Printable View
A nice little relaxing one before tomorrow's shenanigans then ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
OK - back on topic - tonight's "gig" consisted of a large steak with all the trimmings and a couple of glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. Yes...a night off for me tonight due to a cancellations that have re-scheduled for dates next year. That's two, yes TWO I had booked for tonight who have moved to dates next year.
So, what was the gig? Five year old birthday? Christening? No, it's a wedding! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
Thank the Lord for friends with local knowledge. Dave Jackson was kind enough to meet me there to give help, and boy do you need it at this one!! The smallest hotel car park I've ever seen. It's advisable to reverse the van in, to avoid reversing out blind into traffic. :eek:
There's a corner stage, with no power, so you need a long extension to get power on the stage. There's a full lighting rig in the ceiling and the walls too, but I should have taken a piccy of the controls. Upwards of fifty switches, and ten controllers, many of which aren't labelled. If you're Dave, you can get great effects. Left to it myself, I couldn't.
Anyhoo, the gig. Wedding, as I said, older couple. Playlist was strict Eighties, and on the three occasions I deviated for requests, I was chastised and berated vigorously. Five and a half hours, and the list I'd been given just about got me there. It was hard work juggling the songs to fit, but everyone kept whooping with delight as I slotted new tracks in.
Bride deserves a special mention, she was the Duracell Bunny on the dancefloor, and kept the floor busy on her own. All in all, a great night for the guests, but a tad stressful for the DJ.
Special thanks to Dave for all his help, and also to his Brother in Law Neil, who came along for a look, and kindly helped me load the kit out. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this forum is worth it's weight in gold for the people I've met on it, and the help I've received.
I warned you about the car park, It's even better in December when the owner puts in a huge Christmas tree!!, I am there in a week or two so will photo switch bank it is a bit of an art form to get it to do what you want!Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
Glad you made it through the night!
Saturday's wedding with the infamous car park has been recounted already, so on to Sunday, and a nice steady christening. Well that's what I'd expected, until I started getting phone calls about playing lots of Irish Music I wouldn't have, that the client couldn't be arsed to type out, and we'd have lots of their Irish family there. Anyone hear the faint tinkling of bells there? :whistle:
Apparently this music was all on PC, so could be copied onto a stick for me. All good then.
Err, no. :( But it could be played from said PC. 1/8" jack-RCA cable to the rescue then. More later.
I'd recced the pub previously, and met the Landlord, nice chap. I knew space was an issue, so loaded the van accordingly. It was a 7pm to midnight gig, so I set off mid afternoon, expecting to best the guests easily. Oh no, they'd been there from non, getting a drop or two down their necks. The live duo were just packing up, so we did a hot swap, and I got my kit in. One Maui 5, Micromax, Fusions and VBars on uprights. No radio mic, and only one cabled one on a short cable.
Nothing was said about Irish Music, but we were off and running instantly, with the tempo locked around 100-110 BPM. Yippee, loads of Drake, and other charty bilge for the younger ones. :( Requests were noticeable for their inaccuracy, try as I might, I couldnt find Dizzee Rascal's version of U Can't Touch This, nor Eminem doing what he was alleged to have done. Told you they were well lubricated. :beer1:
Things improved, until I was into more customary waters, and then the PC loaded with these magical Irish " Diddley diddley " music ( client's description, not mine ) made its appearance. The owner would drive it, so I sat and had a rest nearby. Lilting tunes from such Celts as Dolly Parton and Randy Travis appeared first. :eek: Then we had the Corrs, so up till then I had every song played. :daft: Once we swerved over to The Wolfe Tones and traditional jigs I had to admit defeat though, and some of the younger ladies treated us to some fine traditional dancing. Eventually I returned to the helm for the last hour or so, and attempted to continue the theme, although wisely eschewing the likes of O'Rafferty's Motor Goat and the like.
The Pogues, Van Morrison and similar went down well, but when I played Sharon Shannon's Galway Girl, and Shamrock- Tell me Ma, I had the entire room in motion. :D
Guests, client and Landlord were very happy, DJ was relieved, and headed off home on a trip with no McDonalds coffee available without getting nearly home, or making big diversions. Thus I was ripped off royally at Blyth services instead. :mad: Other than that, the trip home was a doddle, and I got to bed ready for Monday's events.
That was to be a pleasant day out at Skegness, taking my Dad to watch the Stock Car Racing. Traffic was quite an issue at times, and if there's a next time soon, I'll be going the long way round, believe me! We saw what looked and sounded like armoured lawn mowers, Stoxkarts. They're insane, and you can't watch them without smiling from ear to ear.Youtube Stoxkarts Beginners Guide.
Arrived home late Monday night, absolutely shattered. Good job we don't have too many Bank Holidays, eh? :D
Last night I was back at one of my old residencies in Hampshire. It was a booking for a friend of a friend who booked me 18 months ago and I knew that there would be lots of people I knew there so unlike many of the bookings I have had in Hampshire since I moved and have got covered, I HAD to do this one and to be honest, I was dreading going back to the venue because in truth, I wasn't happy with the management after I'd moved away - The reason being, I was supplying Discos to the venue for around 10 years and had 100% positive feedback. I won't bore you (again!) with all the details but I will say that what disappointed me was the fact that I didn't even get a simple "Thanks for all your hard work over the years"....nope, nothing! (More on that in a second anyway).
So, after an absolute horrendous and heartbreaking week (we took our beloved boxer Charlie to the vets as he wasn't well at all and we were told that he probably has a few weeks left due to an irregular heartbeat and his kidneys failing), I wasn't really in the best of moods to travel the 3hr 15m journey back to Hampshire.
I've had Sciatica in my right leg for months now and am on strong painkillers which help but long journeys don't do it any favours. I do a lot of multi drop deliveries during the week now and it is fine because I am moving about a lot but long journeys, nope...no good really. Add to that, there are new laws about medication and driving and if you get pulled over, the police can actually prosecute you if your levels are high....I'd rather not chance that so I didn't take any painkillers on this occasion...
Anyway....... Loaded up the van on Thursday morning. Checked that I had everything and then double checked and finally triple checked....yep, all there! I was supplying Disco plus Uplighting for a wedding.
The day didn't start off well. The journey was going to plan when I suddenly hit a HUGE tailback on the M11 at junction 9. I needed to get off at junction 6 and the traffic announcements revealed what was going on. Oh joy! junctions 7 and 6 are gridlocked due to closure because of an incident (never did find out what it was) but the delay was 2 hours. I had planned to be at the venue to set up at 5.30pm and I got there just after 7.30pm.
Set up was quick and I met the Bride for the first time who was with 2 of her friends, decorating the tables. I introduced myself and told her I would install the Uplighting first so that she could see what it was like. I could tell she was excited so I played on that. She went off to the bar with her friends and I called her back in once I'd finished. The second she saw the Cerise & Teal colours, she cried! Her friends said it looked amazing.....good start!
I set up the Disco, sound checked everything and then told her I'd see her on Friday night....no problem, all was well.
When I returned to the venue last night at 7.10pm, I went straight over to the Disco and turned everything on. I was interrupted by a woman who looked a bit scruffy. She was covered in tattoos and was wearing jeans, boots and a vest top. She introduced herself as the "Photographer cum Photoboother"...
"I've taken some of your lights out" she said "I didn't want them affecting my photos".....
I looked over and saw that she'd taken up a corner of the room with her equipment. There was no photobooth at all. It was a backdrop type thing and looked very low budget. She was nice enough but she'd annoyed me.. "Charming!" I replied...."That has spoilt the whole look of the room, cheers!".
I nipped over to where her stuff was and picked up the 2 Uplighters, extension and cables and started looking for somewhere else to put them. The Groom came over and said hello and asked if everything was ok. I told him what had happened and he just raised his eyebrows and smiled. Anyway, got that sorted and returned to the Disco. As I walked past a table of people, someone shouted "When is the Disco starting then? Come on, let's have some music!". I chose to ignore them. I turned everything on and then noticed that one of the Mackie's wasn't powering up. I've never had a problem with them since I bought them years ago.
It was all I needed. I knew I had the back up DB Technologies in the van but I thought I'd try and source the problem whilst I had a couple of minutes to spare.
I changed the power lead over but still nothing? Pressing the power button had no effect so I wondered if it was a fuse inside or something and obviously, I didn't have time to check so I took it off the stand, nipped outside to the van and grabbed one of the DB's. I was playing music within 5 minutes and the predictable and sarcastic cheer from the table near me happened.
I'd kept in touch with the Groom since I moved house so everything was planned well. I had all the information I needed and their list of requests. They wanted a lot of current chart stuff and 80's and that was fine by me. There were lots of 10 - 15 year olds in attendance and they bombarded me with requests and it was going ok. The dance floor was never full as such but there was always someone dancing. There were lots of blokes in attendance and I knew the majority of them because they were darts players from the league I was involved with so I was shaking a lot of hands during the night once they realised I was behind the decks.
There was also a lot of Ska and Indie / Rock on the request list too and I thought I'd leave that until the latter stages of the evening as I guessed that they may actually tear themselves away from the bar and have a mosh about on the dance floor....... it didn't really happen.
No cutting of the cake, they decided not to have one. First dance time wasn't confirmed as they wanted to wait until there were plenty of people there so it ended up being done at 8.45pm. It was probably the one part of the evening where most people took notice of what was going on.
Christina Perri - A 1000 Years was their first choice and I could see a few tears on the faces of the Brides friends watching.
Their second choice, well....a beautiful song and I really like it, always have but I thought it created a kind of morbid atmosphere. It was Evanescence - My Immortal. I asked everyone to join them on the dance floor and the place was packed but it just felt weird if I am being honest.
Usual suspects played after that to keep them on the floor and it lasted around 20 minutes. After that it was on/off/on/off when it came to dance floor action.
I'd play something (Fat Back Band for example) and 10 or so of the older guests would get up and I'd stick to that era for 20 minutes but then I'd get requests from the younger crowd and they'd replace the older ones on the dance floor when their stuff came on....it was as if they were all doing shifts!
It was just one of those nights where I was doing everything required and the music was varied and you could see people enjoying themselves but they were just not filling the dance floor. In the back of my mind I was worrying about my dog as I didn't want to be away if anything happened (even though I know it is going to happen soon), and I was also worried about the Mackie too. During the last 30 minutes, the dance floor activity did pick up and I noticed a few 'lads' had turned up very late. They'd all had a few bevvies already and were quite vocal too. I didn't know any of them.
When it came to the last song of the night, I did the thank you's and the introduction and announced that it was the last song that the Bride & Groom had chosen for their big day. Just as I was on the microphone making that announcement, one of the 'lads' bounded over and shouted at me to play Take That - Never Forget.
I ignored him at first but then he did it again so I got off the microphone and told him that I couldn't due to the time. He was quite aggressive, told me that I was **** and bounded back over to his mates. I shook my head and smiled at him and then carried on with the announcement, asking everyone to join the Bride & Groom on the dance floor.
Last song of the night was Bobby Freeman - Goodnight, Sweetheart.
The 'lads' joined the dance floor and stood right in front of my set up, pretending to dance with eachother slowly. Another one of them shouted over at me to play Take That and I told him I couldn't. "This is ****" he said, "Turn it off and stick Take That on instead" - I ignored him as best I could.
When the lights went up, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was actually looking forward to packing up and driving home.
I had planned to stay over and meet up with a mate who I'd not seen since I moved but I messaged him during the night and told him I couldn't hang about.
I was packed up and on the road by 12.45am and walked in my front door at 4.00am on the dot due to a diversion on the M3.
3 hours later and I am up googling local Disco repairs for the Mackie. I'll be out shortly to see if someone can sort it out for me as I'll have to use the DB's if I have no luck or it can't be fixed in time for my last visit to Berkshire for another wedding next weekend.
I'm glad Daryll is covering my wedding tonight.... I don't think I could handle it.
All up lighting set up , music choice is....................unconventional to say the leastQuote:
Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions
Cheers
Daryll
When i used to use mackies (still got em but they're strictly spare only now) I was caught out a few times by the inactivity timeout switch that if switched in will stop the speaker powering up when power is first applied.
Friday saw me and my brother heading to Harrogate for a triple 21st Birthday. Having had a meeting with clients at the venue, I had enlisted my brother's help, as it was a long trek in with the kit, I couldn't get in before a certain time, and they wanted uplighting too.
We arrived on time after a somewhat irritating traffic snarl up, and started to set up. I knew there would be a lot of ambient light, so had brought all three lasers, one cluster, two pattern ones, which worked well. The fusions added an extra level, so that was the booth lighting sorted.
On starting to set up the uplighters, we saw someone had put battery uplighters in. This appeared to be a parent, so I offered a discount for not having to use mine. Hey ho, when we switched them on, some had dead batteries, so off we went to the van, and brought mine in after all, so that averted me having to give money back!! :eek:
We had a play list with over 130 songs, so didn't expect to run short of ideas. Much of it was current, and we kicked off with this, to vague apathy. We saw people responding with foot tapping, and had a very sporadic dancefloor. A request which led us into the more acceptable end of The Usual Suspects only had limited success, until the last hour and a half, pretty much as we predicted.
Phones were thrust into our faces on a regular basis, and the range of music played widened rapidly. It varied between some very leftfield stuff and Macarena/Cha Cha Slide. All were equally well received, and not only was the floor packed, but the booth received many wallops. The guests were having a fine old time, and a request I'd held back for ages until a suitable moment seemed to be the obvious closer, Wonderwall.
We were braced for the chants of one more, and a crush of bodies hindering our exit, but the guests hadn't read that part of the script. We got a smattering of applause, no cries for more, and everybody left quickly, leaving us with a clear run out. A very rewarding night, but exceedingly tiring.
The second of two weekends off for me.
I've learned how to use a sewing machine to make lycra covers for the Maui 28s (they look impressive - will post photos on that particular thread once they're done :). ).
Irony time though....I quoted for a wedding at a local(ish) hotel several months ago and was blown out of the water for being too expensive. The phone rang at 8:30 this evening with a panicky function manager from said hotel (I was driving at the time so couldn't answer...it went to the answerphone). The cheaper alternative apparently didn't show up :mad::mad::mad:
Once I've got used to the idea of having a night off, I won't usually cover these anyway (it would have been nearly 10pm before they even got started by the time I'd loaded up, got there and set up). I hope they got it covered but it's starting to make my blood boil at the moment the number of times that happens over in these parts lately.
Great night last night , lovely venue just north of basingstoke.
I was a little apprehensive due to the playlist , shouldent have worried , very few gaps on the dance floor.
ok , pick the bones out of this list.
Clean Bandit Feat Jess Glynne Rather Be 03:47 09/02/2017 20:01
Daft Punk Feat Pharrell Williams Get Lucky 04:07 09/02/2017 20:05
Lady Gaga Bad Romance 04:54 09/02/2017 20:09
Adele Sweetest Devotion 04:11 09/02/2017 20:19 (First dance)
Stevie Wonder Isn't She Lovely 03:20 09/02/2017 20:24 (Second dance)
Genesis Follow You Follow Me by VagnerK 04:10 09/02/2017 20:27( brides mum and dad )
Walk The Moon Shut Up And Dance 03:17 09/02/2017 20:31
Avicii Wake Me Up 04:09 09/02/2017 20:34
Backstreet Boys Everybody (Backstreet's Back) 03:47 09/02/2017 20:38
Bloodhound Gang The Bad Touch 03:39 09/02/2017 20:42
Average White Band Pick Up the Pieces 03:59 09/02/2017 20:45
Erasure A Little Respect 03:32 09/02/2017 20:49
Earth, Wind & Fire September 03:31 09/02/2017 20:52
Dolly Parton Jolene 02:41 09/02/2017 20:56
Chris Isaac Wicked Game 04:50 09/02/2017 20:58
Queen Don t Stop Me Now 03:30 09/02/2017 21:03
Xtreme Te Extraño 03:36 09/02/2017 21:06
Luis Fonsi Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee 04:41 09/02/2017 21:10 ( Not the justin B version)
Preedy Veteran 03:31 09/02/2017 21:14
Madness One Step Beyond 02:17 09/02/2017 21:17
The Beat - Tears of a Clown Tears of a Clown 02:40 09/02/2017 21:19
The Specials Monkey Man 02:44 09/02/2017 21:22
Frank Turner Photosynthesis 04:12 09/02/2017 21:25
Blur Parklife 03:05 09/02/2017 21:29
Marc Anthony Aguanile 05:19 09/02/2017 21:32
Ferrer La bamba 03:45 09/02/2017 21:37
George Benson Give Me The Night 03:42 09/02/2017 21:40
Luther Vandross Never Too Much 03:51 09/02/2017 21:44
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Dancing In The Street 02:40 09/02/2017 21:47
Chaka Demus & Pliers Murder She Wrote 04:04 09/02/2017 21:50
dj buddha daddy yankee feat lil jon pitbull noreaga gasolina 04:42 09/02/2017 21:54
Ms. Dynamite Dy-Na-Mi-Tee 03:45 09/02/2017 21:59
Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Boom! Shake The Room 03:47 09/02/2017 22:02
Ginuwine Pony 04:12 09/02/2017 22:06
R Kelly Ignition (Remix) 03:08 09/02/2017 22:10
Tina Turner The Best 04:10 09/02/2017 22:13
The Mavericks Dance The Night Away 04:20 09/02/2017 22:17
Lionel Richie Dancing On The Ceiling 04:30 09/02/2017 22:21
Taylor Swift Shake It Off 03:39 09/02/2017 22:25
Queen-We Will Rock You Queen-We Will Rock You 02:02 09/02/2017 22:29
Little Nell Time Warp 03:19 09/02/2017 22:31
The Rolling Stones Satisfaction 03:46 09/02/2017 22:34
The Rolling Stones Brown Sugar 03:49 09/02/2017 22:37
Dred Collective DJ Luck & MC Neat - With A Little Bit Of Luck (Londy Edit) 05:51 09/02/2017 22:41
Kodaline The One 03:52 09/02/2017 22:47
Led Zeppelin Whole Lotta Love 05:34 09/02/2017 22:51
Kiss I Was Made For Lovin' You 04:26 09/02/2017 22:56
Reel Big Fish Take On Me 03:02 09/02/2017 23:00
Jet Are You Going To Be My Girl? 03:45 09/02/2017 23:03
Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit 05:01 09/02/2017 23:06
Lenny Kravitz Are You Gonna Go My Way 03:32 09/02/2017 23:11
Def Leppard Pour Some Sugar On Me 04:27 09/02/2017 23:15
The Clash Should I Stay Or Should I Go 03:10 09/02/2017 23:19
Audioslave - Gasoline 04:45 09/02/2017 23:22
Black Stone Cherry Blame It on the Boom Boom 03:10 09/02/2017 23:26
Black Train Jack Handouts 02:47 09/02/2017 23:29
Foo Fighters Everlong 04:10 09/02/2017 23:32
Skindred The Kids Are Right Now 04:36 09/02/2017 23:36
Clutch Electric Worry 04:43 09/02/2017 23:40
Green Day Basket Case 03:01 09/02/2017 23:45
Red Hot Chili Peppers Higher Ground 03:24 09/02/2017 23:48
Unsane This Stops At The River 02:48 09/02/2017 23:51
Iron Maiden Can I Play With Madness 03:32 09/02/2017 23:54
Rage Against The Machine Killing In The Name [Explicit] 05:13 09/02/2017 23:57
System of a Down Neddles 03:14 09/03/2017 00:02
Five Finger Death Punch Under and Over It 03:38 09/03/2017 00:05
Ringworm Death Do Us Part 01:33 09/03/2017 00:08
Slipknot Psychosocial Drum Cover with Joey Jordison Mask 04:43 09/03/2017 00:10
Assück Corners 00:54 09/03/2017 00:14
D.O.A. Already Dead 02:21 09/03/2017 00:15
Otis Day & The Knights Shout 04:37 09/03/2017 00:18
Faithless Insomnia 03:33 09/03/2017 00:22
Queen We Are The Champions 03:01 09/03/2017 00:26
All in all a great night , music finished at 12:30 , packed up and home by 01:50
Cheers
Daryll