Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

When i used to use mackies (still got em but they're strictly spare only now) I was caught out a few times by the inactivity timeout switch that if switched in will stop the speaker powering up when power is first applied.

Never been a problem for me, saying that though, that was the first thing I checked just in case.

[djdj]

Well, sometime ago I provided my Disco services to a lovely Lesbian couple at a fairly local hotel, now I was told the 'Function Suite' was fully kitted out and so could they have a discount, I duly obliged but clawed it back by charging a little extra for the times they had stipulated.
I arrived at said venue plugged in my PC and then found the Hotels PA system, a 'Realistic' mixer and some nice 'Skytec' Speakers. the lighting consisted of two std dotty derby effects. Well no matter what setting I tried the sound was horrible.
The Bride & Bride? turned up and were so alcoholically challenged there was no chance of getting any sense from them. I pushed on through a std 80s/90/s themed night and took my leave.
Onto last Saturday, a Ruby wedding party at the same venue #Alarm bells ringing#
The couple concerned had booked 'Karaoke' so I decided to take my old Peavey / Carlsbro set up as the Denon Nor the VMS are Singers mixers.
Arrived at the hotel and the door from the car park is locked! so goes round onto the main road to find a scribbled bit of paper on the door-'This Hotel is closed and now just Holiday lets' Rechecked my booking as 'Blue Bell' is quite a popular name.
Managed to find a number for the client who came out and informed me that I would need to load in through another door as they only had a key for it.
Pulled around the back of the Hotel to rind a party of around 25 people all of whom had obviously made up for the lack of food by buying up Morrissons stock of cheap beer. No PA system and just one dotty Derby effect.
It turned out the Licensee had done a runner and the couple had arrived and managed to persuade one of the residents of the Holiday lets to carry on with the party. A rather nice woman accosted me on the way in and full payment was thrust into my hands.
'Just get some tunes on' So I duly set up and was playing within 25 mins. Usual mix of party stuff with a nice couple of games of Bingo!
£30 extra for playing some ones favourite track? and a 12.30 finish.
I think I recently warned a fellow 'old git' about this venue!

[Excalibur]

End of August I did an all 80's wedding ( which went very well ), last night I di8d an 80's night at a pub in Hull with young Twinspin, and guess what I've got tonight?

Yup, 50th Birthday party with an 80's theme. At least I should be getting used to it. Private residence, so what I'll have to contend with is anybody's guess.

OK, Friday. It's an estate pub, nice enough, but a bit sprawling. It's quite a nice place, but I'm wondering how long before they spot the flaw in putting on Discos or Karaoke. Nobody's interested. It shifts food like it's going out of fashion, and has large screen TVs showing Sky Sports, so trade's good, especially early doors.

Thing is, absolutely nobody is there for the Music/Karaoke. I'm just hoping that the funding for them doesn't come from the chain it's part of, cos that could mean that although it's not financially viable, it's a " use it or lose it " scenario with the money.

The bar staff and three of the punters had a whale of a time, why at one point I recollect we had as many as four people dancing! Hull City v Derby was showing live on Sky, and it was painful to watch if you were a Hull fan.
All in all, a pretty grim night really. Ah well, never mind.

[Imagine]

How some venues are in the business of hosting any sort of party let alone a wedding is beyond me.

I won't name and shame, I'll blacklist it on NaD and won't be going back again.

The venue, a pub with a marquee which on first impressions seems to be OK...until you nearly lose the Rock 'n' Roller as you trundle over a massive dip in the laminate floor where it's sunk....oh well.

Set up in the corner, with the drapes dragging the top of my head where they've come away from the liner. Just about squeezed the Maui 28's into the space and off we go. 20 mins in, I'm asked to turn the bass down ... on those little 8" cones....really?????

There was a limiter on the floor (yup...a sound sentry just sitting innocently on the floor in the corner) and I wasn't even going into amber. Oh well...house rules and all that.

Got into the happy couple's playlist which was never going to be a floor filler. Drum and Bass filled the most part of the evening, with a smattering of Garage (which did actually work).

10pm, I'm asked to start turning down the volume. OK, it's a marquee....I get that the sound travels but I was continuously asked to keep turning it down a notch right up to 11pm - with 30 mins to go you could actually hear the shoe rubber squeaking on the dance floor . I've NEVER ended a night so quietly and don't intend to again.

Lots of handshakes and fist bumps at the end from the remainder of the guests. Landlord comes into the marquee and I jovially mention that I'll be out of his hair in half an hour.

"No....you'll be out in less than that" came the reply!. Really?

He meant it as well. Rather than take my time to clear away, everything was shoved into empty bags and the like for sorting tomorrow. Whilst I went to fetch the van from the other end of the car park, he was happily lugging gear from the marquee to the edge of the parking area.

There are some people that really aren't cut out to be in the hospitality business.

As for 80's nights Peter, I've got several coming up (including a wedding in a posh venue), all using the Retro Roadshow . Happy days.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

An action packed and very busy Saturday for me again. I made the 400 mile round trip to The Barn at Bury Court in Bentley, a venue I'd been to last year and one that I thought was very nice with helpful staff and a nice layout and vibe to it.
The booking was a wedding for 2 friends of mine (that's why I did it), who'd met at one of my alternative club nights around 10 years ago. 140 guests in attendance and I knew at least 100 of them!

Remembering last week's hold up's and diversions on the journey down, I decided to give myself plenty of time to get to the venue for a 6.30pm load in.
You can guess what happened....... I left at 1.15pm and despite a full on storm for half the journey and a little diversion, I arrived at 4.30pm, 2 hours before I needed to be there but it didn't matter because as I said, I knew loads of people there and I hadn't seen any of them since I moved away. On arrival I met the lady in charge who I'd been in regular contact with and she was very (VERY) nice and very helpful too. She let me set up straight away and that meant that once I was done I could mingle and catch up with a few people.

Set up didn't take long at all. I was quite apprehensive about using the DB Technologies as my repaired Mackie won't be back until next week but I was aware of the installed sound limiter which is set at 92db. I loaded the van up with the JBL's too and Crown XLS802 as well as a back up amp but they never came out of the van.

If you've not been to Bury Court before, the set up there is a little strange as it is a very long venue with the Disco area at one end and the bar at the other end. The sound limiter is installed at the bar end and faces the bar so you can't see it. The venue tell you that they watch the indicators on it and will notify you of any problems. Now, I found this quite strange too as on my last visit to the venue I used the Mackies and the volume was up quite high. I had no problems whatsoever but last night using the DB Tech's (which aren't as powerful), one of the staff asked me if I could drop the bass a bit as the limiter was peaking into the red every now and then. My volume wasn't up too high (loud enough for the Disco area that has a very low ceiling by the way....).

I remember when I first bought the DB Tech's (Basic 400 model), the guys at Guildford Sound & Light told me that they were set up great and didn't need an EQ on them because the guys at DB know what they're doing and I think they're right. It's a long time since I used them and I was happy with them, so much so that I gave them a little pat and said "Well done guys" when I loaded them back into the van when I'd finished.

So, the Bride & Groom's theme for the day was 'Wedfest' as they and lots of the guests attend lots of festivals throughout the year. There was a huge poster on the doors of the venue that was made out like the Reading Festival posters and it had my name on it too which was really nice. There were bouncy castles and lots of other things going on too as well as a huge burger stall and the usual photo booth and candy carts, neither of which were run by the most happiest of people.
I guess some people just don't 'get it' when it comes to a wedding that is a bit away from the 'norm.

The playlist of requests that I had was awesome and a mix of Rock, Indie & Ska and I could have told you beforehand who had requested what because I knew the crowd well. Dancing was from the minute I started and the dance floor was healthy all night.

First dance was The Cure - The Lovecats and it went down really well. I must admit that I had a big lump in my throat when I saw how happy the couple and their friends were.

Another strange thing (in my opinion) about this venue is that they tell you the last song must be played at 11.15pm.....but then they tell you that you can play until 11.30pm BUT the volume has to be dropped to background (almost inaudible) level so you might as well just announce the last song and leave it at that, which is what I did.

As usual, at the end of the night I wished the Bride & Groom all the best and got everybody to congratulate them and make some noise and also thanked everyone for making my job really easy. I said it was a pleasure to be asked to do it and it was really nice to catch up again. What followed was chants of my name and cheering that seemed to go on and on and on (a bit like me!)....it was humbling and made me feel really good inside. I honestly never realised just how much those people appreciated what I had done over the years as a lot of them attended my club nights and many of the couples met at them. In fact, I counted 4 couples whose weddings I had done previously that were there last night.

Packed everything up in a huge downpour and was away by 11.45pm and once again, despite yet another diversion, storm conditions and then stupidly thick fog, I was back indoors by 03.25am.
That was my last wedding down South as I won't be travelling back and forth again. The bookings I have down there are already covered.
That was a perfect way to finish my stint and at times, quite emotional.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Already got my formal feedback return form Saturday night and the word "magnificent" makes an appearance

Village hall (stunning village hall I should add) with panoramic views over one of our nicest lochs.

B&G were both in the police (he's just retired) and she works in their LGBTIQ enforcement and education section so they wanted "gay half hour" - their non pc words, not mine - with rainbow flag themed mood lighting after the buffet.

The whole night was great right from the off. They were going mental from about half 7 onwards, lots of modern stuff (more than I'd usually play early doors), I played some of the brides more downbeat picks during the buffet - hallelujah, sound of silence, parisienne walkways etc... and they all had some sort of meaning for family members so they all danced / sang / swayed away even when it was background music time.

The night flew in and about 11pm the groom comes up quite sheepishly and says - would you be OK to finish a bit early? It's just most people have travelled and need to be getting off around 11:45. Think I can manage that sir Honestly if I could I would have played in till 3 in the morning, they were just a great crowd and after a not so great night helping a mate out a few weeks ago, the last 2 have put me right back on top.

[Excalibur]

Honestly if I could I would have played in till 3 in the morning, they were just a great crowd and after a not so great night helping a mate out a few weeks ago, the last 2 have put me right back on top.

I jest about this, particularly with a certain Fenland member, but well done. Glad to hear it. And yes, the feel good factor from a great gig wipes out many many more less than perfect ones.

What about my Saturday night, then? Last minute booking in Lincolnshire, after a cancellation. Private house a few miles from a regular venue, and not a million miles from where I originally expected to be. The cut down rig from Friday was in the van, and so was an awful lot of space!! It looked very empty in the back.

Off I went, nice and early in pleasant sunshine, wary of a less than promising weather forecast, and being " under cover " at the venue, as opposed to " indoors ". Five miles from the venue, they closed my road for the big air show at Scampton, and though I suspect I could have sneaked in, I had a trip down a few more of Lincolnshire's goat tracks! I knew I could get out the easy way, but more of that later.

The venue was a lovely cottage, and I was in an open shed. The alternative was to squeeze into the conservatory, and I suspect that had it been raining, that's where I would have gone, but the sun was shining, so I drove the van up to the shed, unloaded and parked up. The whole yard was festooned with strings of lights, and looked lovely. A fish and chip van arrived shortly after, and I was brought a trayful by the lovely birthday girl. They were superb as well.

So far, so good. Guests turned up in lots of 80's fancy dress, and I've got to get myself a Top Gun boiler suit for such events. ( You'll see why later ) I had a fair smattering of requests, mostly from a lovely Scouse girl, dressed as Beetlejuice, with the full make up on. I have to say, I found the make up really disturbing, but maybe that's just me. Then the foreseeable problem arose. The British climate. It was cold. I was frozen, but to their credit, the guests mainly stayed out with me, although they did light a massive brazier which soon drew a crowd. I was frozen in my little shed, sadly. Must get one of those boiler suits, definitely.

At 11pm, the birthday girl took pity on me, and said I could pack it in, but my hardy dancers and I gainsayed this, intending to make it to midnight, despite the cold. More hot coffee was produced, and with an extra coat on, I persevered, getting some of the best results of the night with the older elements of the crowd in my " wind down " section.
Fifteen minutes to go, and what in other cases would have been a real pain in the posterior resulted in a nice way to end. A young teen wanted the usual bilge, so I put a couple on for her, and the Scouse Lady asked me to call out that there had been a request for some " Scouse House ", but that I'd vetoed it.
I made a jocular announcement along those lines, saying that even if I knew what it was, I didn't have any.

What a fibber I can be at times. eh? At one of my former venues I used to often get asked for " Put A Donk On It ". A quick Google turned up one or two tracks in a similar vein which were mainstream enough for Now Albums, and I stuck these on, to a good response. I was still intending to end in a relaxed style, until another guest came up with a couple of requests which normally I'd have refused with a couple of tracks to go, Darude- Sandstorm, and DJ Jean- The Launch.

He had been up for requests earlier, was very pleasant, and with the " Bounce " I'd played moments earlier ( which I suspect had jogged his memory ) they fitted right in, so for the first time I finished with Sandstorm and Pretty Green Eyes! As I packed up, I got approving comments from all ages, so a good job done, and was a much happier DJ than the night before. So, all I had to do was get home on the road I'd been denied access to earlier, right? Wrong.

Normally, I'd make light of this, in my usual lighthearted style, but from what I can gather, there was a lot of sadness involved. I did in fact get straight on to the road I wanted, and with the heater on at full blast thawing me out, was nearing the motorway junction off the A15 which would get me on to the M180 and heading for M18/M62/Home. For no obvious reason, I met barriers across my path, and a diversion sign. No roadworks, flashing lights, or any other indication why I couldn't keep going as I'd intended.

Back onto the byways of rural Lincolnshire went I, and was quite happy to find a road which was going in roughly the right direction, and allowed a fair turn of speed. Diversion signs kept arriving, keeping me away from the A15 and the Motorway, until eventually I ended up in Scunthorpe itself!! There aren't a lot of roads leading to the motorway junctions round there, which explains why I ended up there, having actually crossed the motorway somewhere earlier. I found a McDonalds, and got a couple of coffees, and had a sit down before heading home, by a route I know well, which very quickly had me on the motorways. I only lost about half an hour, so no big deal.

Well not for me, but apparently for other folk. I still haven't got details, but it seems the A15 was closed to enable some sort of bicycle ride. For some reason, a vehicle hit four of the participants, and severely injured them, so a half hour delay seems small beer under the circumstances.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I jest about this, particularly with a certain Fenland member, but well done. Glad to hear it. And yes, the feel good factor from a great gig wipes out many many more less than perfect ones.

Less than perfect is probably the best way to describe it.

I was drafted in last minute to cover for a pal (something I never usually do, if I'm off I'm off, but he really needed a hand) so I didn't have much to go on other than she wanted some GBX tunes.

It was a massive crowd in a weird shaped room and I was set up in a corner a good distance away from the dancefloor so it was hard to bounce off the crowd and it was a really hard drinking lot - the young team at the table next to me were table dancing and singing along pretty much all night but they were too close to the bar to consider hitting the dancefloor until the end of the night...

The feedback I got from it was excellent, she's been raving about me all over social media and I had a bunch of folk asking for cards and joining the facebook page afterwards but from my own point of view it was a very standard evening which is hard to swallow when I've had a run of absolutely fantastic weddings week in week out from January. I suppose it just reinforces my view that if you do a half way decent job, most people will still be really impressed (thanks rotten DJs)

[Imagine]

Sorry Peter....I'm about to mutter those immortal words which will inevitably doom your party tomorrow night

AWESOME GIG!

The setting, a very posh Manor House which I've not had the pleasure of working in before tonight. It's one of these places where you hire the entire venue exclusively and you actually feel like you should be taking your shoes off as you walk through the door.

Really friendly staff, kept offering drinks (I only ever ask for a glass of ice as I take my own), really nice birthday girl (it was a 50th), and the only downside....it was a black-tie affair and I hadn't been told this fact.

Hey ho - I've got a tie in the van.

After the easiest load-in in the world, the background music went on for what seemed a lifetime. The plan was to start the party proper once the formalities such as the buffet and cake cutting were dispensed with. 9:45....it's time to get cracking....and the dance floor only ever emptied once when I played The Mighty Wah (but then they deserved a rest by then).

Other than that, I had around an hour's worth of requests from the birthday girl and was inundated with requests from the floor (some real bangers too!).

The witching hour came round way to early but venue rules dictate that midnight is the absolute finish (I'm never going to argue with that). I could however have gone on for another several hours with this crowd....absolutely brilliant.

Again, I was out with the Maui 28s - I cannot believe the power of those things. Those little subs really do punch well above their weight at times. This was a large room with a crowd of 110 people, and there was still plenty of room left for more oomph if I needed it. I keep packing the DSR12s into the van just in case I need reinforcement, and they've not been needed yet.

Little bit of grief from one guest after I'd put the laptops away and unplugged everything (yes....he waited 10 minutes after the last song to come and have a word because I didn't play his son's request and can I play it now.....ermm )

Back in the van by half midnight after big hugs from the birthday girl and the journey home took twice as long as it should have done due to a proper pea-souper descending across the Fens

That's it for this week. Tomorrow night's been cancelled so I shall invest the deposit into a bottle of something alcoholic and enjoy a night in.

[rth_discos]

I've been poor at reporting in on this thread recently.

But wanted to share tonight's gig with you.

Was a marquee gig. Couple booked me a while back. I'm fairly confident the reason they booked me was that they both said they were shy, and I said that I can work around that and not make them too much the focus of attention during the day.

They were a lovely, but very laid back couple. Even when I met them on Tuesday they still didn't have a clue what the layout of the marquee was going to be like!

So I had a very rough timeline (they wanted to go with the flow), and a first dance, and about 5 requests and that was it! No sit down meal - hog roast, and some lovely informal seating in the marquee made out of hay bales.

Turns out it was a farmers wedding - second one I've done this summer, and they are the most lovely people to deal with. And perfect for hosting - when you say to do something, they do it. Perfect guests!

Marquee was a bit cold this time of year. And after we cut the cake, which was about an hour before the first dance, the bride said to me they didn't want to do the first dance after all, they were too shy for it. Not a problem - although this did leave me with the dilemma of not having a "start" to the evening. But as it was, people started dancing from 7:30pm

Plenty of the requests made of the night - and very varied.

Thought I'd share the playlist. I'd been providing background music all afternoon, so have started this from about 7:30, when people first started dancing, through until the 12 midnight finish



KC and the Sunshine Band - Get Down Tonight

Sister Sledge - He's The Greatest Dancer

Chic - Le Freak

Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's groove

The Jacksons - Can You Feel It

Bee Gees - Night Fever

The Trammps - Disco Inferno

Earth Wind & Fire - Boogie Wonderland

ABBA - Dancing Queen

The Beatles - Twist and Shout

Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls Of Fire

Let's Twist Again - Chubby Checker

Dolly Parton - 9 To 5

T Rex - I Love To Boogie

Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive (Clean)

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Taylor Swift - Shake It Off

Luis Fonsi And Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber - Despacito

Calvin Harris f. Big Sean, Katy Perry & Pharrell Williams - Feels

DNCE - Cake By The Ocean

Clean Bandit - Rather Be

Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk

Pitbull feat. Ke$ha - Timber

Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up Part 1

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Jacksons - Blame it on the Boogie

Sister Sledge - We Are Family

S Club 7 - Don't Stop Movin

Whitney Houston - How Will I Know

Faithless - Insomnia

DJ Tiësto - Adagio For Strings

Darude - Sandstorm

ATB - 9 PM Till I Come

Armand Van Helden - You Don't Know Me

Galantis - Peanut Butter Jelly

Avicii - Levels

Groove Armada - Superstylin'

Ali G Soundtrack M beat feat.General Levy - Incredible

Apache Indian - Boom Shack-A-Lak

Inner Circle - Sweat

OutKast - Hey Ya!

Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child

Rihanna - We Found Love

Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)

S Club 7 - Reach

The Wurzels - The Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)

Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot

Chase & Status - Blind Faith

Sigma - Nobody To Love

Martin Garrix - Animals

Calvin Harris - My Way

Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl

Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)

Dj. Casper - Cha Cha Slide

SHAM ROCK - Tell Me Ma

The Killers - Mr Brightside

Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be

Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe

Queen - Dont Stop me Now

The Wurzels - The Blackbird

Journey - Don't Stop Believin 2014

Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline

Oasis - Wonderwall

Bill Medley - (I've Had) The Time of My Life

Kodaline - The One