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Thread: Good Gig, Bad Gig.

  1. #4931

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    Quote Originally Posted by rth_discos View Post
    Apart from it looking more like it was frequented by the local youth club, I'm amazed at how the dress code standard has dropped. When I was younger, even jeans were banned - and certainly trainers, as they started to relax the no jeans rule. Now it seems sports wear is accepted!
    Oh I'd love to do a busy bar or club again but I'm not sure I could take the stick I'd get for being a VDJ user

    Re the dress code - maybe everybody realised that dress codes guaranteed neither a certain class of customer nor their behaviour once inside. FWIW some of the worst scenes I've ever witnessed were caused by people in full suits (a chavvy christening party decamped to the bar I was working).

  2. #4932

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    Quote Originally Posted by rth_discos View Post
    I'd like to say I'd been enjoying a relaxing day, but it was the day I'd put aside to finishing off the tax return, which I was pleased to complete.
    Ha ha. I finished mine and submitted it last night during the buffet and while the band were on playing 2 x 45 minute slots, the second of which turned out to be an hour.

    They were so noisy they sent several guests home. And they were obviously booked by the birthday girl's husband who liked them, because hardly anyone else was up on the dance floor.

    The venue and I were both expecting to start at 6 (guests arriving) so we were a little surprised when teh band turned up at ten past. They had been told (by the client) that it was 7pm start. So the manager on duty went to the main bar and asked the party hosts when their guests were coming. Oh, around 7 to 7.30 was the reply. So we had got there and set up an hour early, playing to ourselves and watching the band set up. Hey ho.

  3. #4933
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Easy one last night, helping John Brown ( Twinspin) in Hull. We carried all the gear in at one go, two laptop bags, and a bag with my tablet in. Resident had left us a truss booth with two wizards, and four par cans controlled by one of those tiny little keypad efforts, with buttons 0-9. 0 was blackout, 1 was first dance, 7 and 8 were strobe, and in between were some quite usable patterns.

    Sound was a pair of QSC K12s, and a Studiomaster FOH mixer. By the end of the night, it was well populated with John's laptops, and the duo's cables for mic, guitar, and drum machine. All in all, a clean, tidy and efficient setup. Well done Mr Resident.

    The gig was a 40th Birthday, with a lovely crowd of party animals, who danced to most offerings. We switched off at 1am, and must have taken almost five minutes packing up!!! I could get to like gigs like that.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  4. #4934
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Default Another first.

    First indeed. Christenings aren't new, but this was a Greek one. Having picked up Mattysounds en route, we headed down to Mansfield. Quite a handy little venue, a hall joined on to a Church. While we were setting up, we could hear the service being piped in to our room through the vintage speakers on the wall.

    Absolutely lovely people, insistent that we partake of as much ( free) food and drink as we wished, and the only instruction was the reason we got the job. As you might expect, with a high number of Greek guests ( 2 to 1 Greek to British ) Greek music was required, and not just Demis Roussos and Nana Mouskouri.

    The client asked beforehand if we were happy to play such music, and of course being the tart that I am, I said no problem. Bending the P****b rules just a teeny tiny bit, he provided it on sticks, and we played it as instructed, as best we could. We must have been doing it right, cos he was very happy all afternoon, and even happier when he took over the decks and did a couple of stints himself!! This went down tremendously well with all concerned. At finish time, we got a significant tip, and lots of thanks, so a job well done.

    Mention must go to the venue for providing an installed light nearly as old as me, and insisting we used it. Hundreds of watts of incandescent light, twenty or thirty mirrors, and filters, absolutely awesome. Matty knew what it was, made by FAL in Italy. About a metre across from side to side!!

    And now to the reason we got the job. It was a NaD one, and the client asked everyone if they were happy to play Greek music, as alluded to earlier. How many said yes? - One.

    How many said no? - None.

    How many went totally silent after that logical request? - All bar one.


    Seems all were happy to provide the product of their choice to the customer ( even if it wasn't the product of his choice) , but not prepared to tailor it to the client's wishes. Unbelievable!
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  5. #4935

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    Quote Originally Posted by Excalibur View Post
    And now to the reason we got the job. It was a NaD one, and the client asked everyone if they were happy to play Greek music, as alluded to earlier. How many said yes? - One.
    I'm sometimes not sure if we work in a Service industry or not. I've played at Polish, Scottish, Greek and French weddings before and I still refer to 2017 as my Spanish year (2x Spanish weddings and Despacito was released, creating a bit of a resurgence of latin music generally). I'm honest with my customers and tell them that I'm not a specialist by a long shot, but I'm happy to work with anything they provide as long as they give me good time to go through their choices and a rough translation of the titles and/or some context around the song! Personally, I like the challenge.

    Julian
    http://www.bristoldiscohire.co.uk - Quality Disco and Equipment hire for Bristol & Bath
    Weddings, Birthday Parties, Kids Parties, School Disco's and more
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  6. #4936

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    Quote Originally Posted by DJ Jules View Post
    I'm sometimes not sure if we work in a Service industry or not. I've played at Polish, Scottish, Greek and French weddings before and I still refer to 2017 as my Spanish year (2x Spanish weddings and Despacito was released, creating a bit of a resurgence of latin music generally). I'm honest with my customers and tell them that I'm not a specialist by a long shot, but I'm happy to work with anything they provide as long as they give me good time to go through their choices and a rough translation of the titles and/or some context around the song! Personally, I like the challenge.

    Julian
    There's that, plus how do you ever expect to learn anything if all you do is the same old same old? Once I didn't have a choice.. Walk in gig & a USB stick was thrust into my hand full of gothic classics (and Dancing Queen )

  7. #4937
    Shakermaker Promotions's Avatar
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    I've done Italian, Chinese and also an Indian wedding. On all 3 occasions, it was just one of the couple that were Italian, Chinese or Indian so the music was a mix of traditional and the usual suspects (plus requests, obviously).

    The Chinese wedding, well....no offence, but that appeared to be a waste of time. It was a Monday afternoon reception (3.00pm - 7.00pm) with it supposed to be predominantly Karaoke (it was undoubtedly THE reason I stopped doing Karaoke altogether). It just didn't work well. Yes, the Chinese guests loved singing along, but everybody else absolutely hated it (including myself)....BUT....it was what the customer wanted, and I said I could do it. I did as best as I could despite hating every second of it.

    The Italian wedding was a lot better and a lot easier to do too. From the original enquiry which asked if I would play Italian music if they supplied me with a list of the songs they wanted, right through to the night itself, I listened to as much of their requests as I could so I could get used to them and see what worked etc.... They appreciated it and it worked well.
    Once again, it was what the customer wanted, and I said I could do it, even though I had no experience or knowledge of playing that kind of stuff.

    Now, the Indian wedding.....That was a totally different ball game! I loved every second of it. The Bride was Indian and she wanted some traditional stuff, but she also loved her Indie music (no pun intended). They gave me a list of traditional / Bhangra stuff and then gave me free reign on the Indie and usual suspects stuff (they booked me because they wanted Indie music).
    That wedding was in a massive marquee with just under 300 guests and there were times when (no lie), almost everybody was dancing. It was probably one of the best gigs I have ever done. The traditional / Bhangra music went down very well. I would also say that it was probably down to the guests being a great bunch and being up for it. I lost count of the amount of cheers that filled the air every time a Bhangra track came on that had been requested and there were Indian guests teaching the rest all the dance moves. It was great and very enjoyable.

    Yes, at times I could have thought that I was just an iPod as I didn't have experience or knowledge of the music, but as I said....I took the booking on, and I made the effort of listening to the music beforehand to get familiar with it and it was worth it. The comments and feedback I received from that booking alone saw me smiling for weeks and more bookings came from that too.

    Yes, it is a service industry and I think it is good to be a bit more daring at times and work outside of the box as 'they' say. The one thing that kept me interested for so long, was that there was lots of variety around IF you wanted to do something different. Playing the same old, same old stuff week in, week out.....nothing wrong with that if you are that way inclined.
    Just not for me.

  8. #4938
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions View Post
    Yes, it is a service industry and I think it is good to be a bit more daring at times and work outside of the box as 'they' say. The one thing that kept me interested for so long, was that there was lots of variety around IF you wanted to do something different. Playing the same old, same old stuff week in, week out.....nothing wrong with that if you are that way inclined.
    Just not for me.
    Good attitude, Gary.

    Out with the amazing FFN last night, in a sports club in Lincoln. John Brown came along as Roadie, and did his usual splendid job, thanks John. It's one with a bit more kit than normal, and a longer carry as well, so much appreciated. If you're anywhere near Lincoln and its surrounding area ( we get down as far as Boston, quite regularly ) I'd thoroughly recommend a ticket, it's an unique experience.

    And best of all, ( although far from unique ) you get to see me in action, after you've had a bottle of wine each. Magic.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  9. #4939

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    Not much out of the ordinary to report about the last wedding I did working for myself.. Except a certain gentleman who made a bit of a nuisance of himself. It didn't seem to matter how many times he said the word 'commercial' I just couldn't understand what he meant. Not even when he spelled it phonetically at me. You know, like rude English people do with local non English speakers on holiday. There was that & a general air of whatever was lighting up the dancefloor at that point, he demanded I go in the polar opposite direction. Entitlement much? Bless.

    He got his comeuppance though when he ignored me telling him not to put his glass on my moving head shelf.. and the mover did what movers do.. it moved & knocked his glass clean off. Oh dear old chap. Better get yourself a fresh pint then - oh & maybe try holding it with more than just your thumb & forefinger eh? BTW what is it with some people who hold their drinks that way, pinky out? Is the drink they're barely holding not worth something to them?

  10. #4940
    Shakermaker Promotions's Avatar
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    To put it very bluntly, and to make use of the censored icons for once...... At one of the last gigs I did, which was in a local a few months back (and I had already decided beforehand that it would potentially be, or would be my final outing for some time), I VERY nearly came to blows with a twenty something who thought he was being clever.
    He had been ok for the majority of the night and had been asking for some decent tracks (it was an 80's themed night), but I think the inflated ego, and the constant drivel about one of his mates being a DJ, plus a few gallons of the brave juice got to me in the end....

    I was as polite as I could be for far too long, and should have told him to a long time before I eventually did.
    He'd annoyed me enough by continuing to lean on the Equinox screen with his pint in his hand, ignoring my signals to come around to the side, but when one of his mates ventured over and slapped him on the back, sending him towards me with his half full pint, I'd had enough!

    I made it very clear to him that I wasn't happy and a lot of people saw it too. I was angry, and he didn't come over again. As always, his 'mates' decided to have a giggle about it, so I told them too. It may have been a silly move, but I'd been living up here long enough to have gotten to know a few of the regulars so I had back up if needed.
    When I went to the loo a bit later, one of the guys was in there and he questioned why I had gotten so 'aggy' (as he put it). I told him that it was my equipment, and it wasn't cheap and I didn't appreciate idiots abusing it and not respecting it. He couldn't understand. I then told him that if he told me where he lived, I would pop round and take a dump on his bed and see how he liked it.

    I think it may have clicked in that silly little brain of his after that!

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