Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Nakatomi]

Last party of the year bar one for me last night. Well, me & my latest 'recruit' Paul. We had two discos at the hotel, or was it one? Or was it two? Whatever it was, nobody contacted me to confirm either way so I erred on the side of caution. It ended up being two, as booked.

So, with one rig already setup from the night before I set up the micron, Teutonic LED PAR system & Mackies for the Murder Mystery night. That took very little time indeed & I have to say I really love the micron booth bar the lycra covering which is a sod to backlight.

I asked Paul to play the bigger of the rooms & I watched him work while the murder players were doing their thing. I have much to learn & could do with shadowing more experienced hands. I don't care what other DJs say - even skills you might not think are relevant to your own field can be transferrable.

His crowd.. up for it & leery. My lot - not so much.

One table didn't request any songs & sat there during the disco completely po-faced. The other 2 tables were more animated & we partied hard til midnight. "Come on DJ, it's Christmas man. Get Slade on!" YESSIR, said I, and watched the room fill with tumbleweeds. With only 10 minutes of the night left I decided to deckstop it & play something good instead. I think it'll be going on the 'do not play, EVER' pile with the Poggles Fairly Dull Tale Of New York.

Come tearing down time I got talking to Paul proper & that I think was the reason it took me til 1.30am to get the van packed with all my gear.

Two rigs in the back of a Berlingo... Can it be done? Oh yeah. Just. No bin, no hazer. When I retire the Ultimax I won't need the folding screens anymore & that should free up some room. Mind, for a gig with 29 people I think 2 Mackies might just have been slight overkill.

[ppentertainments]

My kit says it's not possible. Mine are set to pitch bend.

Not sure if my kit or contract allows it as I have no idea what you are talking about

[Excalibur]

Not sure if my kit or contract allows it as I have no idea what you are talking about

Right, today's example of the partially sighted leading the visually challenged.
In VDJ it's possible to assign actions to commands. The jog wheels have certain options available, one of which is scratching when they are whizzed backwards and forwards. The option I've selected is " pitch bend " , which means when they do that, it slows or speeds up the song.

If I let some whizz kid who really knows what he's doing with all the bells and whistles have a go, it's hilarious. The controls aren't where he expects them to be, and even if he finds them, they won't do what he wants them to do.

[Excalibur]

I was due for an absolute cracker I reckon, and I got one. Christmas party for a running club near Leeds. I got to the venue ridiculously early, having made my way carefully round the multiple motorways which bypass Leeds, then through some very stop start traffic once I'd left this. I'd had to set off so early for another reason, so simply continued to my destination.

The venue was a surprisingly big club. Surprisingly, because it looked pretty small as you arrived, but it just went on and on when you got inside. The Rock and Roller R12 is beginning to earn its money, and with a bit of careful stacking, and bungee straps, I made it in two trips. Without this, it would have been virtually impossible on my own.

I got the kit onto the stage, and decided to only use the Powerbar for lighting, as the venue had a couple of Impossileds and a laser installed, which they fired up. Between them and my Powerbar it was more than adequate. Soundwise, The Maui 5s were in use again, and I had to push them quite hard later on, although there was still a bit left if I'd had to. Only downside with them is that they spill a lot of noise backwards, so often sound louder to the DJ than they're delivering to the audience. Placement is important for best results.

Organisers were brilliant folk, who understood how the event should work, background music, buffet and raffle as early as possible, then party time. I had a very acceptable small playlist, which worked exceedingly well, and with the requests from the floor it meant the floor was busy all night. When I played Fairytale as the last one, they all formed a big circle, and it was a lovely end to the night.

Two trips out with the R12, and I was on the road again, and heading home on virtually deserted roads, which was a lot more pleasant. Last one before Christmas tonight, a wedding with Twinspin in a marquee. ( If storm Barbara hasn't blown it away )

[Daryll]

Well I have NYE off... , so last night was the last of the year, a town centre pub gig
Completely jam packed from start to finish , I cant say a full dance floor , cause there wasn't one (dance floor) , but every inch was taken up with people in various states of celebrations , either dancing or falling over.
A great crowd with no trouble what so ever , mind you the guys on the door were huge , and I mean huge , to the point of when i arrived , I parked up and one of the guys came over and asked if I was the DJ , I said yes , he said" we will keep an eye on your van" , happy days.
Picture taken by my roadie on his phone.



Great gig , and now for a rest , Seasonal greeting to all

Daryll

[Corabar Steve]

Right, today's example of the partially sighted leading the visually challenged.
In VDJ it's possible to assign actions to commands. The jog wheels have certain options available, one of which is scratching when they are whizzed backwards and forwards. The option I've selected is " pitch bend " , which means when they do that, it slows or speeds up the song.

Doesn't that bugger ypu for cueing?

30 pensioners tonight (Corrie & arseenders were more appealing apparently). Aside from the barstuff I was the youngest in tje room. one or two dancing all night aside from the odd time I got ten or so one of which was for The killers - Human. Didn't see that one coming. Got a bit Whamtastic towards the end due to tonight's news.

I have cinnamon whiskey & port. I don't care. NYE is a regular gig & I could do it blindfold.

[ppentertainments]

Friday 23rd saw one of my shortest ever discos.

Started at 8.30, finished at 8.50. Half expected it would flop as was a saga coach of 19 people but didn't expect it to be quite so brief.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Wow! That's got to be some kind of a record hasn't it?

Christmas Eve saw me DJing in a local pub, just a 10 minute drive down the road, which was a nice change after the past couple of months.
I was really looking forward to it and when I was setting up during the morning, there were some regulars in the pub who liked the idea that they could request anything they liked (I sold the idea to the pub that I could do one of my 'request fest' nights and they liked it).

Booked from 7.30pm - Midnight and at 8.45pm there were literally a handful of people in there and I thought it may be a long night but by 9.00pm, the place was very busy. The requests came flooding in (lots of Ska and Two Tone to start off with which was my cup of tea).
As the night went on, there was lots of dancing and a really good atmosphere. Once people knew they could ask for tunes, they all started doing it and the time flew by.

One guy however, just didn't get the idea and whilst I was playing the long version of Bat Out Of Hell for someone, he came over and asked me what the hell I was doing as he wanted to dance and as he said... "You can't dance to this ****!". I explained the idea of the night to him but he wouldn't listen and got a bit peeved off. He then said "It's one of the biggest nights of the year and you're playing **** I can't dance to!".
As I was in a pub that I'd never been to before and therefore didn't know what the he or the rest of the punters were like, I didn't push it any further and asked him what he wanted to hear. He bombarded me with a load of Disco tunes so I played them, he danced and then shook my hand.

It was a successful night and the landlord said he'd have me back for sure. I actually overheard one of the punters say to him "Who's that DJ? He's spot on!" as I was packing my stuff up.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

My first wedding booking in Norfolk is now done and dusted and I have to say, I couldn't have wished for a better night.
A lovely crowd who were all up for a party from the first song until the last.
The pre-request list (posted in another thread), worked very well and the mix of guests all seemed to love it.
I had lots of compliments and got asked for cards too which was cool. The venue owner was impressed with the quick set up, music and the way I worked with him and his staff to keep everything flowing. He asked me for cards too and said he'd recommend me.

I arrived at the venue an hour before I was due to start as I guessed that access (through the main door only), may be tricky with guests filling the venue (and I was right). Even though it was literally freezing (it said -2 degrees on my phone and it was icy and frosty at 6.30pm), guests were opening the doors for me and asking if I needed help getting the equipment in.
It was an open plan venue so there wasn't really anywhere else where they could go. It was far too cold outside.
Bride & Groom originally wanted a band to play as their friends are in a popular covers band but that didn't happen so I was booked instead.
Their band friends played some acoustic songs in the far corner of the room and guests sung along as I started to set up. It was a really nice atmosphere.

Did my usual introductions and welcomes and got going 10 minutes early with the background music and people started dancing to those so I knew I'd be in for a good night. As I said, everything went down very well and just worked. I did find it strange though when everybody applauded, cheered and showed their appreciation after most of the songs. It was as if I was the band.
As I said in the other thread, the Bride & Groom were leaving at 11.00pm even though I was booked until Midnight. After they'd thanked everybody for attending their big day, I played (as requested), Elbow - One Day Like This and the guests created the traditional arch (haven't done that for ages).
At that time there were probably 30 of the original 85 guests left and as the Bride & Groom made their way out of the venue, the majority of guests followed them.

The venue and I decided to end it there and as I started to pack up the equipment, I left some music on at very low volume as the venue lights went on. Nobody said a word about it and people were shaking my hand and thanking me for a good night.
If they are all like that (which I doubt in reality), it should be enjoyable working up here.

[Excalibur]

Last year, what seemed like a good paying wedding on NYE ended up being a very poor return on effort invested. This year, I took on a private party in a Village Hall. Foolproof, eh? Oh no. Hall doesn't allow entertainment after 11.30 or thereabouts. Getting approval from The Committee for the required extension proved to be the eighth labour of Hercules, and thus impossible for mere mortals like my client, so I was available again.

Andy Neen had contacted me with a tempting offer from one of his clients, and for various reasons I accepted it. Decent enough money, room and board helped to seal the deal, so I pointed The Big Yellow Taxi up the A1(M) and before too long arrived on site. I was shown to my very well appointed room ( well the place does have five stars from the AA, so me and The Taxi felt right at home ) to dump my bag.

Set up was ridiculously easy, and I then had lots of time to have a shower, and wash my hair. I kicked off early, and guests came in almost all at once. After a short bit of well received background, it was buffet time, and very good it was too. After that, we edged into dance mode, and the floor was rarely totally empty, not bad for seventy folk from toddlers to grannies.

We built up a head of steam, and arrived effortlessly at midnight, counted it down, and had the most relaxed and comfortable ALS ever. Now the bad news. After a night like this, without bad news, I might have thought I dreamt it.

We had a sudden influx of well oiled, rowdy folks, who were a complete contrast to my well behaved guests who had paid for the whole night. Things soon got messy, and about half an hour after the agreed finish time, the management and I deemed it time to pull the plug. I broke down the kit, accepted a pint from the very happy owner ( who has already booked for next year) and went off for some well earned rest.

This morning will see me loading the van, having a full English, which they insisted on, and heading gently home. Almost the perfect gig.

Willy waving? Oh Yuss, I had a text forwarded to me from Mr Neen's agent in my gig. A lad with experience of discos and the like.

" Nice set up your mate has at xxxxxxx". I liked that.