Good Gig, Bad Gig.

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Originally Posted by Benny Smyth

Yup. Still dumbfounded.

Due to arrive at 6pm for a 7pm start. I turn up at 5:45pm to find the venue staff already turning the room round. Turns out that all the speeches were completed within 10 minutes. The only alcohol that's been served all day is one bottle of Corona - the rest have been soft drinks. Righto...

So we set up and get music playing. All the guests are outside, and I do a quick head count - about 45. I look at my job sheet as I'm sure I was told that there would be many more. After looking, I see that they were expecting 150. Compare notes with the venue, and expected numbers are pretty much the same. B&G have paid for an extra 65 people for the buffet, so some people haven't turned up. Well hopefully there'll be an influx of guests coming in.

There wasn't. I reckon a max of another 30 arrived.

Timings were supposed to be 7pm start, first dance at 8 and the father/daughter dance after the evening food at 9:30. I get told by venue staff that a load of taxis have been ordered for 9pm, so I have a chat with the bride and suggest doing the F/D dance immediately after the first dance so people won't miss it.

First dance is bought forward to 7:30. I think that the venue were sensing that there was no atmosphere, so maybe it's better to kick things off now. So there I go with my introduction...and I get a pretty decent reaction from the crowd. Certainly much better than I was expecting. Whey hey - looks like we may have a good night after all. So first dance done, F/D dance done and then...practically everyone leaves the room.

And that was that. People still in the venue but with the exception of a smattering of dancers, it was like I wasn't even there. At 9pm, a lot of people left. At 11:30, the B&G got in a taxi and left and I'm booked until 1. I'm now in two minds - go home or keep playing. I decide to take down as much as I can, but keep the sound on. Ministry of Sound: Sunset Soul gets played (well I am just background music after all, so what's the point?) and I start taking down my lighting, packing away headphones and mics, power to the laptops packed away. One sub and top packed away as well. Essentially, I slowly packed away as much as I could do leaving the music on. As soon as I got to the point where I had to shut down the music, I turned it all off. I was home and in bed by 1 completely dumbfounded.

There was no feedback from anyone. Couple of requests dutifully played, but nothing else. Nobody telling me I'm rubbish (in fact, those I did speak to were relatively nice people), and I couldn't even read anything from their body language. Like I said, it was like I wasn't there. Apparently the bar took £500 all day.

I've said this to a few people about Saturday night and I'll say it again (and I promise that this is not a sick joke or an exaggeration): I sat with my mom for 27 hours straight at a Marie Curie hospice until she passed away, and that gig was very reminiscent of it. The knowledge that we all know the inevitable ending to this, and it's just a case of waiting around until the final breath.

Never known anything like it.

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Its nothing personal---its Weddings and the fact is every one is different despite what you might think and SOME people just have a different take AND PRIORITIES.

You seem to have excellent equipment, lights and music and a very professional approach.

Lets face it--theres nothing any of us can do--HOWEVER EXPERIENCED--I covered a large Wild West Party in an area my son and I dislike as people around there just NEVER get going. Almost like they are socially introverted--sounds like you met some of them!

Sure enough dead loss for the dancing part, I even took my new sub for a run out--couple of instructed dances in 5 hours and thats it-- you just shrug your shoulders and take another 2 hours to pack down and move on.

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Originally Posted by CRAZY K

Yup as suspected--if you have been reading on here recently I think Justin has had this problem?

All I can say is---imagine having to do my job--instructing Dancing all round the room and having to use the mike extensively :daft::daft::daft:

Just be careful you dont get a Bridezilla who is not happy with your microphone work :mad:

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No not yet Allan. 4Th of august is my brush with that one. I've warned them & they said the venue hasn't mentioned it. I said well of course they haven't! I'm a bit worried now because having spoken to a couple more people who've worked there recently it's beyond awful.

It's far & away my biggest paying gig yet at a place with more stars than I've ever seen too. I'll just have to dig deep & get on with things.

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Originally Posted by CRAZY K

Its nothing personal---its Weddings and the fact is every one is different despite what you might think and SOME people just have a different take AND PRIORITIES.

You seem to have excellent equipment, lights and music and a very professional approach.

Lets face it--theres nothing any of us can do--HOWEVER EXPERIENCED--I covered a large Wild West Party in an area my son and I dislike as people around there just NEVER get going. Almost like they are socially introverted--sounds like you met some of them!

Sure enough dead loss for the dancing part, I even took my new sub for a run out--couple of instructed dances in 5 hours and thats it-- you just shrug your shoulders and take another 2 hours to pack down and move on.

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Funny enough I had exactly the same conversation with a couple yesterday about their wedding which is coming up in August. There are guests who are going to be disappearing after the first dance who are travelling home for this one (at least I know upfront), and the function room has massive bi-fold doors out onto a riverside terrace. I went to great pains to ensure them I'd do the very best I could (and 99.9999% of the time it works), but.....there's no guarantee unfortunately. I can't FORCE people to dance. I think so long as you're honest and upfront about these things, the customer actually understands what we're up against and if the night DOES work well, you've exceeded their expectations and they're even happier.

Summer gigs can be tricky too - we get a bit of nice weather & suddenly everybody wants to be relaxing outside til whoknowswhen o'clock. Especially if the party hosts have booked rodeo bulls & fairground attractions. Photobooths aren't the crowd puller they once were though.

The (beyond stupidly excited) Bride I met with earlier today had the exact same concerns.
The wedding is in 2 weeks time and the venue is a lovely one that I visit a number of times a year. The grounds are lovely and in the summer it is pretty awesome BUT for us DJ's it is a classic case of playing to a handful of people (if you're lucky) for the majority of the night and having a mad hour or so at the end once it's got a dark and a bit fresher outside.

She said to me "Do you think a lot of people will stay outside because it stays light until late?".....I told her "In all honesty, yes.....BUT...it's all about the atmosphere that's been created. Don't go worrying about whether people will dance or not"

It's "one of those".....definitely.

I'd been looking forward to last night's gig for a few weeks because of the music suggestions list the groom sent me. It turned out not to be that great, what with me spraining my ankle & having to wear an uncomfortable splint thingy and....

Also being absolutely papped to death doing my work. Oh yeah - and then there were the two camera operators with full-on pro HD camcorders - one in my face while I was doing the first dance intro. I glanced at my paper, recited my lines in my head a couple of times & opened the mic... "Everybody please be upstanding and welcome Jo & CrRRAIG .. " :Censored: :Censored:ing :Censored: !!!!!!!! I was in the process of saying the right name & my stupid brain farted & corrected itself - WRONGLY. I quickly sorted myself out, got it right (2nd time lucky never enough) & elicited a very lukewarm response from the crowd. Oh dear.

There were some 'must play' tracks deemed to be played out early on so they came out straight after the first dance. There were no takers which was hardly surprising - Nat King Cole - Unforgettable was one.. but I quickly turned things around & had actual real live dancers.

Cheese requests came in thick & fast. I wouldn't normally play the Macarena that early on (or at all given half a chance) but what the heck - out with them all.

Buffet time came & the room virtually emptied. It was still warm outside & I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to enjoy the evening sunshine.

Things did eventually pick up again & the last 90 minutes flew by, cramming in tracks from the 90s up to the present day including one of the must-play tracks - I Believe by The Happy Clappers. Come the end of the night the significance of that request became clear - Martin Knotts (of said outfit) was one of the guests. It didn't go down as well as I'd hoped it would.

A really good one for me last night and a nice break from the weddings (for a week at least!).
It was a charity race night for a big company who were raising funds for a company who look after and house homeless families so it was for a good cause.
It went very well and they weren't shy in putting their hands in their pockets and although I didn't get the full total of what was raised, I know the organiser was over the moon. I know he said he would like to raise at least £1000 and he said they'd done better than that.

All 8 races, a 9th auction race and a very good raffle were all done and dusted by 11.00pm.
The organiser wants to book me for another one and also complimented me saying that he thought I'd underpriced myself as I was worth a lot more..... ok, wait until the next booking! :p

Looking forward to tonight as it's a 60's & 70's disco but I do have my reservations as it is a pay on the door event organised by a community association and if the weather stays as stuffy as it is now I can't see there being masses of numbers attending but we'll see.

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Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions

Looking forward to tonight as it's a 60's & 70's disco but I do have my reservations as it is a pay on the door event organised by a community association and if the weather stays as stuffy as it is now I can't see there being masses of numbers attending but we'll see.

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To misquote Wayne's World " If you play it, they will come ". :D

Room full of " boisterous" 11 year olds last night. Leaving prom for them, and a lot of work had gone into it. Red carpet, door staff ( who absolutely looked the part ), decorations, the lot. True to form, the lads ran around, beating people with balloons, while the girls took piccies on their phones.

Until the organisers insisted on switching off all their phones, as which point things improved from awful to poor. The room had lots of windows, and no curtains, so my lightshow wasn't desperately useful.

Not a truly wonderful experience for the DJ ( who wasn't offered any of the lemonade guests got on arrival ( in imitation champagne flutes ) or a slice of pizza, either. Organisers and guests were happy enough, DJ just wanted to go home. :(

Like Gary, tonight's gig features the number 70, but it's a 70th birthday, looking forward to it.

Well, despite the fact the venue was like a sweat box, despite the poor turn out and despite the annoying couple of 15 year old rude girls (not in the Ska sense either) who sauntered in with attitude, headed straight for me and said "Play every party dance you have mate" and then went on to list every party dance they could think of including Watch Me Nae Nae and Gangnam Style AND then got the hump when (some) of their requests weren't played "Next".........Well, I actually enjoyed myself.

It was a 60's & 70's night at a local community centre and billed as a 'family night disco'. They encouraged fancy dress too (2 young ladies turned up in pink leg warmers..... I guess they were on a budget!). Anyway, my thoughts beforehand were more or less spot on. The turn out wasn't great at all. I reckon there were probably less than 25 in total throughout the disco. There wasn't any effort made for fancy dress (apart from the 2 girls with the leg warmers on) and overall I felt sorry for the organisers......................BUT there was quite a bit of dancing and lots of compliments afterwards regarding how good the music was.

I've listed below what I played last night. As you'll see, it's nothing really out of the ordinary and at times it is a bit 'random' shall we say with the odd tune just slapped in there but it worked and the most important thing is, those that did attend enjoyed themselves. 56 tunes in 3.5hrs and it was nice to play Gibson Brothers (which was a request) as I used to love that song and a few of their others too.

ELO - Mr Blue Sky
Bill Withers - Lovely Day
Gary Numan - Cars
Cliff Richard - We Don't Talk Anymore
Chic - Le Freak (12" Version)
Sister Sledge - We Are Family
Jackson 5 - ABC
The Jacksons - Blame It On The Boogie
John Travolta - Greased Lightning
Nolan Sisters - I'm In The Mood For Dancing
Village People - In The Navy
Gibson Brothers - Cuba
Abba - Voulez Vous
Bee Gees - Tragedy
The Real Thing - You, To Me Are Everything
Candi Staton - Young Hearts, Run Free
Billy Ocean - Red Light, Spells Danger!
Elvis Presley - Always On My Mind
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Dr Hook - When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman
Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow
Dolly Parton - Harper Valley PTA
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
Bay City Rollers - Bye, Bye Baby
Mud - Tiger Feet
The Sweet - Ballroom Blitz
The Osmonds - Crazy Horses
Showaddywaddy - Hey Rock 'N Roll
Ashton, Gardner & Dyke - Resurrection Shuffle
The Osmonds - Love Me For A Reason
Elvis Presley - The Wonder Of You
Village People - YMCA
Abba - Dancing Queen
Damien - The Timewarp
The Gap Band - Oops! Upside Your Head
John Travolta & Olivia Newton John - You're The One That I Want
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Status Quo - Rockin' All Over The World
Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline
The Monkees - Daydream Believer
Van Morisson - Brown Eyed Girl
The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There
Diana Ross & The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Dancing In The Street
Jackie Wilson - (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
Blues Brothers - Everybody Needs Somebody
Tina Turner - Proud Mary
The Kinks - You Really Got Me
Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar
T Rex - Get It On
David Bowie - Jean Genie
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile)
Steelers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You
The Doors - L.A. Woman
The Beatles - Hey Jude

Thought I'd add this little (rubbish quality) video I took whilst sound checking. I only had a couple of lights on. Luckily the hall had black out curtains all around it which was lucky as it was a 10.30pm finish and light until quite late last night which would have made the night even harder.

Apologies for the poor quality. I recorded it in HD but for some reason the uploads to both Facebook and YouTube have ruined the quality somehow. Looks much better on my iPad and Laptop.

https://youtu.be/Xqr2kwWHHwU