Good Gig, Bad Gig.

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Originally Posted by Benny Smyth

I absolutely, 100%, completely agree...with absolutely nothing you've just said there! :lol:

From a client's point of view, they were probably more than happy with the lighting but for me as a DJ who has invested a lot of time and a hell of a lot of money into my lightshow for not only myself, but for the very rare occasion that make people go "Wow!" it just wasn't good enough. There's more than £2k worth of lighting on that T-Bar (not including the stand, clamps and t-bar itself) - 'doing the job' is not good enough for my investment.

Saying that, there was nothing that could have been done about it. Not enough room for anything else, so I made the best of it from what I could. :)

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Sorry Benny, but my Thomann cost £200, not 2K, and on Saturday night, it was the perfect tool. Looking at the setup from the floor, it was classy. The addition of the cluster laser would have been the icing on the cake, as would the cheetahs. Thing is, although the lighting effect would have been improved, the look of the rig wouldn't. Until the lights went off, at which point you can use any blasted thing you want.

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Originally Posted by funkymook

I’m not sure I agree, looks can be very important, especially at weddings where the B&G may have spent thousands decorating the venue, we should be making some effort on our presentation.

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Indeed. It mattered on Saturday, the venue was stunning, many guests wore full evening dress, and my rig fitted in perfectly, I felt.
Although it pains me to say it, sometimes less is more. :(

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Originally Posted by Benny Smyth

I absolutely, 100%, completely agree...with absolutely nothing you've just said there! :lol:

From a client's point of view, they were probably more than happy with the lighting but for me as a DJ who has invested a lot of time and a hell of a lot of money into my lightshow for not only myself, but for the very rare occasion that make people go "Wow!" it just wasn't good enough. There's more than £2k worth of lighting on that T-Bar (not including the stand, clamps and t-bar itself) - 'doing the job' is not good enough for my investment.

Saying that, there was nothing that could have been done about it. Not enough room for anything else, so I made the best of it from what I could. :)

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Compared to what your usual setup is, yeah it does look .. I'm not going to say crap, because I've seen loads worse. It doesn't look like over 2 grand's worth of gear that's for sure. It also doesn't look like no thought went into it though.

All I'm saying is that sometimes we have to make compromises in what we do. Never at the expense of safety, but if it serves its intended purpose, fine. If we get 5 minutes' setup time, then it has to be something that we can fit in 5 minutes. If we get 2 square feet of space, then it has to fit in that. To get all these boxes ticked AND be nice to look at? Nice if we can have it, but surely not the end of the world if we don't. I'm not saying looks aren't important, but given a lack of one of many things like time or space (sometimes both) we might have to choose functionality over everything else.

The limited height there realistically means no mounting anything on top of speakers, and there'd be no running a bar or truss across between the speaker tops either - again because of the lack of height.

Maybe there'd be scope for mounting the moving washes on your speaker tripods in future, atop one of those pole mounted shelf thingies..

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Originally Posted by Excalibur

Sorry Benny, but my Thomann cost £200, not 2K, and on Saturday night, it was the perfect tool. Looking at the setup from the floor, it was classy. The addition of the cluster laser would have been the icing on the cake, as would the cheetahs. Thing is, although the lighting effect would have been improved, the look of the rig wouldn't. Until the lights went off, at which point you can use any blasted thing you want.

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I can't work out if you're agreeing with my point or disagreeing with me. :lol:

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Originally Posted by juski

Compared to what your usual setup is, yeah it does look .. I'm not going to say crap, because I've seen loads worse. It doesn't look like over 2 grand's worth of gear that's for sure. It also doesn't look like no thought went into it though.

All I'm saying is that sometimes we have to make compromises in what we do. Never at the expense of safety, but if it serves its intended purpose, fine. If we get 5 minutes' setup time, then it has to be something that we can fit in 5 minutes. If we get 2 square feet of space, then it has to fit in that. To get all these boxes ticked AND be nice to look at? Nice if we can have it, but surely not the end of the world if we don't. I'm not saying looks aren't important, but given a lack of one of many things like time or space (sometimes both) we might have to choose functionality over everything else.

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I have no disputes when you speak about time, space and such. We work with what we are given and we do out best with it. With that, I agree with you wholeheartedly. What I cannot agree with you on is accepting something that looks less than pretty. Like I said, on the night, that was the best I could do and two days later, I can't think of how it could be improved. I also accept that the clients and their guests would have been more than happy with it but for me, personally, I wasn't happy. :)

And it annoyed me more because when I put the T-bar together in my dining room and looked at it with my DJ's mind's eye, I thought it would look great.

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Originally Posted by Benny Smyth

I can't work out if you're agreeing with my point or disagreeing with me. :lol:

And it annoyed me more because when I put the T-bar together in my dining room and looked at it with my DJ's mind's eye, I thought it would look great.

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Oops, I didn't make it clear, did I ? :o:o The word sorry was a clue, though. To my eyes, it looked awful. Now whether it performed like 2K worth of light, I don't know, I wasn't there. It may have been superb.
All I know is that my powerbar is quick to set up, will light a big venue, and never looks out of place.

Never mind, when I get my " Gigbar " built, you can laugh at mine. :)

Funny type of weekend for me... Friday night was a wedding reception for an older couple and her family in an (upstairs) function room at a nearby boating club. Quite a nice venue, friendly staff and a laid back atmosphere from the start. This wedding has been playing on my mind for a while because it's very unusual. Firstly, because it was booked over the phone and using Paper - an absolute first, certainly since I started back in earnest 3 years ago. Secondly because of the timing - 5:00pm start, 10:00pm finish. Thirdly because whenever I pushed for timings for the night or music choices I was consistently told that she'd tell me on the night. Fourthly, because I'd had hints throughout the conversations that both her and the Groom had additional needs. She'd also mentioned that her son (who has Downs syndrome) would like to either observe or DJ for part of the night....

Anyway, set up ready for 5:00 and the Bride & Groom and a small family group of around 40 guests start arriving. The other DJ arrives as well with a T-Shirt with "DJ BARRY" written on the front in big letters, a single Numark NDX500 a box with an amp and a few lights from Maplins and some CD's. I dutifully make some space on the deckstand, whip a mixer out of the van and dig out some cables to plug him in and we get chatting and decide to take turns for the first few hours of the night until he has to go home for his dinner :D

So... the buffet comes out and I keep the volume low while DJ Barry makes his way through some standard party tunes and I lead him towards a bit of 70's and Motown. As he relaxes he gets more in tune with the laid back vibe of the party and then once the buffet has been eaten we go straight into the first dance (at 5:45) and start pushing the volume up a bit. A few immediately get up and we most of the room up and dancing by 6:15. We continue to alternate between us and he comes up with some great tunes and we have a lot of fun leading each other through different genres. 7:30 comes and I give DJ Barry a big send off and get him a huge round of applause and take over for the second half of the night, except... 8:30 comes and everyone gets tired and goes home :D

Lots of thanks from the Bride & Groom, lots of compliments and shaken hands on the way out, and some very bewildered venue staff! Home in bed by 10:00. Felt very odd, but it was a lot of fun and just one of those gigs that is going to stick in my mind for a while, because all of the people there were just really nice people.


Last night was a bit different - young couple with two young kids in a local community centre for their wedding. Despite meeting with them almost a year ago and quite a lot of prompting over the last few weeks, I walked in with only vague details for the night (80 requests including the first dance, but with a hefty chunk of punk and dubstep and a start and finish time). The community centre is an odd one in that it opens in the morning, closes at mid-day and then re-opens at 6:30 with the bar opening at 7:00 and parties usually starting at 7:30. This couple were getting married locally and then coming straight to the centre so they set up in the morning persuaded the centre to allow guests in from 6:30 to fit in with their arrival. What I'd been told was that the centre would re-open at 6:30 and the guests would go straight in and be followed by the B&G ten minutes later. When I arrived at 6:20, I was met by a centre full of guests wondering why the music was off... Luckily I left everything ready to go (including laptops plugged in and switched on), but on arrival, discovered that I hadn't plugged one laptop in properly so had to do a quick bit of plugging in and rebooting before I could get sound on. I was then approached by the best man who asked if I could do a proper introduction and entrance for the couple when they arrived (hmm, thought I'd asked about that and been told they would enter with the guests) - which I dutifully did and managed to raise a cheer from about half of the guests with some prompting. When the happy couple entered they realised that not setting themselves a top table (the bride set the venue up with help from family earlier in the day), was a mistake - as no-one had saved them a seat. Awkward. A table was found, covered and some flowers and balloons stuck on it, so problem solved.

We then went "straight into the speeches". Which turned into "Father of the bride speech, followed by awkward 5mins while the groom sent someone to get his speech notes from the car, followed by grooms speech". Again a bit awkward - during the break while he got his notes, quite a few people saw the opportunity to go to the bar (which had only just opened at 7:00 as usual) and didn't want to lose their places in the queue when he started, so 15 of the 70 guests were queueing at the bar at the back of the room when kicked off, and they didn't sit down, or even turn around to listen either. The grooms speech was something else anyway. It started off alright, but was hampered by people not want, then went rapidly down hill when he referred to his new mother in law as a :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored:. There were quite a few kids being left to run riot during the speech, so between their noise and the dodgy content, I watched as people as people zoned out and picked up mobile phones as he talked for another few minutes. He then talked about a friend of his who had died earlier in the week and forced everyone to sit in a 4min silence while I played Ben Howard (and a few people cried) before finishing up. The best man's speech wasn't amazing either and got roughly the same reaction (no tears though).

Speeches done, and it's supposed to be straight into the cake cutting. B&G wander off, two songs played, now it's the cake cutting. I'm struggling to get peoples attention with announcements by now as it's quite stop/start and people are still more interested in the bar than the B&G. Straight into the first dance - and it is straight in this time, but despite multiple warnings and announcements, only about half of their guests stood to watch and invitations to get people to join them during their 6min first dance fell on deaf ears. This was possibly because it was completely unfamiliar to them "Enter Shikari - Adieu". First dance done, and everyone sits down again.

By now I had a feeling I'd have an empty room by 11:00, and I wasn't wrong. The party peaked early (9:00ish after the buffet I had a full dance floor with about 40 of the 70 assembled guests - this hall holds 200 so you can imagine how "full" the dance floor looked). At about 10:15 the father of the bride walked out - as in stood up, put his coat on, said goodbye to his daughter and walked out. Most of the other guests followed. I played on dutifully until 11:40 to about 10 people who were clearing tables and closed the night with Sinatra.

So... Enter Shikari are apparently a Post-Hardcore/electronicore band combining Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk, Drum and Bass, Dubstep, Techno, Electronica and Trance and have had a couple of albums that have hit pretty high in the album charts. The play list had 6 of their tracks on it, but the big hits of the night were 90's cheese, Eminem and R&B like Beyonce and Jay-Z. One of those nights where I'm left wondering what I could have done better and what kind of feedback I'm going to get....! I did try to guide them a little on the playlist, but the advice fell on deaf ears. I do feel really sorry for the couple, they're really young and made some mistakes with the planning and execution, but they're genuinely nice people.

Next party is a 40th wedding anniversary for a couple who live in the road behind my house (bit of a co-incidence, we bought this house and moved after I took the booking!) then I start warming up for Halloween (which is coming early this year due to a lot of local schools tacking all of the in service days onto half term, making a two week holiday starting on the 16th of October!)

Julian

EDIT: Apparently I've offended the forum censor. Word above rhymes with filth :D

Sounds like you had an interesting couple of gigs.
Just to add to that - Enter Shikari played in a small venue round the corner from me a few years ago before they 'made it'. I was DJing that night. Bit strange to have them on a playlist at a wedding I must say even though I like some of their stuff (Juggernauts and Return to Energiser especially).

Anyway - My gig last night was my 3rd ever same sex wedding. It was for 2 very nice ladies at my main residency and it was quite an emotional affair (even for me).
When I met them both last week I was informed that one of them had recently lost her brother and the other one's father was in hospital very, very ill. She wasn't sure if he'd make it, let alone make the wedding. We went over the usual stuff and they were very laid back about the whole thing when it came to music. The only requests they had were for the first and second dances and the last song of the night plus one song that one of the girls wanted played for her father whether he was there or not.
She also wanted to say a few words although she knew it would be difficult.

The whole emphasis on this wedding was family. There were only around 60 guests and it was mainly family and very close friends.
They'd spoken about having Uplighting when they first booked me and when I asked if they wanted it when we met up last week they said that they'd gone over their budget so would have to give it a miss. Now, last week I mentioned that I hired a few bits of equipment to someone for their kids birthday and it felt good. I kind of did the same thing this week with reference to the Uplighting. I know the more savvy business minded of you may gasp that it is not business sense etc etc but....well...I guess the whole situation played on my heart strings a bit. I seemed to really hit it off with both of them and I think we could well become friends after this (there were a couple of people there last night that are mutual friends of ours.....our tattooist for one!).
When we finished the meeting last week and I had a chat with the C&B Manager I said "I'm going to set up the Uplighting for them anyway" and he said "Really, that's a nice touch".

So, I set up on Friday evening and knew that they were checking in at 8.00pm. I timed it perfectly. I'd told the C&B Manager to keep an eye out for them and I'd just finished setting up everything when they arrived. I went out to reception and told them to come and see the room and when they saw it all set up with the uplighting they hugged me and were in tears and couldn't thank me enough. They said it looked perfect. The girl whose father was really ill in hospital said that she had her fingers crossed that her father would make it to the wedding as he'd apparently had a "good day"....again, I felt good and it was a really nice feeling (it won't become a regular thing though!).

The night itself? Well, as I said....it was a very emotional atmosphere. I was booked for an 8.00pm start. I arrived at 7.30pm just as the speeches were beginning and blimey....it got to me aswell as I stood with the staff. The father had took a turn for the worse and wasn't going to make it to the wedding after all. In fact, nobody was sure if he'd make it through the night. Lots of tears during the speeches and as I stood there listening I was surprised when I heard myself mentioned as they both thanked me for "all I'd done"....I didn't think I'd done anything as yet?

Cutting of the cake was after just a couple of songs and as always I played 'Grow Old With You' from The Wedding Singer. Lots of people were singing along to it.
First and second dance songs followed (Kodaline - The One and Bon Jovi - Seat Next To You) and then it was into party mode. I didn't have any requests so I asked a number of times throughout the evening. They weren't forthcoming at first but eventually they started flooding in. Lots of chart, 80s and some cheese. Some of the younger guests wanted some of the more newer chart stuff (Silento, Major Lazer, Blonde etc) and it went down well. There were times when the dance floor was mediocre and other times when most of the guests were up.

Then came the speech from one of the girls with reference to her ill father. I asked for everyone's attention and the place was silent. She was in tears before she'd even said anything and her partner held her hand whilst I told her she'd be fine. This set lots of other people off but she got through it eventually. She asked everyone to get on to the dance floor and join her for Frank Sinatra - That's Life which is her father's favourite song. It was very emotional but also brilliant at the same time as every single person in the room joined in. All through the song I was thinking "What do I play next after this?" and I had a mind blank for what seemed like ages. Eventually I went with Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody and it worked, keeping the majority there. I must admit I did feel slightly uncomfortable when the last line of That's Life blared out of the speakers "I'm gonna roll myself up in a big ball.....and die". It just didn't seem right but at the end of the day it was requested.

After that it was more or less full on for the rest of the night and every now and then I'd get the thumbs up from both girls.
Last song of the night was Sister Sledge - We Are Family and everyone joined in. I thanked everyone and got a round of applause again and then one of the girls asked if she could borrow the microphone and said "Please make some noise for Gary, he's been brilliant" and I got all embarrassed. They both hugged me and someone took a photo of them both kissing me on the cheek. It was a very nice ending.

One more thing - I did notice 1 couple that were sat down for most of the night. They'd get up every now and then and looked like they were enjoying themselves but they didn't do much dancing. They were the first people to come over once everything was done and dusted to shake my hand and ask for a card saying that they'd really enjoyed the music. I was happy with that as I'd been given more or less a blank canvass music wise.

Really enjoyed last night. I know it sounds very cheesy but you really could feel the love in that room last night and it was great to be a part of their big day.

Another wedding last night. Easy going B&G & crowd. Had a late setup thanks to the room not being cleared til 6.30pm but still managed to get my stuff sorted in time for 7. Guests started filtering in at 7.30. First dances (Kodaline's The One followed by Heartland - I loved her first), then straight into party mode with Jess Glynne... a bit more chart, filtered down into the 80s, then buffet.. then an a very long (for me) stint of motown. Rock & roll followed, then at the request of the bride's mother a handful of Amy Winehouse tunes - I didn't think anybody else would dance to 'Rehab' ... then 'Valerie' (which never usually fails).. and then back to Motown with a smattering of NS thrown in for good measure. The NS was appreciated by those who like it, which wasn't many people.

It was a bit of a stretch for me to play that much Motown I have to admit but it was all well received. Last orders time came with requests for more modern stuff so I decided to do a fast paced minimix of recentish well known dancy tracks before bigging up the B&G and the guests and playing the last song... 'I've had the time of my life'. Three people said the music had been amazing & asked for a card as I was going round unplugging everything. The bride... I don't think she was very impressed at all despite the night having been a bit of a riot.

For some reason last night packing down seemed to take ages & my Mackies have never seemed heavier. I can't wait to get lighter speakers.. and that's not gonna be hard!

That sounds pretty similar to my gig last night other than the Rock n' Roll and Northern Soul which I managed to avoid. I ended up having to do a large Motown set to keep the older guests happy and, fortunately, it seemed to be universally popular. By the time the bulk of the older family members had left on their coaches at midnight I was able to finish with an hour long indie set which was clearly the Bride and Grooms preferred music along with the three Best Men and 9 bridesmaids, who were the only people still around. I then finished up with the Leeds United song 'Marching on Together' (there's no accounting for taste!) and Take That's 'Never Forget' which should have been the last song but I got talked into playing Shed Seven's 'Chasing Rainbows' as an encore.

I managed to keep a packed dance floor all night and the Bride and Groom were both appreciative of the job I did so, all in all, I suppose it was a 'good gig'. It was one of those where until the last hour I never felt fully in control though, because the requests were pulling me about through the genres and it felt difficult keeping everyone happy. It wasn't until the last hour that I felt I had a clear path to the finishing line and I was able to relax and enjoy it. I suppose that is where more experience will come in handy because I'm still pretty new to doing weddings.

I finished playing at 1.05 which was over an hour beyond my scheduled finishing time because all the timings for the day had gone to pot and I agreed to stay longer to justify my fee (because I'm nice like that!). Packing away took what seemed like forever, not helped by the fact that the nearest I could get my van was about 50 metres away and I had to navigate through the food prep tent to get to it. Like your Mackies, my Alto sub felt particularly heavy last night! I finally rolled up outside home at 3.20am and got into bed for 4am. This weekend is the first time I have done three gigs in a weekend and I feel well and truly drained. Hats off to those of you who do that on a regular basis because I can appreciate what hard work it is!

You've prompted me and I have just remembered - Last night I had an older guy come over and ask for some Rock 'n Roll. No problem. I put a few tracks on but noticed he and a few others that had got up out of their seats to 'bop' around on the dance floor had to sit down after just the 1 track because they all looked like they were ready to faint. They were knackered. A few others got up which helped but I had to have a little laugh to myself. The guy who asked in the first place gave me the thumbs up as he sat back in his seat puffing and sweating.

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Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions

You've prompted me and I have just remembered - Last night I had an older guy come over and ask for some Rock 'n Roll. No problem. I put a few tracks on but noticed he and a few others that had got up out of their seats to 'bop' around on the dance floor had to sit down after just the 1 track because they all looked like they were ready to faint. They were knackered. A few others got up which helped but I had to have a little laugh to myself. The guy who asked in the first place gave me the thumbs up as he sat back in his seat puffing and sweating.

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Heheh. I've not seen as few as one R&R tracks do that, but I tend to call it a day on the fast ones at about 4 or 5. Must do wonders for the bar take if nothing else. It didn't help last night that one of the rookies had put the air conditioners on, not realising he'd put them on HEAT :lol:

As for the lack of success of NS.. I was sticking to what they'd call mainstream - 'Move On Up', 'The Snake', 'Heaven Must Have Sent You' etc.. and they really weren't doing as well as I hoped. Too pedestrian? I dunno. NS, as genres go, is a pretty wide & rich seam of gear to pick from I reckon.