Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Daryll]

Thursday night saw me covering a wedding for Gary at a beautiful venue at frensham , near farnham.
Dead Easy load in , I was told there was a sound limiter , set to 92 db , however the venue manager told me to use any socket , apart from the one connected to the limiter...
The venue keep an eye on volume , no problems on that score.
it was a warm sunny evening , with wonderful gardens , so you know whats going to happen , an it did , until around 9:30, then the floor got busy , I mean really busy , I could have played the national anthem and they still would have danced.
around 11:00 some left , the ones with children and some of the more senior guests , that left a hard core of B&G , bridesmaids , best man and a few friends , did a rock section at the end , paradise city , caroline , teen spirit , summer of 69 , and ended as requester with livin on a prayer , all done by midnight , and with the help of my roadie , on the road by 12:20 , and this is the only down side , the A3 southbound was closed , had to drive almost to guildford to get on the south bound A285 , so a 35 minute journey turned into an hour and 15 minutes... , all in all , a gig to be remembered for all the right reasons.

Cheers

Daryll

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Excellent stuff Daryll (told you it would be a good one!!).

Mine? Well.....It was a no expenses spared summer ball for Dolby Europe at The Elvetham, a place I do regularly. I really like it there as I know the staff and management well and am always welcomed. It's a double edged sword with this place though as most of the time I am set up in what is called the Morning Room. It is a dedicated room for the Disco which is the plus point. Another plus point is that when it is busy, it is rocking. You can use smoke in there too and can create a great vibe. The downside is that if people don't want to go in the room and would rather go either in the bar literally next door (a door separates you) or elsewhere in the hotel then you can be playing to an empty room...............which is what I more or less did for the first 3 hours last night as everyone was either popping in to see my mates on the Video / Photo Booth or chilling in the grounds outside.

I did have people coming in saying that they were enjoying the music though which was a plus point.
When it got to around 10.00pm the room started filling up so I had 90 minutes left to keep the dance floor busy and I was successful there.
The organiser was more than happy and his only other comment was to apologise for the lack of dancing earlier on which of course was not his fault at all.
He said that next year he'll make sure that the Disco is set up in the conservatory which in my opinion is the better of the 2 places where the Disco can be set up.

Incidentally, I am in the conservatory tomorrow for a wedding which should be a cracker. I think there are at least 3 couples attending whose weddings I have previously done and it's one of those that recommended me to this Bride & Groom.

[Nakatomi]

The first of four weddings this week saw a room transformation (gold shimmer slash curtains from floor to ceiling & cardboard cutout gangsters & molls) for a 20s themed gig last night.

It took ages to get going but when it did we took in rat pack, motown, northern, 2 tone, a bit of ska... 80s & some 90s dance. Not a cha cha slide or Brightside in sight. Pure joy.

I'd upload photos of the room decorations as evidence but my phone doesn't like the forum's photo uploader.



Aha! Chrome to the rescue!
Nice huh?

[Excalibur]

Friday night, wedding in one of the small rooms of a big social club in Hull. We were graced with the presence of a photobooth, personned by a somewhat morose couple. John ( for Twinspin was with me again ) and I could barely raise a smile from them.

Bride and Groom were pleasant, but I get the impression that more guests were expected. Very lacklustre affair, but everyone seemed happy enough at the end, so job done.

If I thought Friday was hard work, Saturday eclipsed it. 40th birthday at my local social club, and that one really was underpopulated. Main family arrived in what can only be described as a " well lubricated " condition, and the presence of young teen children led to a really varied request list. Hank Mizell, AC/DC, and Cha Cha Slide all appeared in the first half hour. And again in the third hour. And probably some other times as well, I can't remember. Bounce and NRG kept recurring, along with a bit of Tamla, and some chart.

Best part of the night was packing up two wash lights, two ten inch speakers, a laptop and a controller. Venue likes to use its own lights, and custom DJ Booth* Fifteen minutes, and I was on my way home. Twenty five minutes, and I was in bed!

* Custom DJ Booth, which doubles up as a pool table.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Well, Saturday night I was back at the same venue as Thursday (The Elvetham) and I instantly thought that the same thing was going to happen as Thursday once I saw how lovely the weather was.......and it was to some extent but I'll explain more shortly as it wasn't entirely what I expected (or you lot are probably expecting me to say).

The day didn't start off too well for me really. I woke up with severe backache and it really was hurting me. A bit of relief was that the majority of my kit was still in the van from Thursday's function (apart from the irreplaceable bits). Anyway, poor old me soldiered through and I eventually got set up well in advance. I didn't really notice the pain that much when I was concentrating on the job in hand but once I'd stopped and I was stood behind the set up I began to struggle. It really was painful just standing there so I tried to walk about a bit. The fact that nobody was in the conservatory as yet just made it worse but 30 minutes later the place was packed with 150 guests and we were ready for the first dance. It was a great choice of song (Ben Folds - The Luckiest) and was followed by the 'Mixed Up' version of Close to Me by The Cure.

I managed to keep the majority on the dance floor after the first dance(s) for around 25 minutes before they emptied out of the sweat box of a conservatory and on to the grounds and by the BBQ area / Outside seating area which was situated behind me. A couple of members of staff opened some of the windows and doors and I pointed one of the speakers so that everybody could hear the music outside. I didn't think too much of it really and concentrated on the 10 or so in front of me who were on the dance floor which included some kids. Around 30 minutes later I saw a couple of girls on the dance floor looking past me and laughing. They pointed to me to turn around and look and I have to say I hadn't seen anything like it before. There must have been about 60 or so outside and I'd say half of them were outside dancing as it started to get darker.

As the night went on and it got colder and darker outside most of the guests came in and got on to the dance floor and it was pretty good right through to the end which was 00.30am. I was actually booked until Midnight but the Best Man came over at 11.30pm and paid me the extra for the additional half hour. The Bride & Groom had enquired about that beforehand in our meeting because they wanted it to continue if all was going well.

It was a great night overall. It was nice to see another 2 couples there who's weddings I'd DJ'd at in the past (this booking came via one of them).

Last songs of the night were Elbow - Mirrorball and Green Day - Good Riddance.

[Nakatomi]

Well. A lot has happened since Thursday. 3 more weddings!
Friday saw me work with a lovely & very talented folk fusion band who really got the crowd dancing, leaving me somewhat confused as to how to follow them. I needn't have worried since requests were pretty much standard fayre as opposed to what the band had played (I'd never have thought of Mr Rock & Roll by Amy Macdonald a floor filler before for example). Guests were in & out all night but everybody seemed happy until the end. Loch Lomond was requested by one of the couples parents as the last tune but it absolutely bombed. Out came shouts for Champagne Supernova which I played to a great reception but the insistence on Loch Lomond remained. Faded Oasis before the drawn out ending & resumed Runrig. A very poor finish indeed.

Saturday night was amazing by comparison. No band thus time & an international flavoured crowd of Brits, Swedes & Australians. One or 2 requests for native bands I'd never heard of resulted in plugged in phones & then I got on with other requests.
Dancing continued unabated through buffet time & I'd just got the room nice & hot when the bride asked me to send everyone outside for the bouquet toss. It was a good 45 minutes before the room got busy again. The groom, who'd been giving me daggers like I'd got his name wrong (I hadn't) continued to do so even as I was packing down at the end.

A little rest, then family stuff and the last wedding of the weekend. I'd been sent an interesting playlist & email communication seemed to suggest it was going to be a house on fire scenario.

Warming up while waiting for the cake cut assembly I saw a guest clicking his fingers to try to get table service & his manner told me he was one to watch. Oh dear how right I was.

Cake cut done, the guests needed little encouragement to give the couple a great lead in & off they went. Brilliant. The couple thanked me & went outside... And then I met mr clicky fingers for myself. He complimented me on my attire & started flirting. Yeah yeah yeah I thought, not quite humouring him. Some decent requests (all NEXT! mind) and the man's second visit was an assault on my groin area. WHOAH. WHAT THE HELL MAN?! He told me to chill. Requesters got ruder & more varied (yay for changing styles abruptly every 2 songs) and then he came back again. I removed his hand from around my forearm & informed him if he did that again I'd be packing away & he could explain why to the happy couple. I was fuming.

So, yet more requests came in. Don't get me wrong people were enjoying the music but if I took more than 5 minutes to work a track in a parent sent an inquisitor to remind me of the urgency of the request. By the umpteenth occurrence of that I just said "I'm sorry but I need to get out of here before I do something I regret". A few minutes away helped a lot.

Hey, we've not tried any disco yet, somebody said.. And with that going nobody was any bother again.

I packed down at breakneck speed - cable wrapping can wait for a day & I couldn't get away fast enough.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I don't usually rant but I had two great weddings over the weekend only slightly marred by the token drunk (both female this time as it happens) in attendance.

Both have been booked well in advance and I've had quite a bit of liaison with them. When I met with Saturdays clients to go over the final details the groom was a bit aloof - I thought he was maybe like "ing £xxx for a guy to play some tunes you've booked!!!"" but in hindsight it was probably because I'd rocked up with my laptop and filofax just before one of the biggest games of the Euros was on the telly.

The night was tremendous from start to finish. One "mature" as in old enough to know better, lady put in a couple of really good requests and they got played. She later on asked for something I didn't have. I explained this to her and got told "don't be a dick, just get it ing played." charming. She came back a time or two more and then gave me peace. The last I saw of her she was slumped over crying because her, no doubt long suffering partner, had told her to off when she started having a needless go at him for something. I'm chalking that one up to her having a bit of form.

Sundays ramped it up a bit. Edinburgh-ish wedding, Sunday night, tiny crowd, massive marquee and I've still got them lapping it up when I thought Id struggle. A girl who had been very jovial earlier and asked for a few tunes came up now ripped off her (to the point I think she was on the powder)

"I know everyone will ing hate it because they're all jambos but I'm a in' hibee so play XXXX cause ah'll in love it." she half slebbered half swayed in my direction.

Once told I wasn't going to play a football song that no one would dance to (half the crowd were German and would be like, wtf'?) and would potentially disgruntle everyone else in the place, including the folk who are paying me, she got in my face to the point I almost killed the music and asked for her to be removed before I packed up and left. If the bride and groom hadn't been so nice I probably would have.

"I BET YOU'RE A ING RANGERS FAN YOU ORANGE . I'M HIBS I'LL ING CUT YOU...." this was a female in her early 20s....

As it happens I am a Rangers fan and an Orangeman but, given the right crowd and the requestee not being a complete bell end, I'll play stuff I really don't want to hear - I actually play more Celtic and Hibs tunes than Rangers, by far if it's been OK'd by my client.

She then went on to say she was going to make an official complaint who she was going to complain to is anyone's guess. how she was going to make it official is another.

She ed off (to the toilets on a fairly regular basis as it happened...) and then fell on her arse a few times in front of everybody, made a james blunt of herself at the end of the night being to only one to boo when the rest of the crowd where blowing the roof of the place off cheering for me and then spent the winding down time when the bride and groom were saying goodbye to their guests shouting across the marquee "YOU'RE MEANT TO CONSUMATE YOUR MARRIAGE, GO AND GET YOUR HOLE!!!!"

Stuff like that usually doesn't bother me but having two on the bounce being quite so in my face I was like - off, you wouldn't put up with that in your work so what gives you the right to do it to someone else? Took a slight shine off of two great gigs.

On the upside I'm sure both of their hangovers were karma heavy

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Blimey!!!!
Those kinds of gigs are enough to put you off the job and we've all had some akin to yours.
Luckily they are few and far between.

Your review reminded me of something I forgot to mention about a gig a few weeks back.
It was actually a very good night but I had to ignore the usual drunken idiots and like you, mine was a female to start off with (female being the incorrect description for this rude, horrible girl). She was actually very pretty and I could see a lot of the guys eyes glued to her and she knew it (instant turn off for me).
She sauntered over and was half texting and half concentrating on not bumping into anything. She got up close to me and we touched shoulders and she was doing the whole 'use the looks' thing to try and persuade me to play something off her phone. I told her politely that unfortunately I didn't do that kind of thing. I didn't have the track she wanted and the laptop I use for back up is stripped of network settings so I can't access wi-fi if the venue has it.

I got a look of disgust, a turned up nose and a shake of the head and then the classic "Call yourself a DJ?" comment. I apologised to her and told her that unfortunately I didn't have every single track ever made.....she then said...."Why not? It's your job isn't it?"
I could see I wasn't getting anywhere and made it clear that she wasn't getting anywhere and bit my tongue as she once again sauntered off in her (far too high) heels and short skirt (yes, it looked good but the attitude made her ugly in my opinion).

That same night right at the very end after I'd played the Bride & Groom's choices of last songs, some little bloke that looked old enough to still be teething came over and said "Play one more bruv"..... I told him I couldn't due to the time and also that if I did have the time it would defeat the object of playing the last song agreed with the Bride & Groom. He wouldn't have it..... It was "bruv this" and "bruv that". I'd just finished a hot and sweaty function and I was ready to start packing up. He then said "I'll pay you mate, How much do you want?" and he got out his wallet. I told him that I didn't want his money and that it was the end and then he got narky with me. One of his mates came over laughing and said "Go on mate, play one more to shut this up" and I told him the same. Little bloke now had a bit of attitude on him but his mate was fine. "He's bigger than you" he said to little bloke and he took him away (thankfully).

What is it with people eh!!?

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

If you're a bell end when sober you're going to be a bigger one when drunk.

Most of us grow out of the getting smashed and being a prat at public events in our 20s but a fair few miss the memo and you're right, it does make you question shy we do the job at times.

[Benny Smyth]

Saturday's gig was a wedding. I turned up to find a band set up where I was going to go (no band members around - just their kit). Now I ask at every consultation are there going to be other acts or anything noteworthy that would affect the disco and I was told no, so you can imagine my confuzzlement!

Quick bit of investigation and turns out that the sister of the groom and her band performed during the day. They're also going to perform for the first hour (between 7 & 8) before the first dance.

So I set up next to them and when the band came over from the sit down meal, they were very aloof. I tried saying hello, introduced myself and touching base but naddah in return. Righto. They had no lighting, so I gave them an orange wash. Did I get a thank you?

7:30 rolls over and they finally start (wedding was running late). By 8:15, they were done. I spoke to the groom and asked if he wanted to do the FD immediately afterwards, and he asked for a few minutes. No problem - churn out a few tracks to keep things goings and...oh...band are taking down now, are they? Guess we'll be waiting a bit longer then.

Nonchalantly they go taking kit down. Not to do the whole 'mine's bigger' thing but I had a lot more kit and was down and I'm the van in 27 minutes. 45 minutes after finishing, they still haven't packed away. Everyone seems relaxed and enjoying themselves so that's cool, but I'm getting annoyed. You do realise that you're holding everything up, right?

After that, it was a pretty good night. Not a heaving dancefloor, but people really enjoyed the music, I had lots of compliments on the lighting & sound and people were just lovely overall. Bit of confusion on finish times, but finished at 12:30 (half hour earlier) and was in bed at half 1.

Job done.