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Well done you! (for the gig and also for bringing the thread back on track).
It's one of those freaky moments but towards the end of last year one of my weddings had Wannadies as the first dance and I decided to do more or less exactly the same as you although I kicked off straight after with The Strokes - Last Nite and then went into Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
Yes, floor fillers that are usually on later in the evening but hey, floor fillers are the important words here!
For some of us the selection process may be as simple as whether the client agrees the fee you quoted. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by funkymook
Well many parts of North Yorkshire are nearer to you than to Allan.Quote:
Originally Posted by juski
Funny old world, isn't it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Smyth
Right, since Benny has raised this point:
Mod Note: Please try to keep this section for reports of gigs you have done. Recent posts, mine included, have drifted off course. Thank you.
Yes sir :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
OK, this week's wedding was a gig of two halves.
I hadn't met the Grooms, with them preferring only to talk on the phone in the lead up (and sometimes even that was difficult in that I just couldn't get hold of them). No matter....spoke on Friday and got a good idea of what was what for the evening.....
Turned up to the venue (late because it wasn't where the SatNav said it should have been and because it was near the coast and I ended up following those in Volvo's with hats on the parcel shelf and National Trust stickers out on a :Censored: Sunday afternoon joy ride )
It's in a marquee, that much I was aware of. What I wasn't aware of was that it was the marquee from hell. In a sunken garden, van no closer than 200 yds away and no chance of using the RockNRoller cart due to the incline on the lawn. Hey ho...several trips then :(. The marquee itself is permanently there, except they cheaped out on putting it up and used the standard marquee coconut matting and carpet. It was soaked as I soon found out the first time I knelt down to plug something in.
Anyway....go the good bits. The gentlemen concerned got married in no less than the Houses of Parliament on Saturday, and this village is where they have a holiday home away from the big smoke. They and their friends and family went down to the local church for some sort of Eucharist (don't ask me what that is), and arrived at the venue 90 minutes late. That's the timings out of the window but it's a wedding and it happens ;)
Original order of the evening was me on background music until around 10:15pm whilst everyone partook in a barn dance in the brick building next door, followed by yours truly and a fireworks display (more on that in a while).
The running order changed and both the band and myself were playing at the same time....all evening (I won the battle of the dance floors :) ).
We were supposed to have a fireworks display at about 10:45, which kept creeping forward because of the impending wet stuff coming out of the sky. 10pm, I'm handed a radio which is my link to the fireworks people two fields down, and get given a 5 minute warning of the big flashy-bangy things going off. So, herd everyone out of the marquee and wait with a countdown from 30 seconds for me to hit the button on a specially recorded track which the fireworks have been programmed to (DMX with fireworks.....clever eh? ).
Countdown over, button pressed, I sit back and relax whilst they're watching the fireworks (I'd known about this part for several weeks and it was one of those high stress moments just hoping it was going to work....there's no second chance on that one).
Fireworks over, back to the dancing. We went completely off the specified playlist (with the happy couple's blessing) and into a mixture of cheese and gay anthems.....floor absolutely rammed. Eventually the end of the night came around and I played one which they'd put on their playlist as the closing dance (REO Speedwagon's Keep on loving you), which went down a storm. Got the usual request for "one more" and thought, yeah...why not, they're a good crowd.
One of the gents is a West End actor so.....hmmm.....New York New York it is then with the happy couple really camping it up in the middle of their friends.
From the entertainment side of things....I needed that one :)
However, a LOT went wrong (which thankfully nobody noticed).
DMX went completely to pot (think the dongle's probably got a fault as both wireless and wired were just hopeless cases)
I lost my paperwork containing all of the event information (it was in the van when I arrived). This one's a tradition with me and I have it to hand at all times. It was unnerving not having it to hand.
VDJ seemed to "lose" more than its fair share of songs (i.e. relocate missing file), so must have a look at the database this week.
I didn't get fed as I'd been promised and was famished by the end....with the load out just as bad as the load in and a very wet and windy drive home down dark and windy country roads.
Eventually home at 2:30am and now sitting in my full time job struggling to stay awake. But, despite all that went wrong and how difficult everything was, looking back at the video footage I'm proud of the night those two chaps had - it's smiles all round on the video :)
Next week....something a little different - sequence dancing! (at least I should be guaranteed a full floor ;) )
Well a busy weekend for me.
Friday night a 14 year old's birthday party at southampton , most of the girls spent the night either in the car park , or in the toilets.
They would come up and ask for a song , then go away.....:confused:, no parents , no guardians , they left at 11:00pm to walk the street of southampton.
I even made an announcement that no one was to leave with out a parent of guardian , just a waste of breath , play list was not to my liking either , but then again I am a service.
Robbie Williams Candy 6/17/16 7:25 PM
Avicii & Nicky Romero I Could Be the One (Nicktim) 6/17/16 7:28 PM
Tori Amos Professional Widow 6/17/16 7:32 PM
Drake Controlla (feat. Beenie Man) 6/17/16 7:34 PM
Drake Find Your Love 6/17/16 7:37 PM
Mike Posner Took A Pill In Ibiza (SeeB Remix) 6/17/16 7:40 PM
Ariana Grande Into You 6/17/16 7:47 PM
Drake Too Good (feat. Rihanna) 6/17/16 7:57 PM
Fifth Harmony Ft. Ty Dolla Sign Work From Home 6/17/16 8:01 PM
Rihanna Work (feat 6/17/16 8:08 PM
DNCE Cake By The Ocean 6/17/16 8:11 PM
Zayn Malik Pillow Talk 6/17/16 8:15 PM
Drake Feat. Beenie Man Controlla 6/17/16 8:18 PM
Riton Feat. Kah-lo Rinse & Repeat 6/17/16 8:22 PM
Galantis No Money 6/17/16 8:25 PM
Clean Bandit feat. Louisa Johnson Tears 6/17/16 8:28 PM
The Weeknd Can't Feel My Face 6/17/16 8:32 PM
Justin Timberlake Can't Stop The Feeling 6/17/16 8:35 PM
Shawn Mendes Treat You Better1 6/17/16 8:39 PM
Fifth Harmony Feat. Ty Dolla Sign Work From Home 6/17/16 8:41 PM
Will.i.Am Feat. Pia Mia Boys & Girls 6/17/16 8:44 PM
Chris Brown X Tyga Ayo 6/17/16 8:48 PM
Zara Larsson & MNEK Never Forget You 6/17/16 8:52 PM
Pitbull & Neyo Time Of Our Lives 6/17/16 8:55 PM
David Guetta Feat Emeli Sandé What I Did For Love 6/17/16 8:59 PM
Daft Punk Feat Pharrell Williams Get Lucky 6/17/16 9:02 PM
Ingrid Dumosch Happy Birthday Dear... (With Space To Sing Name) 6/17/16 9:06 PM (well it was a birthday party)
Pitbull Feat Ke$ha Timber 6/17/16 9:11 PM
DJ Casper Cha Cha Slide 6/17/16 9:20 PM
Whigfield Saturday Night 6/17/16 9:24 PM
DJ Otzi Hey Baby 6/17/16 9:28 PM
Azzurra Music Ymca 6/17/16 9:31 PM ( the silly 10 minutes)
Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr Feat Beardyman Eat Sleep Rave Repeat (Calvin Harris Remix) 6/17/16 9:34 PM
Swedish House Mafia Feat John Martin Don't You Worry Child 6/17/16 9:39 PM
Nicki Minaj Starships 6/17/16 9:42 PM
OMI Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix Radio Edit) 6/17/16 9:49 PM
Desiigner - Panda 6/17/16 9:52 PM
Dizzee Rascal Dance Wiv Me 6/17/16 9:58 PM
Avicii Hey Brother 6/17/16 10:01 PM
Drake Feat. Rihanna Take Care 6/17/16 10:06 PM
Rihanna Only Girl (In The World) 6/17/16 10:10 PM
David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland When Love Takes Over 6/17/16 10:25 PM
Mark Ronson Feat Bruno Mars Uptown Funk 6/17/16 10:28 PM
Jennifer Lopez Feat. Pitbull On The Floor 6/17/16 10:33 PM
Rihanna Feat Calvin Harris We Found Love 6/17/16 10:36 PM
chris brown feat benny benassi beautiful people 6/17/16 10:40 PM
Years & Years Desire 6/17/16 10:44 PM
Drake Feat. Wizkid & Kyla One Dance 6/17/16 10:47 PM
Meghan Trainor All About That Bass 6/17/16 10:50 PM
Naughty Boy Feat Sam Smith La La La 6/17/16 10:53 PM
Drake Feat Majid Jordan Hold On, We're Going Home 6/17/16 10:56 PM
Saturday night was very different , played in a pub in basingstoke for a 25th wedding anniversary , very different music , IMHO much better , a well up for it crowd as well.
Very small venue (upstairs) 50 guests and it was packed , the song (Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody) was a reconstruction of their first dace 25 years ago .
I had an inkling they liked Rock...lol
Biffy Clyro Mountains 6/18/16 7:29 PM
Bring Me The Horizon Happy Song 6/18/16 7:32 PM
James Brown I Got You (I Feel Good) 6/18/16 7:36 PM
Madness Our House 6/18/16 7:38 PM
Dire Straits Money for Nothing 6/18/16 7:41 PM
Adam & The Ants Stand And Deliver 6/18/16 7:45 PM
David Bowie Rebel Rebel 6/18/16 7:49 PM
Depeche Mode Blasphemous Rumours 6/18/16 7:53 PM
The Kooks Naive 6/18/16 7:58 PM
Ozzy Osbourne Perry Mason 6/18/16 8:01 PM
Biffy Clyro Biblical 6/18/16 8:07 PM
Foo Fighters Everlong 6/18/16 8:11 PM
Joe Bonamassa Mountain Time 6/18/16 8:15 PM
Distant Past Everything Everything 6/18/16 8:18 PM
Foals Mountain At My Gates_ 6/18/16 8:22 PM
The Who Baba Oriley 6/18/16 8:26 PM
Green Day American Idiot - Clean Version 6/18/16 8:31 PM
Duran Duran Wild boys 6/18/16 8:34 PM
Ian Dury and the Blockheads What a Waste 6/18/16 8:38 PM
Mamma_Mia Mamma Mia (Meryl Streep) 6/18/16 8:41 PM
Prince 1999 6/18/16 8:44 PM
Sister Sledge We Are Family 6/18/16 8:48 PM
Gloria Gaynor I Will Survive 6/18/16 8:51 PM
Chic Le Freak 6/18/16 8:54 PM
Divine You_Think Youre A Man 6/18/16 8:58 PM
Jacksons Blame It On the Boogie 6/18/16 9:01 PM
The Buggles Video Killed The Radio Star 6/18/16 9:04 PM
Earth, Wind & Fire Boogie Wonderland 6/18/16 9:08 PM
Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody 6/18/16 9:13 PM
Blink 182 All The Small Things 6/18/16 9:17 PM
Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine 6/18/16 9:19 PM
Nirvana Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit 6/18/16 9:25 PM
The_Offspring Cruising California Bumpin In My Trunk 6/18/16 9:30 PM
Kings Of Leon Sex On Fire 6/18/16 9:33 PM
Bowling For Soup Punk Rock 101 6/18/16 9:36 PM
Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag 6/18/16 9:39 PM
Def Leppard Rocket 6/18/16 9:43 PM
Elliot Minor Parallel Worlds 6/18/16 9:49 PM
Guns N'roses November Rain 6/18/16 9:52 PM
Motorhead Killed By Death 6/18/16 10:01 PM
Red Hot Chili Peppers Otherside 6/18/16 10:05 PM
Iron Maiden Fear Of The Dark 6/18/16 10:09 PM
Vanilla Ice Ice Ice Baby 6/18/16 10:16 PM
Little Nell Time Warp 6/18/16 10:21 PM
The Gap Band Oops Up Side Your Head 6/18/16 10:24 PM
Boney M Daddy Cool 6/18/16 10:27 PM
The Foundations Build Me Up Buttercup 6/18/16 10:30 PM
Los Del Rio Macarena 6/18/16 10:33 PM Another 10 minute silly time , they all loved it)
The Beat / The English Beat (USA) Tears Of A Clown 6/18/16 10:37 PM
Special A.K.A Too Much Too Young 6/18/16 10:40 PM
Madness One Step Beyond 6/18/16 10:44 PM
Cameo Word Up! 6/18/16 10:46 PM
Queen Another One BItes The Dust 6/18/16 10:50 PM
Mamma_Mia Dancing Queen (Meryl Str 6/18/16 10:54 PM
Mamma_Mia Voulez-Vous (Full Cast) 6/18/16 10:58 PM
Muse Supermassive Black Hole 6/18/16 11:02 PM
Soundgarden Black Hole Sun 6/18/16 11:06 PM
Biffy Clyro Bubbles 6/18/16 11:14 PM
Peace Lost on Me 6/18/16 11:19 PM
Two Door Cinema Club Next Year 6/18/16 11:23 PM
Oasis Little By Little 6/18/16 11:27 PM
Weekend off this week....:D
Daryll
Glad it went well mate. Enjoy the weekend off!
Saturday's wedding I was told would be a mega event with 240 for the day and increasing to 300 for the night. This in a room that is 280 maximum. Oh, with a band. And a chocolate fountain too.
Even though I had been in the same room the previousl night, I had to clear out as the room needed to be set up for the wedding ceremony itself and I also had to position myself in a different place in the room. Damn sectional dancefloors!
So the room was set for the ceremony. 218 chairs as some had said they were not coming. I was to set up immediately after the ceremony from 3.30 to 5.30 which is when the venue staff had to install 20 round tables, dancefloor, stage, chocolate fountain stand and all the accoutrements.
After the ceremony, several guests shot out of the room and off to either the bar or smoking area before the B&G had even signed the register! The venue manager told me he had counted 45 empty chairs. There were at least 40 kids there too running amok.
So, they all left and we got cracking. I was done by 4.45 so turned it all off and went home. Due back for a 7.30 kick off (after the food). I rolled up at 7 and the band (now a solo singer) still hadn't arrived. Guests were still eating so I pottered around opening up what I could. No point in switching on because as soon as the rear doors open - phutttt all the power to the sockets goes off. So, 10 minutes later the singer arrived and we gave him the hurry up to get in.
As soon as power was restored, I put some background music on. Kids (seemingly they had bred while I had been home) were running around and invading the stage, muct to the singer's delight, and poking away at my starcloth. A quick flick of the off switch and I told them that one of them must have broken it did the trick.
Eventually, we got round to first dance time. Bride and Grandfather first, then Bride & Groom. Song - Don Williams, You're My Best Friend. Different.
Knowing I had about 45 minutes and a room full some of the time with kids, I opted for a 2016 start off. Nothing. Kids were flying around with the odd few women deciding to have a wiggle. I counted the number of people in the room and bearing in mind we were originally told 300, there were 48 in the room.
Singer gave me a dirty look and started up. Soul and Motown was his thrust and, to be fair, he was only average. The venue manager told be his price and it matched his show. He sang songs with nothing in between. No "show charisma" and too many silent interludes while he found the next track on his lap top. Guests loved it though, but they just wanted the music I guess.
So, he did an hour and off he went. A bit miffed as he couldn't go back out the same doors without cutting me off.
From there on it wasn't a bad night, apart from the dire numbers and a 75% empty room.
It livened up a bit once the fuel levels had increased and I did receive two reports of two lots of two women fighting outside. Both times the bride was told and went scurrying off to tell one pair "this is my wedding, I don't want you here. Go now before I throw you out". Well, I wouldn't have argued with her!
A 1am finish beckoned when, bonus, at 12.10 the best mad arrived to ask me to announce that the coach had arrived to take the majority of party goers home. Watching the guests squeeze the last millilitre of drink out of their glasses/bottles before they legged it for the coach was funny.
So we were left with 8 people. B&G presumably had gone to see teh coach off, so me and the venue manager had a quick chat and, about 3 seconds later, played the last song and those 8 left.
Lights on, sounds off, and I do my statutory disappearing act to the gents! It also prevents the "one more's" fromhaving any effect. Well, if I'm not there, I can't do one more can I!
B&G never reappeared and we got on with clearing up. I went home with 4 bacon sandwiches (there were over 100 left over), 3 jars of sweets, 2 bottles of water and a partridge in a pear tree.
*One of these items may not be true.
Last night I had the first of a series of school proms. There were lots of teachers & kids all splendidly dressed & all up for a good time. The photobooth was a distraction but I managed to keep the floor full pretty much all night.
No stone was left unturned when it came to silly party cheese - who knew that Soul Control - Chocolate would mix right into Shake It Off?
A rather unexpected er treat was a request for a Justin Fletcher track. I dug around & out came his rendition of Music Man. If you haven't yet experienced the joy of Mr Fletcher's work check it out. It may yet be some of the best material for subwoofer testing ( I'm really not kidding).
My own remix of Justin Bieber's Love Yourself was very well received.
We only had about 3 noise complaints from hotel residents too.
In all a brilliant gig. I was struggling to find motivation when I arrived for some reason but very soon got cracking. My next gig is another prom tomorrow.
BIG big prom tonight. Didn't start well. An AV lad from the school came up & told me about a playlist of some 300 songs or so I had to play. Oh really? First I've heard of it. Anyway, we smoothed things over & I learned it was just stuff from a bunch of recent NOW albums I'd likely have anyway, and he'd left the USB stick at home. He'd brought his own speakers he said. I felt a bit bad so offered for him to come up & have a go at peak time if he fancied it. He never did, but besides.
WOW. Just WOW. Choon after choon after choon... and then I played Starships by Nicki Minaj. Now.. I dunno bout you but I had NO idea there were rude words in it. Only ever having heard the radio edit I thought nothing of the slightly odd loop in "higher than a... ". No, the kids, God bless em knew the real words & belted them out like troopers. Heh.
Requests of a new form of music I'd never heard of before came from a few lads. MUNTER MUSICA. Turns out it's bounce type drivel. Off I toddled to Amazon to buy a CD (so I could download the autorip)... except with so many kids on the wifi I had NO chance. Ah well that was £5.99 down the drain then.
Things got hot - way too hot - so we went Whip/Nae way & I slowed things down RnBilge stylee for a bit. Then succumbed to requests for Children Of The Night.. which was interrupted by a request to clear the building. I KNEW that sticky hazer button was gonna get me at some point. After 5 minutes the cause was established & we were rocking again to Mr Brightside etc. Oh, we finish at 10.50pm not 11? Eek.. better accelerate the finale plan then! Tracked down the organiser, and the kids needed no encouragement to cheer her on.. a very short speech & we went into the last 2 songs. Dolly Parton 9 to 5 was significant to the whole year somehow, and I wound things up with Medley & Warnes.
I took my video camera along with me this time, and aim to construct a form of 'gig log', which should make for interesting viewing.
EDIT: Apparently it's not MUNTER musica as the kids most definitely said. It's MONTA MUSICA. A form of rave, born out of the fire of The New Monkey club up here. Very melodic, very very very very fast too. Not available in just any old shop either.
Hmmm. As soon as you said it's not widely available, I started searching. :D Apparently has its roots in Spain, as Makina.Quote:
Originally Posted by juski
From Wikipedia:
Mákina is a subgenre of hardcore techno, originating in Spain. Similar to UK hardcore, it includes elements of bouncy techno and hardtrance. The tempo ranges from 150 to 180 BPM. 150 to 180 :eek::eek:
Don't think I'll be buying too much of it in a hurry. :)
The stuff on the label isn't readily available. Apparently often when people request this style they wave a phone under a DJs nose citing a 45 minute CD rip. Don't think I could cope with half an hour of it left alone longer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
Anyway, to the gig log!
https://vimeo.com/172207040
Bear in mind I'm not used to talking into a camera.. God, and all those DJ tics.. gonna have to work on them