :eek:, she cancelled and got me at the last minute.

I don't normally do 18th's, but I had nothing else on for Friday night, the money was good, it was local and more importantly, it was going to be a family affair of around 75 guests, a mixture of family and the birthday boys friends.

Got to the venue - very nice indoor marquee capable of holding 150+ people, proper dance floor, enough food to feed the 500. Set up in plenty of time and ready for the big start....which didn't happen. Less than 30 people turned up, about 10 where of the birthday boys age, the rest were people like grandparents. From here, it got tricky.

I'm used to dealing with wide age differences from things like weddings, but this was literally one end of the age scale, and then nothing until you hit the old 'uns. The older ones just wanted to sit and talk (tried the Motown and older stuff as there were more of them). The youngsters were requesting the newer stuff maybe once every half an hour, dancing to that track and then sitting down. Just couldn't get the atmosphere going no matter what I threw at it and was glad to get to the end of the night.

That said, the client heaped praise at the end of the evening, seemed to be more than happy, but was equally disappointed by the number of no-shows.

Saturday afternoon, a THREE HOUR 9 year old party! :eek:
I normally limit the under 12's to 2 hours otherwise it's just too much. However, the money was good so what the heck.

Brilliant afternoon, made easier because the client split it into three sections (an hour of me, then stop for savoury food, another hour of me, then stop for cakes etc, then me to the end). Had the little blighters so wound up by the end of the party that I bet they slept from the moment they got home :) (also gave out loads of business cards).

That's it now until tomorrow. Got a Tuesday wedding with an 11pm finish. Being as it's on a Tuesday, I suspect 11pm won't come quickly enough as a lot of the guests will probably being wanting to go home ready for work on the Wednesday, so not raising my own expectations too high on that one for a full floor.....I might be pleasantly surprised though....we shall see ;)

Did a birthday party for two Mod’s on Saturday, I played alongside a ska band - music was 60’s, NS, Ska, etc.(as you’d expect). Great crowd, the birthday boys were perfect hosts, always checking I had food and drink. Used a my solar 250’s with monochrome ‘pop art’ effects for lighting

On of the lads had his immaculate 1964 Lambretta Li 150 in the corner.


Attachment 17109

I was out on Thursday and Saturday.
Well, Thursday was actually a projector job for a wake. I had created a slideshow for the customer and it was projected on to a wall in the venue.
It was an midday job and I made sure that it was set up and ready to go for when they arrived and I was well out of the way. It was only 5 miles away from my house.
I'd arranged with the customer for her to give me a call when it was ok to go back as I didn't want to be in their way. The call came in at 5.00pm. The lady said everything was perfect, thanked me and told me that a few of them were hanging around but it was ok to go and collect the equipment. I left it until 5.30pm just to be sure but when I arrived back at the venue there were still at least 25 people in the room.

The lady thanked me again. I shook hands with a few people who also thanked me. I felt uneasy and uncomfortable and asked them if they were sure they wanted me to power everything down and they said yes. I felt as if all eyes were on me and it was almost silent as I packed away as quickly as I could. I said my goodbyes and left.
Later that evening I received a very nice email of thanks from the lady who once again said that she thought the slideshow was perfect. I'm glad I help put a bit of happiness in to what was obviously a very emotional day.

I was off on Friday night and luckily I was. Not sure how but I'd caught a proper cold from somewhere and had a very early night.
Saturday was a 30th Birthday party with a Star Wars fancy dress theme. I knew all the people that were attending as they used to go to my Indie / Alternative nights. They are a great crowd and really get in to it. It had the potential to be a cracker but unfortunately (in my opinion anyway) it wasn't quite as good as I expected.
60 people were invited but it looked like there were no more than 40 there however 90% of them were in fancy dress and there were some excellent characters.
It's a nice feeling when you're standing there behind the decks and guests who you know are all coming over to say hello.

It was a really nice relaxed atmosphere and I was pretty laid back. I had some Star Wars parodies that I'd got hold of that were requested and I'd also got some samples too. Everything went down really well.
I actually said to them all at the beginning "You guys tell me what you want me to play" and that was it. As expected it was a mix of Indie / Rock / 80's and some Cheese.

A funny moment (which I didn't manage to catch on video unfortunately) was when I had 2 full on Stormtroppers on the dance floor doing Gangnam Style.
Also, despite them all being in to their Alternative stuff, the floor filler of the whole night was Uptown Funk.

They all loved it. I thought it was ok.
Now, to try and get rid of this cold.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by funkymook

Did a birthday party for two Mod’s on Saturday, I played alongside a ska band - music was 60’s, NS, Ska, etc.(as you’d expect). Great crowd, the birthday boys were perfect hosts, always checking I had food and drink. Used a my solar 250’s with monochrome ‘pop art’ effects for lighting

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My solar 250's are getting more use these days too (I've added them to my website as an option). Where do you find the monochrome op-art effects? I'd love a couple of those. I don't think much of the ones at optifanatics but know that some people are making their own. Would also really like a hypnotic spiral effect.

Friday night I was booked for a 16th Birthday party. It was quite a long gig, from 7pm till midnight with a short break for the buffet. The room holds about 80 and it was full to the rafters. Mostly girls (the outnumbered guys must have thought their luck was in lol)

Althogh there were some family members there (parents aunties etc) they were very much in the minority and I was asked to start off with up-to-date music.

To be honest it didn't take long to get things going, 15 mins in I played one of the requested songs (I had an example playlist) which was 'Trini Dem Girls'. That started the dancing and next I wend for Sean Paul - Get Busy as someone had suggested the playlisted needed some Sean Paul. Well that man was right - the floor was suddenly rammed and stayed that way until the buffet

During the break I was playing background music (Donna Summer Megamix) and some of the kids were even dancing to that rather than eating. I had been asked to play a bit of motown, so gradually brought the volume up and went with that. Just two songs into a motown set on of the mothers came over and said, 'nahh forget that go just back to upto date stuff'.

I did and the floor rammed again - and stayed that way until the end!

I only got asked for about half a dozen songs I didn't have all night - and I had a lot of requests so I'm really pleased with that, it shows I was well prepared.

Mostly they were dancing to RnB and some seriously banging house tracks - some charts stuff (uptown funk being most popular song of the night) but also some very up to date new releases.

The only other genre tracks I played was the usual cheesy stuff (Macarena, Saturday Night, Casper Slide, Grease, YMCA)which went down a storm - and a little set of Queen 'Don't Stop Me Now' Killers 'Mr Brightside' and 'Chelsea Dagger' which I play the Hernes House Band version and it always goes down well

I have to say without doubt this is the most pleasurable gig I have done so far - I was on fire and everyting I played was eagerly lapped up

In the end it was the usual round of applause and lots of kids telling me just how 'sick' the night/disco/sound/bass bins/lights/lasers were. I was on a high for a couple hours after the gig had finished and it felt great I can tell you!!

Also a lot of the raucous RnB dancing made for some very pleasing sights from the DJ booth ;)

I know some others have said on here that this sort of gig is their worse nightmare but for me I absolutely loved every minute

Some videos if you care to watch them, sorry quality varies from watchable to very ropey, but you can see just how much 'up for it' they were

http://youtu.be/JU2NDDYjKo8 - PS the music fades/cuts are not real, I was putting my camera into pause then record again!

http://youtu.be/q-VVMAI-v6w

http://youtu.be/KvEQywY3Yw0

http://youtu.be/lkiPTiloesc (they went mental on the drop about 1 min in!!!)

http://youtu.be/JcKBgM0Mkto

http://youtu.be/I59bkdI_LPU

http://youtu.be/pRIRcCZdKAw (again they go nuts on the drop 45 secs or aso in)

I wish gigs were all like that

Rich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by musicology

My solar 250's are getting more use these days too (I've added them to my website as an option). Where do you find the monochrome op-art effects? I'd love a couple of those. I don't think much of the ones at optifanatics but know that some people are making their own. Would also really like a hypnotic spiral effect.

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I picked them up in a job lot ages ago, they might original Pluto ones. I’ve been tempted to have a go at making my own, but I know I’m just going to end up ruining the cassettes.

The ones on optifanatics are all the current optikinetic effects, some are pretty good, but I do agree, there could be a few more spiral type effects.

(funnily enough I’m DJing the wedding for the guy who runs optifanatics in a few months time - there’s going to be a lot of projections involved!)

Wow.....just WOW!!!!

I was nervous about this one. I've never done a wedding where the majority of the guests have flown in from the USA before, and admitted to the B&G when we first met that American style weddings were something new to me....I needn't have worried in the slightest.

After Friday's 18th with over half the invited guests not turning up and not being able to get things moving, I really needed a good one as a confidence booster. Being a Tuesday evening, I wasn't really expecting this one to get going as such with the American guests being jet lagged (a lot had only flown in on Monday, and some only on the morning of the wedding), and the UK guests having work today.

WRONG!!!!! :):):)

Got to venue and set up in plenty of time (about three hours earlier than I needed to be.....the original times I'd agreed with the B&G were different to what the hotel had, and different to what their MC had....it happens).

The rig looked stunning if I do say so myself :) (the cable police couldn't touch me), trusses standing there all uplit in the brides requested scheme of coral, the white booth shimmering and twinkling away, and the dulcet tones of Ole Blue Eyes in the background.

So the wait began......and continued for a VERY long time. The wedding party and guests arrived en-masse nearly two hours late!

Oh well....as I always explain to my brides during pre-wedding consultations, wedding times are always "ish", i.e. if you're planning on your first dance for 8pm, it'll probably be 8:15-ish. I work on the principle that it's their day, they need to enjoy themselves and unless there's a pressing reason, I'm not going to stand there with a stopwatch over them.

Anyway, compliments from the bride on the look of the setup ( :) ) and the food began......and then the speeches....LOTS of them, literally the whole top table had something to say). Then onto coffee and chatting (we're already well beyond the allotted first dance time....never mind). Then cake (which they make a big thing of for American weddings I learned last night), followed by more coffee etc.

Finally, 90 minutes later than planned, we're into the first dance. All went to plan (I even got my first ever video of it happening, including the confetti canon going off....cue promotional video). Went from the first dance music (This Guy's in love with you by Herb Alpert) to Love is in the Air by John Paul Young.....rammed the dance-floor, this is going to be a good night and I've only "officially" got 90 minutes worth of air time to go (it was supposed to be an 11pm finish).

Couldn't put a foot wrong. Whatever I played, they were up and dancing. Despite the earlier conversations about cheese at weddings, the American guests were well up for it....we even did a Cha Cha Slide vs Cupid Shuffle dance-off (both requested by guests).

Dollar dance, something new on me....I'd read about it but hadn't got a clue how it worked.....one of the groomsmen (of which there were about a dozen) suggested we did it, so we did, and it worked (it's a big thing over there apparently).

Overran by nearly an hour (I was thoroughly enjoying the evening myself so wasn't too bothered). B&G finally decided they were leaving, and everyone formed a huge arch for them to leave through to I've had the time of my life (something I remember from family weddings I went to as a kid but doesn't seem to happen anymore)

Grand finale as always was New York New York....the video of that many people high kicking is awesome. Paying the price of a 2:30am bedtime now though as I sit at my full time job trying to stay awake :daft:

A brilliant night which taught me a lot of lessons about American weddings, not least of all, how many people are involved in the bridal party and more importantly, how informal and relaxed they appear to be compared to the British ones...it was a really refreshing change :beer1: