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Thread: Good Gig, Bad Gig.

  1. #5221
    Imagine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rth_discos View Post
    Would you mind sharing some examples of your 80s club classics? It's an area I struggle with and end up leaning more on the 90s - Black Box Ride on Time is as good as it get for 80s Club Classics for me (and that only just snuck into the 80s!)
    Not a "clubby" as you might imagine (that didn't really happen until the '90s and indeed there's a lot of crossover)
    Mine last night included:

    * Ride on Time (obviously)
    * Pump up the Jam
    * Theme from S-Express
    * My Prerogative
    * Cuddly Toy
    * Beat Dis
    * Good Life

  2. #5222
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    Oh WOW! Now I KNOW I've made the right decision by jacking in the delivery job after tonight's feast of dancing!

    Another reschedule (aren't they all?), in a tent in a family garden deep in the Cambridgeshire Fens. The only thing I don't like with these ones is that you've got absolutely no idea of what you're arriving at regarding access and dragging the kit in. As luck would have it....it was a piece of cake. What I tend to forget with a lot of these places is that their bathrooms are bigger than my entire house and that when they say garden...they're actually talking several acres of perfectly landscaped field!

    First outing for the new look Rustic booth and it went down a treat. I deliberately built it taller than most booths to protect the gear from people waving drinks and the like and it works!

    Anyhoo....the night itself. Well where do I start?
    The playlist in DJEP somehow reached something nearing 11 hours of music (the groom admitted he got carried away). He also sent me an email last week to say don't worry too much about the content of the requests and to feel free to play it by ear on the night. This is sounding more and more like my kind of wedding.

    A slight change to the plan saw the first dance 90 minutes later than expected. The singer they'd hired for the afternoon packed up at 7pm just as I'd finished rigging up and announced on the mic that it was time for me to take over......okaaaay.....wasn't quite prepared but hey-ho. Filled the time with a load of low-volume chart toppers whilst the evening guests arrived and settled in.

    What was really nice is that they did the daddy/daughter dance BEFORE the first dance (so many do it the wrong way around). Plenty of tears and a nice hand over from father to husband ready for the first dance. And then....another surprise sprung on me. Time of my Life from Dirty Dancing was on the playlist and I was already planning that as the second from last of the night. Wrong! Apparently it was for the hens (about 20 of them) to perform a little dance routing they'd planned. It went really, REALLY well and got a deafening round of applause.

    And here's the best bit....the routine was based around the 3 min version and I normally play the extended one (it's got a nice instrumental bit for me to say my goodbyes over). They ran out of dance. No problem...the rest of the guests joined them and stayed there for the entire night!

    No cheese was played or requested (well....apart from the Grease Megamix which went down an absolute storm, and my favourite in these parts, Len Boone's Love Won't Be Denied....oh yes....they did the full 6 1/2 minutes of the Peterborough Shuffle!)

    Motown, 90s Club, a little R&B, some 70s disco, Rock, Indie....EVERYTHING went down an absolute storm. I'd studied the groom's request list and worked around what was on there. Requests for similar music were coming in aplenty as well. It was just like the old days and REALLY refreshing. I literally fed off the energy of the room like I used to....it was amazing.

    But, all good things must come to an end and being absolutely shattered as I am at the moment, played the traditional "one more" before going from hero to zero - my MacBooks both "blue screened" (one day somebody's going to suss that Macs don't HAVE a blue screen of death )

    I really enjoyed that one!

    Tomorrow - a night off. Whilst there are plenty of opportunities for emergency cover (there's a lot of let downs happening over here at the moment), I promised the dear lady a night in and I've got to do 9 hours of lugging shopping around again on Sunday....the sooner that's over the better.

  3. #5223
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    The hen party Justin feared so much. Dunno why, they were all exquisitely behaved, didn't swig Prosecco from the bottle, hammer the shots and generally run amok.

    Also, they danced all night, and thought I was the best DJ they'd seen possibly ever.


    Not all of the above is totally true, modesty ( and propriety ) forbids me saying which bit is a fib.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  4. #5224

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    Quick summary of my wedding last night.

    Bride was huge (not being nasty, I am 'quite large' myself) and 25 years old
    Groom was slim and 76 years old.

    Brides grandfather was 2 years younger than the groom.

    45 people during the day - 28 turned up
    85 at night - 24 turned up (yes a lot went after the meal and I think about 6 new faces at night)

    Get the impression a lot of people didn't agree with the arrangement. All in all, not a bad night though actually, had weddings with over 100 people and less dancefloor action, really polite and they thoroughly enjoyed it so result for me.
    Semi-Retired Multi Award Winning DJ

    www.ultimateweddingdj.co.uk

  5. #5225
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Default Never ever, ever prejudge.

    Sometimes, I do things against my better judgment. Being self employed, and mindful of the adage " don't work, don't eat", I sometimes take bookings I'd rather have left alone. This was one such booking, and I was 100% totally and utterly wrong.

    From a lead generation site, and all the warning signs were there. An 80th Birthday in a WMC past its best, in an area of a big town that isn't wonderful to get to, which has a strong contingent of a certain ethnicity which can get a bit " interesting" on occasion. The main request was for songs pertaining to this ethnicity, and can either be a glorious celebration of ancestry and heritage, or a downright battle cry, and I don't share that heritage, and don't have enough knowledge not to walk into playing the wrong song.

    Armed with my nine song playlist, I turned up to be greeted with lovely venue staff, family I couldn't quite work out, and a layout which was less than ideal for the available electrical sockets. One extension lead later, an I'm set up in as good a corner as I can find. Now this is a Family affair. There's a capital F for a reason.

    I haven't had as good a night of mixed races since an Irish/Asian wedding in Scarborough, many years ago. This one was Irish/African, and the one single overriding factor was Family. They didn't really want to dance ( except to Michael Jackson, and some South African stuff a guest flagged up for me. Thank the Lord for internet access, and downloads.

    Not a single cross word, demand, drink waved about near kit, or anything at all untoward. Just a glorious birthday party for a lovely lady, with all her family round. A lovely, lovely night, with an 11pm finish on the nose. Perfect. How wrong can you be?
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  6. #5226
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    And as much as Friday's gig was a big success with very little dancing, Saturday was a disaster. I hauled a lot of gear into a sports club, set up in a room adjoining the seating area ( not a doorway separating them, one of those removable walls, so it was effectively the same room ) and was then effectively ignored by just about everyone except the organiser, the daughter of the Birthday Girl. She felt duty bound to make the night a success.

    Long story short, it wasn't. We stopped at 11pm to save me from further punishment. And do you know what? Some people came up to compliment me on the music! Sometimes, I wonder if we set the bar too high?
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  7. #5227

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    After 4 days off sick with a terrible cold, Fridays gig was always going to feel like a slog. So I thought. Wrong!

    Over 6 hours of pre request tracks by email, but only to use as a guide... Another couple contending for the nicest customers I've ever met, and a crowd chock full of NHS staff in dire need of a good sesh. The end result? Rammed floor all night & even the grans were having a go at drops to tunes like 'my neck my back' (dirty version). I played a lot of stuff I wouldn't normally play, and had a right old good time. Thank the lord for paracetamol & caffeine tablets!

    Last night another absolute storming good one marred only by the VIP's attitude.

  8. #5228
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    That was an absolutely AWESOME day!

    It was supposed to be just the evening, but the venue were playing awkward with load-ins and insisted I was to set up early, clear off and return later. Erm....nope!
    Eventually convinced the bride of my usefulness during the afternoon and indeed even did the ceremony itself (my first since we returned from lockdowns), so a pretty long day. Not as long as next Saturday but it was good practice!

    She'd described the venue owner as "a little quirky" when she first booked me and she wasn't far wide of the mark. I actually got on alright with him and even left him a spare IEC lead for his dance floor as last week's DJ had run away with the last one. The first words though were about a sound limit (no limiter....just a handheld hobby measuring occasionally outside) and a strict midnight finish.

    I thought I'd seen it all in these parts with awkward access but this one involves driving literally a MILE down a farm track in-filled with bricks and rubble. It was blimmin' scary going in during daylight but coming out again in the dark and thick fog was another story entirely. That coupled to the fact that access to the setup area is through the kitchen after a 100yd lug from the van....yup it's a tricky one! Well worth it though.

    What I hadn't realised as many of mine are now planned over email is that there was to be a very large contingent of kilt and sporran wearers at this one (groom's entire family and friends). This could get messy

    As for the day - absolutely blimmin' awesome apart from a Mac charger giving up the ghost (it worked yesterday). I hadn't had the guts to take the newly acquired Prime4 to a live wedding but in hindsight it would have saved a lot of effort watching battery levels between the two Macs and swapping the charger over when needed. I must get some more practice in on it this week and look to get Soundswitch working as well (although that part's not quite as urgent)

    The registrar was unusually helpful in her cues as to when things were happening, the tog's (one of whom does the same job as me in a fairly local branch of Sainsburys) were taking the role of organising things, the father of the groom did the MC'ing stuff (OK, I sort of changed his plans for the grand entrance to much clapping and cheering), but all in all, a really easy day.

    Afternoon bit out of the way and it's time for one of those fake waiter chaps to take a tumble with a load of cutlery in the middle of the guests before jumping up and singing whilst his mate played with EQs behind my booth from a little Xenyx mixer and into my PA. I don't normally like these acts but this one was pretty good and had the whole of the assembled marquee eating from the palm of his hand.

    Eventually we got to the dancing bit. The ideas I'd been sent were sending chills down my spine....I really had NO IDEA of how it was going to pan out. When the couple have actually REQUESTED Cha Cha Slide, Oops Upside Your Head and YMCA (plus the rest of that ilk)....hmmm. The guests lapped it up, along with a very healthy selection of 80s pop and just a little hard rock. It didn't matter what I played, they were up for the party . Missing from the evening entertainment was any suggestion of R&Biilge.....a really refreshing change.

    Now believe it or not fellow DJs, I've never actually done a Scottish wedding before tonight. BUT...I'd downloaded a copy of Runrig's Loch Lomand a while back....just in case one ever came along. A quick agreement with the bride, a request to her father in law to make sure everyone's inside the tent 10 mins before the end to join in with Mr Otzi's song about a girl called Caroline and I nervously hit the button on Loch Lomand not quite knowing what to expect.

    The dance floor exploded! What a way to end the evening!

    I turned off and let them carry on singing whilst I lugged the kit through the obstacle course of the kitchen and back to the van.

    If only ALL weddings were this good!

  9. #5229

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    Ah Wayne, I wish I'd had an up for it crowd, or a short list of accessible music for my gig last night. Nope!

    Some punk, new wave, some rock, some hard stuff, not many 'popular' tracks whatever in the list of 70 pre requests compiled way back before the wedding was originally scheduled. I suggested maybe the couple needed a specialist but no they said they couldn't find one. They got that I'm flexible which was why they picked me.

    I needn't have bothered going to the trouble of downloading the 40 odd tracks I didn't already have because no more than 2 people danced to any of them. Possibly not a fair assumption but you know how it feels when nothing you're playing seems to be working

    What DID work though was northern soul, abba (ugh) and actual soul music. At a gig where most of the requests were for (IMHO) pretty out there by my standards alt & new wave. I think a certain Corobar Steve might've found last night right up his alley but the request list was mostly alien to me. I did my best & don't think I came off too badly without resorting to any of the low hanging fruit as per the original brief.

    Packed down & loaded out in 20 minutes then home only slightly later than if I'd been 9 miles from my house on the same finish time. Not bad.

    Loved the venue (As You Like It in jesmond) but I got the impression the staff thought I was cos they hated the music.

  10. #5230
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    Wayne, well done Son, you know it makes sense.

    Justin, despite the lack of details, I reckon I might have swapped you.

    Me? Curate's Egg, yet again. 60th Birthday. Birthday girl was into 90s Dance/Clubland. Grandchildren and friends wanted " Charty". Another faction was heavily into the Cheeseboard. Add in Morrissey- First Of The Gang, Depeche Mode, and we're not in danger of making my Top Ten gigs of all time.

    We finished early, courtesy of Dave Jackson's well trained staff, and the clients/guests were well pleased. That'll do for me, I'll take that.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

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