Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[ian8limelight]

I worked last night at 'Pinewood Studios' near Slough at a Wedding Reception together with an amazing rock/indie/Irish band called 'Evil Puppies'. I was asked to cover this 'walk in' job with about 36 hours notice so, unfortunately, wasn't forwarded the request list from the B&G, who were a really nice couple.

The band went down really well and I played in their intervals and had a full dance floor for most of my sets, although I was hidden behind a stack of speakers so was reliant in the small gap between them to see what was going on. However, after a couple of announcements, the guests managed to find me with their requests.

Even with the lack of prior information, I really enjoyed the function and got to play in the 'Grand Hall at Hogwarts'

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I was in town doing a wedding with uplighting for a very nice couple whose request list was mainly 80s and Ska / Two Tone.
Loved every minute of it and even started early as I was really up for it. The couple were really nice and had been to 2 weddings I had done last year.
When I turned up I got a cheer from the guests who had arrived early too and a number of faces were recognisable which put me at ease straight away. Lots of requests once the night started going.
It was a large wedding for the venue with 150 attending so they were using 3 rooms with the main room being the party room. Lots of dancing and a great atmosphere and cheers when certain tracks were played. The couple had also hired a photo booth too which went down very well.

A shivers up the spine moment came right near the end when absolutely everybody sung along to 'Hey Jude' for the last song of the night. Bride & Groom in tears.
Shouts of "One more!" followed so a quick look over at the AM and he returned a nod to let me know it was ok to play another as the majority of the guests were staying at the venue so I finished off with 'Champagne Supernova' which went down very well (it was going to be their last song originally but they changed their minds).

A really nice moment at the end came when the Bride & Groom came over and hugged me and told me that I had done them proud. They wanted me to have a photo taken with them and I joked that it would spoil their special day. The Groom said to me that he would book me next year for his birthday party.
Overall, a really good night and one that put a massive smile on my face. I needed it as I have a few issues going on at the moment away from work and it really took my mind off it.

One thing that was doing my head in for most of the night was that I was absolutely convinced that one of the speakers was louder than the other. I thought it when I was setting up but didn't really take that much notice. A quick shift back and forth of the balance dial and yes, I was right, the right side speaker was a lot quieter???
There wasn't a lot I could do about it as the party got going straight away so I had to grin and bear it. I got home pretty quickly as I am back there on Halloween for my mates wedding so despite a potential extra hour in bed, I didn't abuse it. In fact I have had no sleep at all as it was on my mind so as soon as it was a respectable time to go back to the hotel to sort it out, I made the journey to the venue and set about finding out what was going on. First thing I did was swap the leads over from L - R to see if it was the speaker but nope, it was still the same.
I then thought it was the Denon X500 mixer which would have been a right bummer but it wasn't that because I had some new XLR cables which I bought a few months back. I connected them, turned it all on and voila! Everything was how it should be. I shifted the balance dial back and forth again and both speakers were the same and how they should have been.
So, one of the cables must have been on it's way out.

Result!

Changed the Uplighting to Green for the Halloween wedding and job done!

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Doctor's reunion at Cameron House on Saturday night.

Had to be out of the room by 7 for dinner so I got their early and set up. Moodlit the back of my set up and it looked great.

Dinner was late, the speeches ran on and there was a ceilidh band so I actually started at 11:23 - beat my old record by 3 minutes

I was getting a bit apprehensive as it was a uni reunion from the mid 70s so you're talking about an older, more genteel crowd and I was wondering how to approach the music when one of them came up and said asked if I had any Slade.

Yup.

T Rex

Tonnes

Bowie?

Aye aye leave me to it.

I wish I'd been able to start at 5 - 90ish minutes of absolutely banging 70s tunes and my opinion of doctors being stuffy, stuck up ponces has flown out of the window. Finished with All the Young Dudes which went down a storm (one of my favourite glam era tunes too which was nice)

As I started breaking the set down they all joined hands in a circle and sung Auld Lang Syne. it was really quite moving and amazing to see what a bond these folk have considering they're now dispersed all over the world and only see each other once every 5 years.

Great night. Not got owt on until December now which turns out to be a bit of luck - I bought a house on Friday and the moving in date is "the end of Novemberish" so not having to worry about meetings and chasing folk up in the next few weeks will be nice.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Quite a busy one for me this week but enjoyable. Some meetings with customers and a couple of visits to venues I haven't been to before to check them out as I have bookings at them next year. Also had a couple of rehearsals with the band to get ready for last nights gig.

On Thursday (Halloween) I supplied the Disco + Green Uplighting for a good friend of mine who got married at one of my regular venues.
It was a pretty easy night (7.00pm - 11.00pm) and very enjoyable. Lots of the guests were in fancy dress and once the Bride & Groom had done their first dance (Led Zeppelin - All My Love) they nipped off to get changed and re-emerged as zombies. The whole night was a mixture of Halloween tunes, Rock & Alternative and 80s and it worked really well.
Best wedding cake I have ever seen aswell. It was a huge haunted house!

Friday I was doing the annual Halloween party at my local and it was awesome as always. Same kind of playlist as the wedding the night before. Almost all of the pub was in fancy dress and we did games and competitions too. Great atmosphere. Tried this beer called Gangly Ghoul which was a real ale and tasted of toffee apples. It wasn't that nice actually but everyone else seemed to love it. I was Uncle Fester.

Last night I played a big gig with my band as support to a band on tour who have just released a new EP. It was a brilliant gig and very messy so I am feeling it today.

[Excalibur]

Thursday, drove up to Penrith to sit in on Andy Neen's radio show. The man's a legend. Never again will I pick fault with anything he does on it, cos now I've seen him multitasking, I'm absolutely overawed by the whole thing. I had a fabulous time, and next time ( oh yes, there will most definitely be a next time ) I'll attempt to drive the desk. Stayed over at a lovely hotel and drove home on Friday for a 70th Birthday gig in Doncaster.

Having got to the WMC in Donny, initial signs were encouraging, the venue was open in time to let me get set up! That's a bonus for a start.
Straight onto the stage where I was instructed to plug into a scabby looking cable cos " we've got a sound limiter". Oh goody. I'd been told by the punter that the room was " big", so had taken a bit of extra PA, just in case. Another brilliant idea.
Anyway, I got all set up. had a word with the bar staff, and it turned out that the reason I'd had to plug into this scabby looking cable wasn't to comply with the limiter, but to avoid it!!!!! Nevertheless, I kept an eye on it all night, and kept it under control in the main. Punters commented at the end how the volume was just nice, which is rewarding. The highest the limiter went was at the end of a song where there's a deep bass spoken section. Although it's quiet, it lit up every single light on the Sentry. Obviously then, lowering the bass will help anyone faced with one of these.
The night went well enough, and I was booked till midnight, so I was a little surprised when the shutters went down on the bar at 11pm. I asked the bar staff, who said they'd check with management. Logic said that they weren't going to let folk sit for an hour without buying drinks, so I got into my customary wind down set.

Then I saw him.

The little man, full of self importance, marching purposefully towards me, absolutely bristling with righteous indignation. I could pretty much have predicted his script, and he followed it perfectly: " I'm the secretary of this club, and you're not ( Note the emphasis. I'm not sure the written word quite captures his fervour ) booked till midnight. Ten more minutes." I contemplated showing him any or all of the three signed pieces of paper I had with me, stating that I was contracted to midnight, but decided that it wasn't worth dashing out to the van just to annoy him. Officious little oik.
Thus I finished at 11.20, and was actually driving home at 11.45, thinking it's an ill wind that blows no good. Fifteen miles from home, and I'm trundling serenely up the motorway, looking forward to an early bed, when I realise that the cones have guided me off the motorway, and the blighters have closed it!! Swines. Over ten miles of twisty diversion, and fifteen minutes delay, instead of one mile of motorway. Grrrr. I was still tucked up in bed before 1 am, so not too bad.
Saturday dawned, and a removal job was first on the list. We got that done by early afternoon, and headed home to get set up for a mate's bonfire. Five miles from home, the heavens opened, and I was down to twenty miles an hour, with water half an inch deep on the road, and visibility of a few yards. Didn't bode well for the evening. Luckily, the night itself was basically dry, and a great time was had by all.
Sunday: Rest.

[Excalibur]

Was covering a gig for Dave Jackson last night, up in the hills. A joint 30th and 21st Birthday. I had been apprised of certain venue characteristics, but was still surprised to see how low the ceiling was, especially with what I take to be an RSJ intruding a foot into where you'd like the overhead to be. I'd taken the demi-Giraffe, as Dave warned that there wasn't an abundance of space, and the little epics as PA, driven by a PV2600.

As many of you know, I'm trying to come to grips with my new tablet, and Saturday was to be its first outing driving the slide show. After a bit of trial and error, and a lot of Googling, I got it running a monitor at home, but not the one I hang on the truss. I've got a little hub for it, which accepts a mouse, memory stick, and has a couple more slots left. I got a Micro something to VGA adaptor for the monitor, and got that going at home. Eventually.

So, I set off early, in case I had similar problems with the other monitor. Arrived, was pleased to find I could park the van beside the door, and got the stand and overhead in place. Hung the monitor and wired it up, and bingo: duplicate display pin sharp and bright. Magic. I was confident I could run a slide show from the stick the customer was bringing, and turned to sound. Since I had the monitor on the overhead, I decided not to put the Tri pars there, as it would dazzle anyone trying to watch the slideshow, and was starting to put them behind me as a sort of uplighter, when the customer arrived. I was eager to have the stick, to start the slide show running, so asked for it. " Oh! We've been trying for two days to get them off the computer, and can't do, so no stick, but you can leave the screen up anyway". Blinding idea love, let everybody see how I'm getting on at Mahjong, or Solitaire, eh?
Time for Plan B. Monitor off the bar, out into van for the two lasers, and stick two pars and two lasers up there. Worked well, happy with the effect.

So, off we go, playing quite a lot of newer stuff, and a few 90's, because of the age group I could see. Most of them arrived on a huge coach, so I sort of guessed that drink would be taken. ( It was. Lots of it ) Worked well enough, nice volume, cos I was in a narrow conservatory, with an arch through to the bar directly opposite me, about twenty or thirty yards away. Most customers were in the bar, and I was only getting folk in with me sporadically, but the ones who came in gave a good response, singing or dancing to many of the tracks. It looked like being a long night, especially as it was a late finish, 1am. Anyhow, I got a reprieve, a buffet with curry and rice as well as the sarnies and things. I took the chance to put on a bit of "Drive Time" type stuff, and it worked really well.

I started to raise the volume and tempo a bit, and then was asked to turn it up so the bar staff could hear it better! Hmmmm. They're thirty yards away, through a doorway, with a load of bodies in the way, and I've got four 10" drivers. No danger of me loosening their fillings then. I wound it up, and the little W Audio cabs coped brilliantly. Andy Neen has the rig with twin drivers in the bins, and more powerful tops, and that would have been perfect for the job. Nevertheless, mine sounded great, I had quite a bit left in the mixer, and never saw a clip light anywhere. How they get such bass response out of a 10" bin I don't know, but they do, and they were really thumping to Sandstorm, Ecuador, and Living Joy-Dreamer, and the like.

Got a couple more breaks, one for the birthday cakes, and one for some relatives to treat us to some unscripted, uncrafted, expletive laden rambling eulogies on the qualities of the two birthday girls. Fabulous. Anyway, home stretch now, loads of 90's dance, Mr Brightside, some Skrillex, and unbelievably, I was disappointed to be asked to play some cheese!! I was really enjoying what I was doing, but we had a selection of the riper ones, the singalong wind down, and with twenty seconds to spare, a request to finish with Bon Jovi-Livin' on a prayer. Lots of happy customers, handshakes and congrats, a good night overall. Frost on wet roads meant an interesting and leisurely ride home.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I was just gigging on the Saturday this week and it was a nice easy function at one of my residencies.
It was a Disco for a Widows and Widowers group called 'Way Up' (Daryll covered this for me last year).
I'd already me the organiser last year so a lot of the communication was done via email. The lady organising was very nice and seemed a bit disappointed with the lack of requests she had received from the guests in advance. It didn't bother me too much as I like a challenge. When I was setting up in the morning we had a quick chat and she said "Motown, 60s, 70s, 80s, Elvis & some up to date stuff but no slow ones".

They were having a 3 course meal so I made up a playlist on VDJ so they had background music whilst they ate.
60 guests (56 women and 4 guys) and as soon as the lights went down and I started playing the tunes, they all got up and they stayed up until the very end.
They were really up for a good party and were also a lot of fun. Requests were coming in all the time (B52s 'Love Shack' being the most popular). I can honestly say that there was never a time when the dance floor wasn't busy. It was a gem of a party.

There was one moment during the evening however when for the first time ever, the Denon HD2500 just stopped midway through a song. Usually this would have been very embarassing and yes, I wasn't happy but the timing on it was almost perfect because it was during Status Quo 'Rockin' Allover The World' (requested). The song stopped and I looked at the screen on the Denon and it said "Can't Access" but everyone on the dance floor continued to sing the chorus. I made a joke of it and went in to something else and I don't think anyone really noticed.

At the end of the night after I had played 'The Only Way Is Up' by Yazz, I got a round of applause and lots of thank you's and was told by the organiser "See you next year!". Good stuff, look forward to it.

With reference to the Denon, I've looked at past threads, the Denon forum etc and I can't seem to find anything really that explains why the "Can't Access" message came up. It's the first time it's happened to me. It wasn't the whole unit that stopped though as I had USB1 on one side and USB2 on the other. The message came up on USB1.
I reckon I may have to clean up that particular HD. Probably best I ask the question in Tech Advice.

[chrisj]

I did a singles night on Saturday for a club I had worked for a couple of years back. The evening was great with a small rig including a pair of Martin Acrobats and a pair of Twister 4HP's with star cloth frontage and playing lots of 60's and 70's through 1 Bose L1 and a B2.
Great floor all night from 7.30 until 11.30pm. and a couple of cards asked for before the organiser said I will definitely be contacted in January for bookings next year. Apparently she does not book far ahead.
Myself and my partner Sharon loaded got home and to bed but I woke at 4am to find her having epileptic fit and hypoglycemia attack so paramedic called. All sorted by 6am.
Unfortunately life is not always what we make it but whatever will be, will be.

[ukpartydj]

Had a Dark packaway for the second time this year on Saturday.
Power tripped seconds after I played the last track and nobody knew where the fuse box was so I ended up packing away with a couple of torches, very nice clients helped though so not so bad!

[DJ Jules]

Had a Dark packaway for the second time this year on Saturday.
Power tripped seconds after I played the last track and nobody knew where the fuse box was so I ended up packing away with a couple of torches, very nice clients helped though so not so bad!

A head mounted lamp is now part of my standard kit thanks to situations like these and some very dark paths I've had to navigate this year