Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[Benny Smyth]

I used to see lovely booths with good equipment and staff, now the 'cheaper' option is around, a backdrop, an ipad or cheap camera taking the photos, nowhere near as good, but undercutting the price of the real guys.

Personally, I think the backdrop is better than a booth. Obviously not the cheap camera/iPad bit, but I have a photographer friend who does the backdrop thing and I'd rather have a photographer as damn good as he is with a blank canvas over a guy with a booth.

[Nakatomi]

Even the photo booth industry is being screwed up slowly.

I used to see lovely booths with good equipment and staff, now the 'cheaper' option is around, a backdrop, an ipad or cheap camera taking the photos, nowhere near as good, but undercutting the price of the real guys.

Somebody got in touch with Sid & told him there's more money to be made in branching out. He's got his fingers in all sorts of pies now. Photobooths, wedding cakes, photography, light up letters, dancefloors - hell I hear he even does hog roasts now!

[mattydj50]

Somebody got in touch with Sid & told him there's more money to be made in branching out. He's got his fingers in all sorts of pies now. Photobooths, wedding cakes, photography, light up letters, dancefloors - hell I hear he even does hog roasts now!

He'll be training to be a registrar or a vicar next.

[Shaun]

Pretty good gig on Saturday night. It was a wedding, and it may have broken some sort of record for amount of drink glasses dropped, but it was a pretty good gig. It was a small venue, so I had to break out the t-bar and give it it's debut. Not gonna lie - I thought it looked pretty crap.





Space only allowed me a T-bar (didn't even get the option of putting it to the side, which I'd have preferred). Just looks a bit too 'packed together' if you ask me. Oh well - I'll only break it out if really needed.

Having seen your setup with both the truss totems and and the T Bar. I have to say I prefer the t bar look.

I guess it all comes down to preference and personal taste.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I'd rather have a photographer as damn good as he is with a blank canvas over a guy with a booth.

Why?

Is it fun having a photographer asking you to turn your head this way and that etc? Is it private? Can you misbehave?

Event photography is a different thing.

[Benny Smyth]

Why?

Is it fun having a photographer asking you to turn your head this way and that etc? Is it private? Can you misbehave?

Event photography is a different thing.

In that situation, I've never seen it happen. No it isn't (but who cares, really?). Yes you can.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Having run a booth for almost 4 years I know why people prefer them to event photographers and the reasons are above.

[Excalibur]

As pointed out elsewhere, it's a tribute to HMS Pickle, first ship to bring news of the victory at Trafalgar.
So, headed off just below Lincoln to RAF Digby. For a Naval event.
Arrived mid afternoon, as arranged, had my photo taken, and was given a temporary ID card. The Sergeants Mess was easy to find, and they'd even put the red carpet out for me. Got set up in the designated area ready for the evening, and then we had the discussion I expected to come when I took the gig.

Booking was 10.30pm to 1am, and the possibility of " overtime " was included in the initial quote. Nearer the time, I was told that since the staff were civilians ( fairly standard practice nowadays ) they would be finishing at 1am, guaranteed. You're ahead of me, aren't you? Yes, would I be prepared to go till 2.30am ? Do bears live in the woods? Subject to a surcharge, but of course.

Back to the hotel to freshen up and back for a projected start time of 10.30pm As is my custom, I was early, and could see that much strong drink was being taken, particularly Navy Rum, Stella, and Batemans XXXB. I started background around 11pm, ramped it up just after, and a few dancers hit the floor immediately. Tamla went down very well, and the pattern of the night was established, with few requests, but almost all the room reacting favourably to the music. Barry White was requested, and must have had some relevance, because the floor was packed immediately. 70's Disco seemed to be the order of the day, and due to the general age of the guests, I was a perplexed but happy bunny.

Chart seemed to be the only music not needed, and I moved through Disco, Soul, 70's, 80's, Clubland, a tiny touch of Cheese, some Party classics, and around 1.45am had a riotous indie section of half a dozen tracks. From the beginning, guests were disappearing at a steady rate, and having started with a room full of 100 people, I managed to get to 2.30am to finish with Sailing-Rod Stewart with less than a dozen.

Packed up rapidly, and headed back to the hotel to have my head hit the pillow at 4am,having partaken of a bottle I wisely purchased at the camp before the bar closed. Fantastic night, many guests absolutely hammered, but superbly behaved ( bar the odd drink being whirled about on the dancefloor in front of me ) Really fabulous night, but I still can't work out why they reacted so well to some of the tracks I'd have expected them to class as too old.

Got up, showered, and went down in time for the Hotel's all-you-can-eat brekkie. After dining in a leisurely manner, drove home and went to

[Nakatomi]

In the words of Tony Hatch, everybody needs good neighbours.

Ok right I need to stop doing the annoying thing wot the editor of ProMobile does now... But there's a reason for it tonight.

First of all, tonight's wedding reception party was for the daughter of a good friend of mine I used to work with in my last job. The script was simples - bits of everything, don't go older than the 80s and there were no songs or styles to avoid apparently.

So onto the setup... I hauled the gear over early in the afternoon because I've felt a bad lurgy coming on & thought an early setup would afford me time to rest before the evening. Except I hadn't figured on almost forgetting my 12th wedding anniversary. Bugger. Off to get some flowers & pressies then & I got home just in time to make dinner.

Then onto the hotel... Got everything plugged in & ready for the fancy dancefloor coming in. It was loaded & they eventually got it all set up. I'm still not a fan, but their uplighting looked ace. Oh then we start seeing guests arrive and who should appear but my next door neighbours from right next door & the one along from them. They had no idea apparently, which must be quite odd because I'm sure I've mentioned it a couple of times. Right, I'll have to be on the toppest form of all tonight then, I thought (am I ever not? Hmmm).

Yada yada yada first dance Kodaline, then onto the party. Right? Wrong. Nothing was moving these sods for ages. It was hard enough getting them to cheer on the B&G for the cake cut & first dance. Always a good test of a crowd, that I find these days. I wouldn't go so far as to say they were only there for the free food.. nah way from that.

Ah but after the free food, then we got talking. Cheese old & new was the order of the day for a while, until a very argumentative sort ("play something good! Oh I dunno, aren't YOU the ****ing DJ here?") suggested that some 'classic soul' would go down well. I re-geared my set to give it a go and we had a whale of a time with the Banana song from Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, JB, Arthur Conley, Sam & Dave... all did a rip-roaring trade even more than the cheese had before it. Stuck with that, slammed into a bit of Motown eventually, then did the age old Town Called Malice out of 'Can't Hurry Love' - then Jet.. and then into some current-ish guitar based stuff. From here we veered into sightly alternative stuff before building up for the big finale... except Mr Groom would like some Queen played. OK then. Bohemian Rhapsody followed by I Want It All, followed swiftly at last orders time by Don't Stop Me Now...

Then went into The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, then Jump On It, Jump Around, Step On (!!)..... the last 2 tunes I picked out.. Meatload's 'Anything For Love' before bigging up the happy couple again & we had Muse - Can't Take My Eyes Off You to finish. A stunning night with a virtually rammed floor all the time (once it got going). Neighbours came over for a quick chat at the end - I said I'd offer them a lift home but you know.. the car's already full (ha). Words like 'amazing' and 'we never even guessed' sprang out of them. Yeah, you've got to watch us 'quiet' ones. Honestly, what else did they think I was doing filling my car with gear & heading off dressed in a suit of an evening? KEY PARTIES?

It was also the second outing for the Alto TS115A. I took the Mackies out last weekend and frankly they sounded e by comparison. The Altos went up super loud (for that room) & not once did I see even a glimmer of the limit LED or hear any tell-tale bottoming out sounds. They are absolutely brilliant & really do make the Mackies sound like utter crap at the low end, at the mid end and at the very top end. And all this, with the mixer EQ completely FLAT. The basslines of the soul tunes sounded absolutely gorgeous. When it was time to tear it all down the backs of the cabs weren't even warm to the touch. Incredible.

Next gig is likely to be a bit of a nightmare - this is the one where I was sent a list of around 30 ballads so I rang the guy to ask what they'd like to dance to. Uh oh. "But that's the music we listen to". Right, mate. If you expect anybody to have a good time to stuff like Ellie Goulding's 'Your Song' there may be a slight disagreement looming. The duty manager's girlfriend knows the couple apparently & they're erm.. rough was the word he used. Joy. And then Saturday... I was all geared up for doing a wedding of the goffick persuasion with fire eaters & stilt walkers on Halloween but they decided they couldn't afford it anymore & cancelled - losing over 3 grand in the process. Ouch. So then what? The hotel decided to put on a Halloween party (fancy dress optional) - I hoiked around charity shops, got myself a suit I can happily ruin to be ZOMBIE DJ and then they went & blimmin cancelled it. Ah well, it happens when you don't advertise an event beyond the boundaries of the building. They had a sum total of TWO bookings.

But.. I may yet be working... at a WMC maybe 15 minutes drive from home for some young farmers. Or something. Maybe. Or I could just take the night off. Not seen a Saturday at home for a long time!

[Excalibur]

But.. I may yet be working... at a WMC maybe 15 minutes drive from home for some young farmers. Or something. Maybe.

Young Farmers? Young Farmers?

Be afraid. Be very afraid. They'll warm your Altos up.

Or I could just take the night off. Not seen a Saturday at home for a long time!

It's a much overrated pastime.