It could so easily have gone the other way....
Today was an all-day wedding, from lunchtime to midnight.....a loooooong day with a lot of standing around and not doing an awful lot.
This is the one which if you're a paid up member will know had to have the venue re-dressed prior to the wedding (I'll say no more on that score...you'll have to subscribe to the member's area to read more about that one).
Turned up in good time....one of my subs has moved in the van on the journey to the venue and crashed into LOVE letter "E"....it's not a pretty sight (glad I carry sellotape....although I still wasn't happy it managed to stay together for the duration).
Got set up in between an ENOURMOUS set of light up initials which had been hired in from elsewhere and started testing. Love Letter O isn't responding to DMX.....it's going to be one of those days :(. Manually tripped the dip-switch on the back to the correct colour code and left it at that whilst the guests filtered in and sat down.
Now, my afternoon was easier than normal on account that a member of the Guild of Toastmasters had been hired to do all the introduction and speaking bits....and he was BRILLIANT at his job (I've learned a lot just watching him and will certainly be putting some of that into practice). So, light-jazz mix put onto auto-play and let the guests enjoy the meal.
Speeches etc. out of the way, and the toastmaster takes over for the cake cutting, bouquet toss and a human-arch of guests from the cake at the far end of the venue to the dance floor for the first dance. We'd discussed the plan of action for this whilst eating a plate of less than appetising sandwiches and it worked an absolute treat.
First dance dispatched and everyone went outside. Hey ho! The problem was though, a lot went home too.
The playlist I'd been given wasn't (to my mind) going to cut the mustard. I'd been asked to play "oldies" i.e. anything before 1990 between 7pm and the first dance at 8pm, and then modern and "kisstory" (which actually equated to Garage) for the rest of the evening.....hmmmm....
9pm, and everyone went outside for sparklers. I actually went against all of my own rules and put the booth into auto-mix for about half an hour (something I never do during an evening reception).
About an hour in (and after the selfie mirror chap, the togs, the videographer and the bar staff had resigned ourselves to one of those nights, one of the bridesmaids makes a request for Thriller, "and then stick a load of other 80s stuff on". This was obviously against what I'd been told....but what do you do? Play the playlist you've been given to an empty floor, or go off-piste and get people dancing?
What do you think I did ? :) :) :)
The dance floor was suddenly full with the 40 odd remaining guests, and stayed that way for the rest of the evening. Yes, I went into some 90s trance, yes - I played loads of 80s stuff, and yes, I eventually got around to doing a few of the more popular Garage and chart hits. It worked.
Hugs and handshakes at the end of a very long day and finally home with a couple of beers. I've got some LOVE letter repairs to do tomorrow, plus I'm off to meet a bride and groom for a couple of week's time....the fun never ends.
Customers being economical with the actualité
Friday's gig could have been up there with the great ones. What seemed like a standard 18th Birthday party at a local rugby club. The number of guests seemed a bit high, 150, but some folk are just popular, right? Access is via stairs, so micromax, powerbar and Mauis were the way forward.
Arrived early, venue staff were lovely, and the place had had a facelift since I was last there, quite nice. Set up fairly well forward in the disco area, so as to be within reach of the punters. Now here's where the divergence from the truth starts, which would have resulted in different kit going in the van. . :(
It was a 6th form prom/party/function. We did indeed have the full 150, no question. We also had door staff ( thank heavens ) and an entrance fee on the door. What we didn't have was space to spare. Had I known all the facts, the DSB might have gone up the stairs with the Proels.
I had a playlist quite light on charty dross, split almost equally with Rap/Grime/Hip Hop and Indie. From about fifteen minutes in, the floor, and the micromax were rammed! As we've said before, if the crowd isn't up for it, it makes everything such hard work. When they're with you, everything seems so obvious, all the next tunes spring into your mind unbidden, and the music flows like a babbling stream of aural pleasure.
I was on fire and on edge simultaneously. I had to move the Mauis back as far as I could to protect them, and regularly warn punters about drinks near me. At times it seemed like the whole venue was leaping up and down, arms aloft, and you remember why we do this job. The playlist was working, guests were fairly polite and good to deal with, ( if a little well lubricated perhaps ) and things were OK. For the last hour we went completely off piste, and phones were thrust into my view regularly, with to be fair, some well received tunes on in the main.
A great night, with the edge taken off by not being given all the facts, resulting in me not taking the best kit for the job ( although what those little Mauis did was unbelievable. Over 150 eighteen year olds going mental, and they're performing like they have no right to. I turned the bass up for the first time since I've used them, and we had no complaints. They shouldn't have done what they did. Wayne's 28s are beginning to feature on my radar I think. )
So, I'm by now completely wired between the adrenaline from stress and euphoria, and the caffeine I'm not allowed from the coffee. So much so, that at 7am Saturday morning, I was the most bright eyed and bushy tailed person on the potato grading line! :eek: ( Mind you, by 5pm, I was zonked )
Saturday afternoon saw a party near Doncaster. Or rather should have seen a party near Doncaster. I arrived early again, and was informed there was no party on. Further digging revealed my client had cheesed the venue off immensely, and been given her deposit back, in July! Not only that, another DJ had rung up the venue a couple of days before to check all was well. So we potentially had two discos, and no party. You couldn't make it up. At this time of year, life's too short to get excited, so I'll just write this one off. Especially because......
On the way to my aborted gig, I driven past the lair of one Mattydj50, the Holiday Inn. I called to meet him on my way home, and recced the room where I'm covering a couple for him in December. It was good to meet him, and have a chat, and I gained valuable info for the future, so not a wasted trip at all.
