Good Gig, Bad Gig.

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Originally Posted by Benny Smyth

Awkward too. Roadie is squeamish, so I had to undress HIS wife and clean her up. Lol

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Eek!! May I refer the honourable ( ?? ) member to rules 8, 13, 16, especially 19, possibly 21, definitely 24, possibly 25, and finally 31. :Naughty:

On a positive note, may I congratulate you on not even coming close to contravening my beloved rule 23, well done. :approve:




And just in case anyone thinks I'm publicly censuring poor Benny, please remember that I'm not always totally and utterly serious. :whistle: :D :D


Mod note: Should anyone ever transgress forum rules or etiquette, you'll be in no doubt at all whether I'm joking or not. You will be the recipient of the iron fist in the velvet glove. . ;)

Gonna have to read these rules now

Its my 19th anniversary today so in a chipper mood, however back to the topic and i'm gonna say good gig bad Andy.

Made a classic gaff in taking on a last min booking from another company up here.

Got a text from (another DJ who cannot be named due to the rules) asking if I could cover a gig for him for one of his regular customers. I had planned to have the weekend off but my wife (who is a nurse) was called in to cover at work on night shift so all plans up the spout. So I took the job and was given the details "The club on King Street in Shields, 50th birthday with karaoke"

If your familiar with the North East there are two towns either side of the Tyne known as Shields, One is South Shields and the other is North. Both have a King Street and both have a social club on the King Street. I stupidly didn't check which and as sods law goes I picked badly. So that was it turbo on and to the Tyne Tunnel. Thankfully its only about 15 mins to get over or in this case under the river.

When I arrived the back doors were open and I found the set-up area was just inside - heavens to Betsy I was saved. So quick unload, quick set up and got the music on 5 mins late but before any guests arrived. I have to say the DJ area isn't cool at all and the dance floor is miles away from you but beggars and choosers and all that said shut up and get on.

Then the smell as they brought out a hot buffet right behind me. Thankfully I got to attack that later and was a very happy boy. So started off the Karaoke and then did my classic rendition of Rappers Delight singing all 3 parts to great applaud. Someone killed Queen and despite them doing their best to make me look like a professional singer good fun was had. Then we had a little disco and they wanted the cheese so provided that. End result happy clients, cheap bar and some pats on the back for giving them a good night.

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Yeah, had to play Cheerleader no less than THREE times tonight. And every time it fell flat on its bum. Serves it right.

Groom's dad emailed me late last night asking me for some prog rock 'love' songs to be slotted into the set, but 1st thing this morning he emailed again to ask to scratch the last email because they'd kill the floor. I dunno, said I.. I'll still see if I can slot them in for you.

So on the night, the B&G's taste in music prevailed & people weren't much for dancing. Until they were of course. And then they weren't.. seemed there was just no rhyme or reason in their behaviour so I just winged it.

Since the chart stuff wasn't going down very well I decided to venture out into 70s rock territory after being asked for some just as I was unpacking the car.. and wahey! Full floor! Managed to squeeze in some easy ones like Fleetwood Mac 'Don't Stop', Free 'All Right Now', Hall & Oates - Dreams come True, Thin Lizzy - Whisky In The Jar, Rod Stewart - Maggie May, Faces - Stay With Me ... and had an absolutely rammed floor.

Requests for cheese were coming in thick & fast though so that's where we ended up by 11pm. Finger hovered over Agadoo, I'm sorry I just can't bring myself to do, do, do it. Just after that a coach arrived & took away about three quarters of the 120 guests leaving mostly just the boring young people who were too cool to dance.

A slow half hour was launched by me launching into the self indulgent prog rock requested by the groom's dad earlier. Happy bride, happy groom, happy parents. Job done.

Last song time was Bill Medley you know the Dirty Dancing thing.. to shouts of "no.. Mr Brightside!" .. "too late" I replied.. "it's for your bride.. she asked for this to be played as last song"... and we wound up the night.

I think I might be starting to hit my wedding brick wall now. Which is a shame, because I only have four next week. Four weddings. And my funeral. Oh yeah how much info do I have about those four perchance? NONE. Yay.

I didn't work last night so apologies for posting in here. I had an offer of covering someone else but all week I have been suffering from the bloody headaches again (not just any headache mind you, this trigeminal neuralgia....look it up, it aint nice!) so I declined and was in bed at 10.30pm.
I've had customer meetings all week and been waking up at stupid o'clock in the morning (04.30am two days on the trot for example).

Anyway, the reason I am posting is because just like you Juski, next week I have 4 weddings too and 2 of them have requested Mr Brightside as the last song of the night. I just wanted to mention the similarities. I'm hoping these tablets kick in properly and I can get back to some kind of normality because I am unable to drive at the moment. Luckily my meetings this week have all been within walking distance.

Last night was an 80's themed night/birthday in a local pub.

I was booked 9 - 12, they asked for 80's cheesy music, wanting Tiffany,Tina Turner, Whitney, erasure, dead or alive etc etc.

Started playing at 9PM, first 30 mins was rather quiet, then boom, "10 minutes" later is was almost 12 and time to pack up.

Went over to the host, mentioned the time, and asked what she wanted me to do. She was having such a great time, she did not realise what time it was. So, that's another hour added to play.

Again, "10 minutes later", it's 1AM and time to wind down. (Don't you just love it when your having fun and time flies)

Left the music playing whilst taking down my lights, and still the requests are coming in. Which I played whilst packing up.

Plenty of requests (most which I had already planned to play), and plenty of dancing pretty much all night.

Eventually, off goes my music, and believe it or not, they are still dancing!!!!

I've never had so many offers of drinks from the guests, (but I'm working, not drinking :beer1:), and at the end pretty much everyone wanted to shake my hand and thank me for a great night.

All packed up, had a chat with the staff..

Apparently, people had been telling the staff how great I was, how much they loved the music. They also loved the fact that I did not do much on the microphone.

It turns out, the DJ's they have had in the past have always wanted to play the music they want, and not what the guests want, too much talking on the microphone, playing inappropriate music when families are present (swearing etc), and not taking requests.

Already looking at booking me for up and coming birthdays, Halloween type events etc.

Overall a very good night. I wish they could all be like that, but as you know, they are not.

Brilliant 50th party for me last night.

Husband had booked me and said his wife wanted 80's new romantic and that her niece was going to sing as well.

Slow start then birthday girl come over and asked for 70's and 80's disco and soul. Place absolutely took off. Right up my street and played lots of stuff that I danced to in nightclubs in my day and hadn't played myself for ages.

Most enjoyable night with talented vocalist and gushing text and email this morning.

The sort of night that reminds you why we do this job.

Oi oi I'm not 60% of the way through my busiest run of the season.

Wedding Thursday, just up the road for a change, brilliant and asked to stay on for another hour.

Friday another wedding up in Dunfermline, really cool requests from the coupe (Sly, Funkadelic etc...) and the guests were giving it large with requests too - Faithless!!! etc... asked to stay on.

30th in Glasgow last night. Belter and although I never do it I rigged up a karaoke lite dealy and they had a ball. Asked to stay on but the bar was shut. Some bird on the way out "you were EPIC mate", not that positive feedback is a stranger but that was pretty cool to hear while wrapping cables. :D

Back in Glasgow tonight, one of my favourite bars (when I don't have 4 flights of stairs to cart gear up!!!) and they've asked for some fairly left field nu-punk requests so we'll see how that goes.



As an aside, I not long ago put a lay z spa out the back and usually come in and have a dip without the bubbles after a gig, generally being the wee hours this does not involve any sort of clothing :D

Last night I was in enjoying a bottle of wine and listening to some fairly random local radio shuffle playlist when my neighbour's and their family who were having a party decided they'd like to join me. Cue 6 in the morning when the other neighbour is heading out for work we decided to call it a day :D they were rubber but I managed to keep myself sensible knowing I've got a shift on tonight. Must be maturing in my old age :D :beer1:

Well, Friday night's gig didn't go anything like I expected it to! I had the brief prior to the night that it was a Summer staff party for a local manufacturing company and that they wanted an even split of 70s and 80s music.

I was due to start at 7.30pm and a chance conversation with a bloke in the gents at 7.20 revealed that he was the MD of the company. He confirmed that he wanted 70s and 80s and told me it should be an easy gig because he had let everyone finish at 11am and they had all been in the pub for most of the day since. He himself had already had 8 pints! He said that he was expecting around 100 people and that he had put £4,000 over the bar. The reality was that only about 45 turned up and not knowing when the free bar would run out they all set about making sure they drank quickly to ensure they got more than their fair share of the free bar. They needn't have bothered because had they known how much had been paid up front they would have realised it covered them for up to 27 pints each!

The night was, as you might expect, absolute carnage from start to finish. I set about playing 70s disco and within the first few songs I was approached by three young women asking if I could play some current Ibiza tunes. I explained what the MD had instructed and that I would be sticking to the brief unless he told me himself otherwise. They said they would make him change his mind and sure enough they did. A couple of minutes later the most attractive of the three (who happened to be wearing the shortest of dresses which left absolutely nothing to the imagination) returned with the MD who said that I should play exactly what the young lady wanted. "I bet you can't guess what changed my mind" he said as he scanned her up and down. "I love my MD" she said as he strolled away.

So, the 70s and 80s night suddenly became anything but that! I started playing a few current dance tracks before the girl walked up to me saying she now wanted an Oasis medley. I did as instructed. From that point on I was pretty much at the beck and call of about 15 drunken people who occupied the dance floor while everyone else was outside all night drinking and smoking.

Despite asking every 5 minutes for there to be no drinks on the dance floor (with mixed results) there were still four full pint glasses dropped and smashed on the portable dance floor. By 11pm there were three people who were so drunk they couldn't stand. One large bloke almost took out one of my speaker tripods before getting up and falling into a table full of drinks.

I was expecting an 11.30 finish but found out half way through that they had paid until 12.30. At 12.10 the MD said that people were that worse for wear (himself included) that it might be sensible to wrap things up. I finished as requested and was just congratulating on successfully navigating what was a tricky night when there was an incident. A disagreement between two colleagues was threatening to boil over. Two men decided that rather than risk it escalating into a fight, that they would remove the aggressor from the situation. The problem was that they were all verging on paralytic and all three fell over backwards. The two on each side had uncomfortable falls but the man in the middle landed pretty much head first on the thinly carpeted concrete floor next to where I stood. It wasn't until I suggested that someone get some help because the guy was unconscious that anyone realised there was anything wrong. Five minutes later the man was still out cold and the expanding pool of blood was visible on either side of his head! So, after having the fire brigade out to my gig last week, I archived the unfortunate hat trick of emergency services when the ambulance and police showed up.

My step son came through to help me pack up and by 1.30 I was ready to get off but had to call at the Hospital on the way home after I agreed to take a woman (one of the injured man's colleagues) there to see if he was ok. As I left the venue, the same woman's ex-boyfriend (the large gentleman who kept falling over) was still in an unconscious heap covered in his own vomit and the bar staff were trying to decide what to do with him. At around 6"4, and I'm guessing about 18 stone, I don't fancy their chances of lifting him. I strongly suspect another ambulance would have been called for him shortly after I left.

It was my first gig at the venue and for the agent who had given me the gig. He happened to be doing a wedding that night in the same venue and having had the lowdown from the bar manager came to thank me for handling things well and for being so quick to retrieve the defibrillator from the other side of the venue.

All in all I was relieved to get through the night unscathed and did my reputation with the venue and agent no harm whatsoever but it was certainly an eye-opener and won't go down as being one of my favourite gigs so far!

I'll be calling through to the company tomorrow to enquire about the well-being of the injured man but I have a horrible feeling that he could well have suffered a life changing injury. I sincerely hope for his sake that I'm wrong.

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Originally Posted by fullcontact68

. They also loved the fact that I did not do much on the microphone.

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Remind me not to cover this one for you any time! :p

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Originally Posted by fullcontact68

It turns out, the DJ's they have had in the past have always wanted to play the music they want, and not what the guests want, too much talking on the microphone, playing inappropriate music when families are present (swearing etc), and not taking requests.

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As I keep banging on ad nauseam, we're a service industry. That requires keeping the customer(s) happy.

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Originally Posted by Casual77

Well, Friday night's gig didn't go anything like I expected it to! .

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:zip::D:D:D
Be boring otherwise. ;)

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Originally Posted by Casual77

not knowing when the free bar would run out they all set about making sure they drank quickly to ensure they got more than their fair share of the free bar. They needn't have bothered because had they known how much had been paid up front they would have realised it covered them for up to 27 pints each!.

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Ah. The combination of the demon drink, and a free bar can often lead to

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Originally Posted by Casual77

. The problem was that they were all verging on paralytic and all three fell over backwards. The two on each side had uncomfortable falls but the man in the middle landed pretty much head first on the thinly carpeted concrete floor next to where I stood. It wasn't until I suggested that someone get some help because the guy was unconscious that anyone realised there was anything wrong. Five minutes later the man was still out cold and the expanding pool of blood was visible on either side of his head! So, after having the fire brigade out to my gig last week, I archived the unfortunate hat trick of emergency services when the ambulance and police showed up.

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accidents. I won't get on my :soapbox: about this, I think my views are well enough known.