Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[DJ Jules]

Crazy crazy weekend for me! Friday night, kids Xmas party at a school where I always seem to either have a great night, or I have issues with the behaviour of some of the older kids. I seem to have got the balance of games & music and fun & authority right with this bunch and Friday night was very, very hard work, but the kids all behaved and had a good time. Luckily an early night for me.

Saturday night was at a club where I work regularly and it was pretty busy with some new faces now that the party season now properly kicking off and people are rolling out of the pubs after Xmas dinners and drinks and looking for somewhere with a late license. The result for me was a balancing act, working in tracks that suited the tastes of the slightly older customers and the usual younger crowd. Songs of the night, Cha Cha slide, Cupid Shuffle and Saturday night (all by request). For the first time in my career I also had to play agadoo on request for a bunch who turned up in hula skirts

Sunday night was a wedding in THE most acoustically challenged hall in Bristol. Think massive stone box with no features, no soft furnishings and very high flat ceilings and you'll get the idea. It's a grand venue and it's a good one to add to my DJ CV, but I really hated it. The acoustics made it really hard to judge the volume level FOH and that made gauging transitions really tricky too. Overall it was just one of those nights where I was a bit worn out from the previous night, the Groom's playlist wasn't great (though luckily the Mother of the Bride had supplemented his list with some great tracks), half of the day guests left as I was setting up and the Groom asked me to intentionally kill the atmosphere when the buffet arrived (annoying as the guests who weren't eating would have partied on through as they were clearly enjoying what I was playing). All of this made the night a challenge and the dance floor a bit on/off through the middle of the night and I had very few requests to help me out (total = 4).

A few things stick in my mind - firstly the Mother of the bride was definitely the party animal of the lot. She brought out a load of inflatable guitars (remember, this was a fairly posh venue!) early on and asked me to hand them out when I got to some of the more rocky tracks on their list so the guests could play along (which they did!) Secondly, if anyone tells me in the future that they've been having dancing lessons for their first dance, I'm going to ask them how they feel about doing the routine. Last night the B&G did a great job on the dance floor to a fairly challenging bit of quickstep and they had clearly been working hard to learn a routine - but I had to avoid taking photos of their faces during the dance because they were completely lost in concentration and there was no romance in it at all. Give me a shuffle round the dance floor with a quick smooch any day. Lastly, I need to work on my transitions for rock & roll - I find it really hard to select and move between tracks in this genre without it sounding like every track is the same (think Beach Boys "Get around" into "Rock around the Clock" and you should get what I mean?)

Today has been about recovery!

[scott23]

2 weeks ago i was doing a 40th which had been booked a few months before. The reason the chap booked me was because i was willing to play some old skool rave which another DJ he was going to book refused too.

Anyways onto the event, everything was going well and after 10pm he asked if he could make a wee announcement and then could i begin the old skool rave for a hour. Now i had tried my hardest to find most of the tunes he asked for prior to the event and was only missing one track. I told him in advance and he was happy enough with what i had.

So the oldskool rave began and for the first say 15 min everything was great but tbh the tracks he had asked for where now running out after 30 mins and the dance floor was getting less and less busy- a few of the guests who had been dancing since the start of the night had asked for a few requests so i threw a few of them in as i knew it would help bring back the older generation to the dance floor and thats exactly what it did... The dance floor was bouncing!

All of a sudden the client comes up raging and says where is my old skool?! i explain i played all the tracks and more that i had, he wasn't happy saying that he didnt remember hearing them. The guy was recked by this point. anyways 2 secs later his mate just shouts across the packed dancefloor in a aggressive manner "get this Shxt off. Where is the Fxxkin banging old skool.

I thought to myself should i just pack up and leave as cant be doing with aggressive people who cant handle their drink. TBH i was shakin abit...

But i thought it could cause i riot if i was to do that- therefore I played another few old skool rave tracks i had and the aggressive guy and the birthday guy where the only 2 on the dance floor. As i looked up i seen the rest of the crowd pointing and shouting this is rubbish etc.

I manged to get back to playing decent tunes again and the end of the night everyone was dancing enjoying themselves but I on the other hand just wanted to get out of the place asap. Thats exactly what i did, packed up and left, looked towards the client who was lying in a heep and thought more trouble than worth to say goodbye to him.

2 weeks later i get a text message out the blue from the said client thanking me for giving him such a great evening and how he would be recommending me to his friends. shocked to say the least.

Shall write about a good gig i hope after this weekend :-)

[Nakatomi]

2 weeks ago i was doing a 40th which had been booked a few months before. The reason the chap booked me was because i was willing to play some old skool rave which another DJ he was going to book refused too.
.. snip!
... unsnip..
All of a sudden the client comes up raging and says where is my old skool?! i explain i played all the tracks and more that i had, he wasn't happy saying that he didnt remember hearing them. The guy was recked by this point. anyways 2 secs later his mate just shouts across the packed dancefloor in a aggressive manner "get this Shxt off. Where is the Fxxkin banging old skool.

I thought to myself should i just pack up and leave as cant be doing with aggressive people who cant handle their drink. TBH i was shakin abit...

I know it's a stereotype, but this is why I'd have turned down a rave set too. I doubt it was just drink that was the catalyst on the night either. My experience of people into 'old skool' in my DJing career so far has only been negative - trying to use aggression & threats of violence to get what they want. NO. If that's what they think rave was all about they missed the point.

[Excalibur]

My oh my, but I had a good night last night. Passed on to me by a very nice chap on here, ( who definitely is owed a nice by now ) it was 60th Birthday twenty miles away, for a company who organise and cater events. They could be a very handy company to have dealings with.

I arrived early, and as I got out of the van, my phone rang. It was the event manager asking when I'd be arriving. I told her if she came to the entrance door, I could wave at her. Lovely lady, either she fancied me, or thought I was old and infirm. Kept asking if I wanted a hand with the kit. I supose the smart money's on old and infirm, really, isn't it? Wonder if that's why the staff kept bringing me coffee all night? Maybe thought I'd fall asleep otherwise.

Got set up early, in a nice room for fifty people, got my afro, shades, and large gold medallion on, and set about loading up the playlist. What a playlist. A few lemons, but a lo0ad of my faves. To say I was looking forward to this would be an understatement. The cunning plan was to play only seventies, if possible, and apart from four sixties tracks, I did. The host had compiled a written 70's quiz for his guests, and they did this during the buffet.

What a buffet! Not often I get offered Boeuf Bourgignon at a gig! It was lovely, and there were other equally impressive dishes on offer, including a superb three bean chili. The host reminded me more than once it was a free bar, but with the endless coffee, I didn't need to avail myself of this. More of that later.

Anyhow, buffet and quiz over, it was my turn to set about that playlist. For our younger readers, you may not be totally familiar with some names, but I can assure you that they went down a storm.

Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd ( no, it wasn't a colour themed event ) Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper and Queen filled the Rock part of the list, aided and abetted by Slade, T Rex, Suzi Quatro, Rod Stewart, Abba, Mud, Blondie, Cockney Rebel, and even the Tartan Terrors, the Bay City Rollers.
Guests filled in a few blanks with Free, David Bowie, Stones, and Faces, and we were having a fabulous time, not bad considering the host had told me they were a quiet bunch.

All too soon, it was time to go home, and I started to pack up. The host came over to thank me, told me how many people on their way out were saying how good the music had been. I pointed out that much of it had been his choice, but he was still full of praise. Then, the touching, funny, and rewarding bit. When someone prefaces their words wit " Now I don't want to upset you, but................. ", that's rarely a good sign, so I was braced for impact.

No need, he was so mindful of the fact that I hadn't been able to have a drink on him at the event, he pressed a twenty pound note into my hand, so I could have one later!!! It doesn't get much better than that.


Tonight will doubtless redress the balance, as I've got a Christmas Party with Karaoke for a diving club, all ages and I bet it's hard work. Ah well.

[Nakatomi]

My oh my, but I had a good night last night." Now I don't want to upset you, but................. ", that's rarely a good sign, so I was braced for impact.

No need, he was so mindful of the fact that I hadn't been able to have a drink on him at the event, he pressed a twenty pound note into my hand, so I could have one later!!! It doesn't get much better than that.


Tonight will doubtless redress the balance, as I've got a Christmas Party with Karaoke for a diving club, all ages and I bet it's hard work. Ah well.

Heh talk about sugaring the pill.. "I don't want to upset you so here's some more money".

My gig last night was a very very mixed old bag.. the tables were cleared & I started off with the current number one (two number one hit parade singles in a row that I LIKE? What's happened to me?), then into some 80s, and it was all working great. Then the woman who couldn't say please or otherwise be polite started on me with requests for 70s music. I told her it's a pretty big decade for music, so could I have a clue? Oh anything but the drivel I had the dancefloor rocking to. With my own lip duly bit she wandered off back to her table - and from there on in my usual plan of bridging between genres blatantly wasn't working so started with sets of 4 or 5 songs of one type & switching around instead. Initially horrifying to see a dancefloor clear, it was reassuring to find it full again when the customers twigged. All went well like that until around 10.30 when it emerged that 3/4 of the customers had booked transport home for that time.

The rest of the night was a struggle after that & made me glad I don't do this for a living. Oh, and because of where the speakers were set up, and where the disco was plonked I got the benefit of all the bass. There wasn't much in front at all.. but I damn sure got more midbass than was good for me & ended up with a banging headache. Requests kept me going & everybody who asked for something danced.. so it although it wasn't rammed at least it wasn't soul destroying.

Hopefully tonight will be better, although I've already been collared by a table of self styled 'cougars' in the other room who say they're coming to dance with me later. Better turn my weddiing ring up to MAX I think!

[Nakatomi]

And then...

An absolute storming night but it started with a barrage of what I'll only describe as hassle. 9.15 & the desserts still weren't out, oh but the other room was already going. They demanded I crank up the music & fire up the night. No amount of polite 'no can do til the staff give me the nod' would satisfy them. Ah ladies.. (if you can call them that)... just calm down & stop busting my chops for things I don't control. Then slightly later women from other tables came over to ask me about when I was going to start up, only they were polite about it & took me up on my suggestion to take it up with the manager. Not even ten minutes later everything was cleared away & we could finally begin. Sheesh. Oh then there was the bloke who claimed he was an excellent singer who wanted to do some karoake.. eventually offering me £100 to use my mic for a few minutes. Yeah yeah. Whatever mate. If you borrow my mike & you end up making a fool of yourself we BOTH suffer. Nah, not worth the aggro sorry.

As for the rest of the night... absolutely bouncing for most of the time making me wish this was my day job (but that every night could be like this). . I had to turn down a handful of requests (Nakatomi's Children of the Night got a flat out NO, simply not possible, and Willow Smith, I whip my hair back & forth... in a room full of adults? Hahaha. Then there was the obligatory Northern Soul nut who wanted tracks played from his phone. Ah "sorry, I think tunes of that quality would be completely lost on this lot. Maybe another time". Diplomatic, huh?

The only request I wasn't sure about was for a 50th birthday - Rod Stewart's Maggie May.. but I worked it in, gave the birthday lady a big intro & it worked a treat.. only swelling the dancefloor more.

Eventually.. it's last orders & I realise I'd still not played any Christmas music beyond the background muzak, but they're licking Mustang Sally off the floor. I've got Do You Love Me lined up next, with You Never Can Tell, then Reet Petite to follow. I played those, then announced there was only time for one more.. pressed my SAMPLE1 button to play Psy saying 'Gangnam Style' to boos & laughs from the crowd.... then went straight into Mariah Carey All I Want (skipping the intro)... Big scream from the crowd, arms in the air.. Job done.

Chants of 'one more' went unheeded (the venue really likes to stick to a tight finish time) & several people thanked me for a great night on their way out.

Just what I needed after Friday!

[Imagine]

I've got a Christmas Party with Karaoke for a diving club, all ages and I bet it's hard work. Ah well.

I had one of those last week.....good luck
They were supposed to eat until 8pm and then the brief was for cheese.....okey dokey.....I can do that..

10pm they finished eating their 3 course carvery (was I offered any....was I heck as like). Being full of three courses...they didn't want to get onto the dance floor either....really hard night compounded by the fact that they'd ordered their taxis for an hour before the end!

I'd been promised in excess of 100 guests for that one who would be "up for a party"....45 turned up. After the night I'd had the night before with a ward of nurses from the local hospital (my God they can drink!)...it was a real downer.

Tonight...weird.....
It was a Golden Wedding anniversary so a nice easy little number with basically all 60's, 70's, Motown and a little Showaddywaddy for good measure (and it's a LONG time since I played anything by Showaddywaddy!)

During the background music....one of the relations rocks up with a CD....apparently his "first cut" for his band. Small problem there....I don't do CD's (embarrassingly my playout doesn't have a CD player). However.....there's a couple of ancient HH Electronic's (yes...30+ years old) Dual Concentrics hanging on the wall (I forgot how big those things were, 4x 15" cones stacked on top of each other!). Traced the wires back and found a CD player....tape decks (really?), a prehistoric Radio Shack mixer and an old HH Electronics amp. OK - I can play. Apologised up front that I was using the in house system for the first track of the night and that I had no knowledge or control of the quality of the playout......really glad I did....it sounded REALLY bad (the speakers weren't well at all!) It's a shame really 'cos the chaps band weren't too shoddy and if I'd have taken a USB CD player with me (this is the first time I've ever been in this situation), it would have sounded decent on my DXR's.

Took a little while to get the floor going (they'd eaten late....again!), but hit the 70's (and especially Showaddywaddy and dare I say it Chas and Dave....eeeeeewwwwww), bang.....full floor.

I was booked until midnight. Got to the venue and it's actually the time we have to be OUT of the building so agreed with the client it's an 11:30 finish (meaning I get home in time for a swift one before retiring and travelling to a 6 yr old's party tomorrow). Bonus! We're only halfway through December and I'm knackered (man flu this week hasn't helped either)

10:30....the venue suddenly starts to clear.....what?
It transpires that the guests were all from a long way away, were staying in a local Travelodge (poor sods) and the hosts had started ferrying them home (they'd had a long day....and let's face it....at Peter's age...... )

11pm - the boss comes over and says I might as well call it a night. The poor dears have had a long day and gone to bed.....double bonus! Finished with Vera Lynn (We'll meet again.......that's a first for me), and the usual New York New York and home by midnight

Even better, one of the happy couple's children has booked me for his wedding next August....just 2 miles down the road
I don't measure the success of a gig by the legs (or in this case, zimmer frames) on the dance floor, but did OK. I measure it by the amount of thanks and the number of hugs I get at the end of it from this age group......the boy apparently did good

Isn't it strange how the clients measure the success of a gig compared to us?

[Nakatomi]

... a little Showaddywaddy for good measure (and it's a LONG time since I played anything by Showaddywaddy!)

Heh.. I dusted off 'Under The Moon Of Love' tonight. Went down very well indeed. I even caught younger folks enjoying it too.

[Imagine]

Might be time to get the mothballs off of the shiny Sid jacket.....I can feel a Showaddywaddy comeback coming on.

In all seriousness....might have to try it again at the next party with a load of old timers there.....it just worked and to be honest...not something I'd have naturally thought of

As for the Chas 'n' Dave.....think that was a one off...most of them originated from the East End of London (made a very nice change to the norm though)

[little al]

Might be time to get the mothballs off of the shiny Sid jacket.....I can feel a Showaddywaddy comeback coming on.

In all seriousness....might have to try it again at the next party with a load of old timers there.....it just worked and to be honest...not something I'd have naturally thought of

As for the Chas 'n' Dave.....think that was a one off...most of them originated from the East End of London (made a very nice change to the norm though)

There is nothing wrong with Chas and Dave. Londoners love it.