:whistle::D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by juski
Expect a PM ere too long. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by juski
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:whistle::D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by juski
Expect a PM ere too long. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by juski
Crazy weekend for me. Friday night I covered a disco & Karaoke in a pub for a friend who's off on her holidays abroad at present so I took the booking last minute for a low fee and walked in with a brief of "21st birthday party, 7:00 to midnight with Karaoke" and that was about as much as I knew. Arrived nice and early and set up in enough time to get a plate of food from the pub. While I was eating I spotted the venues sound limiter.... on the opposite side of the wall to the function room. With sockets in the main bar area. Guess I don't need to worry about that then :D
The customer turns up at 7:15 and the birthday girl pays me and tells me that it's a joint 21st, 5th and engagement party and I have to tell her that I can't finish at midnight because the venue has fussy neighbours and their license is only until 23:30. No problem she says.
So... guests turn up and there's kids everywhere. I have no issue with kids generally, but this bunch were unruly and wrecking the place. They were also bad singers who couldn't read and had little imagination for song choices - and unfortunately dominated the Karaoke from about 20:30 until 21:30 when I told them to give it a rest (mostly because I couldn't take listening to Cheerleader or Let it go for the 4th and 5th times respectively. And because one of them kept turning the screen off and others were starting to fight over the mic so I could see something getting broken soon.
The adults found their dutch courage around 22:30 and sang for the last hour. There were some crazy requests for songs that none of the major Karaoke sites had and I ended up having to search for the original tracks and just let people sing along and then it started getting a bit crazy. Neither the kids or the adults had managed to master the request slips but I had mostly been managing to scrawl down names and song choices as they were being shouted at me. For the whole of the last hour they were coming thick and fast and things got confused because I'd call names, double check names and the song choice as they came up, and then as the music started they'd shout at me that I was playing the wrong song. So I'd say "Are you x and y singing z?" and they'd shout back "no we're a and b singing c!" :Censored:
Approaching the end of the night and one singer has finished and I've put on background music while I announce that we're about to start the last two songs and called for the next singer when a lady comes up and starts pushing for her to be one of the two. One of the two was set to be the birthday girl and her fiance and they were already stood waiting with a Mic and, to cut a long story short, by the time this lady let me get a word in edgeways, there was only time left for one song anyway!
On the way to put kit in the car the same lady collared me and starts moaning about the evening being cut short. Apparently she's the birthday girls aunt and paid for the night for a midnight finish so now she thinks she should get a third back because it finished 30mins early and she didn't get to sing her songs. That question got a single word answer from me - "no" and I then explained that maybe she should have asked for her songs before 23:00 because while she asked for 5 songs in that 30min block, so did everyone else. Anyway, she let slip that their a gypsy family and apparently she throws lots of parties and I'm never going to play at any of them ever again - THANK GOD. Birthday girl and her mother both apologised for her behaviour after she left and I got handshakes and thanks from most of the guests as I was walking between the rig and the car so it couldn't have been that bad....
Overall a night I want to forget, especially some of the really odd moments, like the birthday girl asking why I didn't play "Brown eyed girl" for her Mum - and me having to tell her that it was because she didn't ask me to... and then her going "oh yeah, guess that makes sense". :zip:
Saturday night was another 21st for a lovely family with more issues with the venue license. This was in a bar with a function room in the middle of a major entertainment area so their license runs until 6:00am and I'm booked until 1:00 with a set hourly rate thereafter. Turns out that the venue will only allow you to play on if the punters are putting enough money over the bar - and they weren't last night so after agreeing a 2:00am finish with the customer, the venue insisted on 1:00am and then eventually compromised on 1:30. By the time the venue and customer had agreed a time and informed me it was 00:50 so I didn't have time to let guests know we'd renegotiated the finish time and most had already made arrangements to leave. I ended up with a bit of an anticlimax to a great night, playing to an empty room at 1:25.
Customer happy though and actually a really fun night for me with a great crowd of people and some very interesting song choices (quite a few Spanish in the room).
Julian
Wedding on Friday night at one of my regular venues. Alternative music was the order of the day (there is already a thread discussing that), and it was a pretty good night.
Started at 7:30 on the dot and finished at 1am on the dot. No real tales to tell from the evening. The groom was on the dancefloor all night, whilst the bride was mingling in between dancing. Full dancefloor from start to finish, and it was comical to see Mrs. B (who was my roadie that night) regularly pull the "What the hell is this?" face. Some of the bar staff thought that it was "a bit punky" (to be honest, I was expecting/hoping to go a bit harder than what was played), but the bar manager on the night and I thought it was great. Makes a nice change.
Bride and groom was happy, and a lot of guests were smiling. Job done.
All I had this weekend was a 10 year old birthday....from 2:30 until 4:30 in the afternoon!
Even the venue staff agreed before I started that the timings were wrong.....and they were right.
A warm afternoon saw the kiddies outside playing on the lawn and me with an empty room. Strangely though, the parents have re-booked me to do a 6 yr old party in the summer at the same venue (they were more than happy with my efforts).
Next weekend is a wedding fayre (my first ever dip of the toe into the standing by a table experience...wish me luck).
After that...the action finally begins again on a six week run of weddings and parties (and not before time either).....it's been tough so far this year!
Gig report first, rant later. :mad:
River cruise last night, under slightly less than ideal circumstances. River's virtually in flood, so had to load through the boatyard, rather than the standard jetty. When we set off, rather than cruising up and down the river, we basically stayed in town, going round and round in circles. :D I'm sat at the front, watching the same bits going past again and again.
50th and 70th Birthday party, most punters seemingly in party mode even before they arrived. I'd got on early, and was ready to go. Boat setup is slightly challenging, tables and chairs in main body of boat, along with bar, toilets and food. Dancefloor next, then some doors, and me at the pointy end. Your lights and speakers are on the dancefloor, through the doors. More of the speakers in my speaker thread elsewhere. Biggest issue is that to get the sound to the back of the boat, you'd have to be at an unbearable level at the front.
From the third song they were singing and waving arms, and the dancefloor was almost never empty. One birthday girl asked for loads of cheese, so the last hour was packed with the Usual Suspects. Finished on Let It Go from Frozen, to a massed chorus. Docked at 10.30, and packed up.
Then the fun began. :mad: Car ( has to be a car, van won't go in the car park ) is five minutes walk away, and once I was in it, I had to deal with city centre traffic, and my new pet hate, Taxi Drivers. :mad: As I returned to the boatyard, one taxi driver is blocking the entrance picking up, I'm now blocking traffic behind me, and nobody is a happy little bunny. We have the obligatory concerto for car horns, conducted by the white haired old git at the front with his arms out of the window keeping them all in time. Once the taxi had cleared my entrance, I got in, loaded up, and rejoined the fray. By the time I hit the outskirts, I was not in a good humour at all. Shame really, took the edge off a good night.
A murder mystery night for me last night. I knew I was going to have a busy day so tramped off to the hotel with my gear earlyish in the morning to set up. That done, I went van shopping.
On to the gig then.. I rolled in about 9.30pm with my laptop & got myself plugged in then bade my time til it was disco o'clock - which last night was 10.30pm. Opening tune - Candi Staton's Young Hearts rammed the floor then requests came thick & fast. From the dour (Biffy Klyro? "Oh come on it'll have EVERYBODY UP!") to the just plain inexplicable (Wilson Philips' Hold On? Go West King of Wishful Thinking? Deacon Blue Dignity? WTH planet are you lot on where you think these are good songs to dance to? Meh). Requests were suitably managed & a packed floor was had til midnight. Loads of mic work was needed - plenty of dedications for birthdays & whatnot which made a nice change for me.
Had everything down in ten minutes ready to go in the car (for the last time ever I hope!) but a drunken oik was blocking my path with his chair. His excuse for not following everyone else into the lounge was that he didn't know where it is. :muppet:
Next weekend there are NO discos on my books. A very rare Saturday night off which I'll be spending with my long-suffering wifey unless she gets a better offer :lol:
Really good party last night which was a joint 40th and 70th for a mother and daughter.
I supplied Disco + Photo Projection for them at one of the local golf clubs that I have been to a few times now.
They were pretty laid back about the music when we met beforehand and that was cool with me. I've actually noticed a trend at the moment where a lot of my customers are only requesting a few tracks and letting me get on with the rest. It's the same for tonight's wedding actually.
Anyway, a good mixed crowd (well, there would be wouldn't there because it was a joint 40th and 70th). There were quite a few children there too and some excellent moves going down on the dance floor.
It was one of those nights where the dance floor was always looking healthy numbers wise but it really packed out in the last hour. Lots of requests started coming in and I have to say that the song that got the best reaction by far was............ Kylie Minogue - Better The Devil You Know... Don't ask me why but they loved it.
I also had a request for Brother Beyond too and that's the first time ever in all of the years I have been DJing, all the 80's nights I've done etc etc.... I played it and it went down well.
I played from 7.00pm - 11.00pm and was back indoors by 11.45pm so that was nice too.
Tonight's wedding - Well, I've been to the venue already this morning to install the uplighting. I can't set up until after the wedding breakfast later and only found out a few days ago from the Bride & Groom that although they've booked me from 7.00pm - 11.30pm... the speeches and wedding breakfast are scheduled to finish at 8.00pm!
They've given me their first, second and last song requests and that's it. It should be a relatively easy night as long as that sound limiter doesn't cause me any grief!
Mrs. Benny's cousin recently got engaged, so I went to the engagement party as a guest last night. 7pm start time, and the DJ arrived to start playing at 8:30 after the engaged couple and respective parents had a right go at the venue. A few phone calls later (with a very 'meh' attitude from the venue staff) sorted that problem. To be honest, I thought the party was better before he arrived.
And the venue? Lovely place. Stunning. The sort of place you walk away from with nicotine stained teeth and an std. If the place burned down, I'm pretty sure that the most expensive thing that would need replacing would have been my shoes. :banghead:
I know this sounds snobbish, but I'm really not exaggerating. I think I need another shower.
Maybe you know a really good DJ to do the Wedding ?:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Smyth
After being laid up for a while I did my comeback gig which was an 80th to replace the previously booked 80th which was cancelled sadly due to the lady departing this mortal coil--a great shame as it was to be a St Georges Party with lots of English Flags and celebrating Englishness--Country Dancing etc.
The replacement Event near Chelmsford was standard for me--as this lady is a Country nut and a bit of a Line Dancer.
So the usual suspects--Johnny, Dolly, Kenny etc mixed in with Barn, Line and Square Dancing.
Some fun with the miseries who never join in--one of the Cowgirl Dancers called them boring as we faced them during the Line Dance moves--so I renamed them as LOOOOSERS each time we faced them--which got a lot of people laughing as usual.
A lot of the guests were --around 80--so keeping them going was challenging but not that difficult.
A good finish with Auld Lang Syne, several blasts of happy Birthday and three cheers.
At least the LOOOOOSERS finally joined in.:rolleyes:
A help out out by the bar staff was appreciated.
Looks like the recent drought is over for me :)
Two completely different gigs this weekend.
Saturday night was a venue I've not been to for 18 months, but the owner still recognised me as I walked in the door and welcomed me with open arms. Got in and set up with minimal rig (a distinct lack of head room meant that it was pretty much Wizards on the new pole mount system and a couple of par bars on the floor in front of the booth. For such a lack of kit, it actually looked quite good in that little space.
Couple of technical issues had me in a panic, not least of all my Windows 10 DMX machine alerting me to the fact that it intended to re-boot approximately an hour into the gig. So - rebooted it before I got started, and lot all communication with the DMX dongle and the lights.....bugger :o. Eventually got it going again after a lot of sweat.
Now....I knew I was in for a good night on this one. I did a Christmas party for these ladies back in November last year in a different venue, and both myself and the poor young barman ended up losing our shirts during It's Raining Men (don't ask). This time though it was a fundraiser to raise money for one of the children of the guests who's going to hell and back at the moment with Leukaemia.
So, the allotted start time arrives and on goes the background music......and it stayed on for a good while until we managed to coax the guests away from the bar to see the various raffle prizes being drawn, speeches and buffet....back to background music then since the buffet table is in the middle of my dance floor. It would appear they were hungry too....it went on forever. In fact by the time it was cleared away, I had two hours left to do my bit on a five hour booking. Rammed floor for the duration, and a lot of very happy guests.
And onto tonight. It was a wedding in a very local venue (let's just say it's an hour from turning off to having everything unloaded in my store and back home enjoying a well earned beer). I've done this venue many times and it's always a nice one. It's a starlit marquee with a grand reveal of the dancefloor for the first dance - and it's normally a good party.
However, arrived to be told that the guests were very "subdued". Apparently they'd been knocking back the prosecco until about 3pm, and then suddenly stopped drinking. The TOG concluded I was in for a struggle too. OK, this doesn't bode well then.
In and set up in 30 mins flat (a record for me). Slightly less kit than normal because I opted to front the light show with my new 3ft acrylic LOVE letters. They looked really good in there I must say, and were the centre of attention for a lot of people having photo's done in front of them. I think I need to rip out the LED strips that are in there though and look to replace them with something DMX'able. Having them sitting there randomly flashing bugged me all night.
First dance and the second song.....packed floor. Maybe I've got their attention. Third song....they all went and sat down leaving me in an empty marquee. And that's the way it went for the entire 4 hours. To be fair, the bride had warned me during our meeting that this could happen. She was also expecting a lot of people to disappear at about 11pm due to it being a Sunday. She wasn't wrong!
However, finally got the final guests on the floor for pretty much the last hour with 50's rock 'n' roll....who'dve thunk it?
So, a mixed weekend. Not sure I could have done anything different so not going to mull on it.
Next weekend, a wedding for an older couple (their words - not mine) who didn't want to meet up. Everything's been done by emails of less than 20 words so could be an interesting one. What I do know is that it's going to be mainly what they're calling "old music", and from what they've sent me preference-wise, it's 50's to 70's only......and I'm actually looking forward to that :)