I was out on Friday night in a venue in the centre of Great Yarmouth, supplying an 80's themed Disco for a 50th birthday party.
It was booked just before Christmas and at the time of booking, I was looking forward to it..... however, 8 weeks ago I had what they call an 'episode' (mini stroke.....a casual walk to the village shop one Tuesday afternoon ended up with me going blind for 25 minutes....scary stuff, not nice!), so I have been taking it easy. Had a lovely relaxing weekend away in Somerset at a place called Wookie Hole in Wells near Cheddar - Long drive, but worth it).... Anyway, enough of the morbid stuff for the moment.....
I'd been in constant contact with the customer and had assured them that I was ok to do the party, although I must admit that I didn't feel like it at all when Friday arrived and I had to load the van up and make my way to the venue.
It was a bit of a nightmare to get in the place as parking near to the venue was near non-existent, but I managed to sweet talk a member of staff in to moving their car so I could get as close as possible. I also wasn't aware of the small flight of stairs either (despite having the question "Does the venue have stairs / a lift?" on my booking forms). It was a warm day too, so things weren't going to be too comfortable getting everything upstairs. I must admit, I struggled a bit and as the time passed, the more reluctant I was to do the party.....but, I had no choice, it was too late to bail out.
Luckily though, the party organiser and the guests were some of the nicest people I have met and they couldn't have been more helpful and welcoming if they'd tried.
Once I was set up and I had done the sound and light checks, I had a bit of time to spare so I chatted to the staff who seemed impressed with my set up.
I had a huge list of song requests, nothing out of the ordinary, but lots of down tempo stuff too. I'd organised the huge list into sections and also informed the organiser that I would play a lot of the slower tracks at the beginning of the night as the guests arrived (I always try to do this whenever possible).
As the venue filled up with guests in fancy dress, the atmosphere began to build up. When the birthday girl arrived for her 50th birthday celebrations, I had to look twice.... 50? She looked like she was in her early 30's to me!!! I played as many of her requests as I could throughout the evening and she danced to nearly everything. The guests filled the dance floor for most of the night, only stopping to either get some food, a drink or just have a rest as it was quite warm.
At one point during the evening, a lady came over and asked if I could "play some slowies" - No problem. I thought I would play on the whole school disco thing and asked everyone to imagine the days of asking each other if they wanted to dance (hard to explain really)..... I played 3 slowies from the list - Spandau Ballet - True, Madonna - Crazy For You and George Michael - Careless Whisper and the dance floor was packed.
It really was a good night and did me the world of good. It was one of those nights where I couldn't do any wrong and I really enjoyed it.
I finished the music at midnight with Nena - 99 Red Balloons and then received a round of applause. Everyone was happy, including me.
I took my time packing down the equipment as I knew it would be difficult getting out due to the number of people blocking my way out and the venue being open until 2.00am.
The staff were happy and very complimentary, as were the guests.
Job done!
Last night, Daryll was covering a wedding for me in Hampshire so I am sure he'll pop along at some point with a report on that one - Thanks Daryll.
I am back to taking it easy now and am out again at Great Yarmouth racecourse in June for a weekend event and I'll just see how things progress. I am getting plenty of interest, just don't want to make any commitments at the moment.
Over and out!
