Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[funkymook]

Me too. I do a couple of cricket club awards nights every year, and any more than a couple dancing is a bloody miracle.

I bet you're really stumped deciding what to play for them!

[Charlie Brown]

Phew!

That's made me feel better.

Thanks guys.

[Corabar Steve]

Well, I'm back from my gig tonight.

There were 2 steps going into the venue, so I buggered off home.

[gaza]

Sports presentations are never known for masses of people dancing CB. I've been doing footy club ones for years and they hardly ever dance. This is where the use of the mic comes in handy.

I have done a taekwondo clubs presentation night for the last three years and half of them keep the coats on and go after the trophies are given out, and the rest of them only get up and dance in the last half an hour.

[Javlingames]

Absolute belter of a gig tonight at kents hill conference centre in mk. Started at 9pm finished at 12. I played everything from abba to sl2, sweet harmony, operation blade, awesome 3, huge party set. They danced to all my songs and laughed at all of my cheesey Dj jokes!! Xcellent night, well pleased.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Well, I'm back from my gig tonight.

There were 2 steps going into the venue, so I buggered off home.

I had four steps so waited in the van for 3 hours until they cloughed up four times the normal fee

[Excalibur]

Well, I'm back from my gig tonight.

There were 2 steps going into the venue, so I buggered off home.

Ah, but if you'd asked, I could have made you a set of ramps for your drinks trolley to ascend, and you could have wheeled it in like Jenson Button.

[Ecstatic Events]

Sports presentations are never known for masses of people dancing CB. I've been doing footy club ones for years and they hardly ever dance. This is where the use of the mic comes in handy.

Strange - The only one I do is for Hartley Witney FC and I always get asked to do "extra time"

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Just to add - Mike, I've done there too and had no problems. I've also done a couple of Cricket Club presentations before and they have both gone well too.

Anyway, back on topic and last night was one that I was looking forward to as it was a Disco/Funk/Soul/Motown themed night for a 40th birthday for a very nice lady (very nice!). It went well and it was great to play lots of tracks that I had never had the chance to before and overall, the reaction on the dancefloor was great.

BUT...a few things kind of got my goat a little bit so I'll just list them. They didn't spoil the night for me to be honest but without them, I would've walked away thinking "that was awesome!"....

Firstly, a lot of money had been spent on the party. There was a champagne reception and canape's rather than a buffet and the venue was decked out really nicely. There were photos and record sleeves covering the walls and LED balloons everywhere (these look great but don't last long as they were bursting and making everyone jump throughout the evening). I also had the Mixmash 70's visuals playing throughout the evening. The invites were apparently 7" vinyls that were sent out. What I am getting at is that there was a THEME to the party and in the pre-party meeting I asked if everyone knew the theme. All of the guests must have been 30+ somethings.

So, you go to all that trouble and money and then some girl asks "Are you playing this stuff all night or are you going to play some Britney?"..then a bit later someone else asks "Can you play Toploader please?".
The requests that the birthday girl had given me (around 100) were all working and they were classics BUT it was evident to me that some people wanted a bit of a change. A guy came over and introduced himself as the birthday girls boss and asked if I could play 'Livin' on Prayer'. He said "Go on, go for it...it's just the one and announce that it's a 'Dave Request' " so I thought "Why not?". He assured me that she would be ok with it.

I made an announcement and a joke about it and played it and it packed the dancefloor out with everyone singing along. It's funny how alcohol affects people differently because this (very) nice lady came over and said "What are you doing? I didn't ask for this?". She wasn't happy and she hadn't heard my announcement even though she was looking straight at me when I was making it so the alcohol had obviously hit her. I went back into the classics and they worked and kept the dancefloor busy. She danced all night (even to Bon Jovi).

We had arranged in the pre-party meeting to finish on 2 slow ones - Al Green 'Let's Stay Together' and Marvin Gaye 'Let's Get It On' so that's what I did but I realised that as Marvin was fading out, I still had 3 minutes left on the clock so I decided to put on one more which was Freddie Jackson 'Rock Me Tonight'. As it was playing she came over again and said "Why are you playing this? Where are the 2 songs we agreed on?". I explained that I had played them and I still had time to spare and she just went "Oh!" and walked away. That kind of spoilt it a bit for me but I'm putting it down to the alcohol.
I finished to silence which was a bit of a surprise and started to pack down.

I also had a small hire job on last night at my local for a friends birthday. As I couldn't do it, he asked a girl he knows if she would DJ for him and she was playing 80's all night. I set it up before I went to my gig and set the levels etc and left a note explaining how to turn it all off when she had finished. It was supposed to finish at Midnight. I arrived at half past 12 and when I walked into the pub, the sound was deafening! I could tell instantly that the levels had been changed because the music sounded distorted and it was louder than I would usually have it. I went straight up to the girl and checked the mixer and the Gain buttons were right up on full. I looked at the back of the DB Techs and they were on permanent red (clip) and I wasn't happy. I was going to put the Mackies but changed my mind earlier that day so I am glad I did.

I've tested it all this morning and it all seems ok but I was in a real angry mood by the time I got home.

[Javlingames]

Bit of a school boy error there Gary. I don't think you should do anything like that without speaking with the organiser first. Especially when there's a set theme she has asked for