Good Gig, Bad Gig.

[simon1969]

Saturday night 50th golden wedding anniversary outdoor under a gazebo ahem.
I had my reservations about this gig as it was outside and our weather is unreliable.
It was raining but not heavily when I got there.
Loaded gear in and started to set up realised water was coming in from the sides of gazebo.
I called the customer over and said it was a no go as water was coming in .
He looked at me and said what shall we do ?
They had a big Marquee where there guests were eating and drinking and that wasn't letting water in.
So I suggested moving gear into there otherwise I would be leaving.
They both agreed and gear was moved to Marquee, night went well played chart, 60s 70s 80's and karaoke even sang a couple myself to help party liven up.
Great night had by all !!

[Imagine]

I'm a brilliant DJ.....my client told me so

So....that's the overview of the night at the office - down to the details.

Peter will know from talking to me the other day that I was looking forward to this one in sooooo many ways.
Twas a 60th party in a village hall, a seventies theme (fancy dress...the works), and of course my Retro Roadshow rig. What's not to like about a gig like that?

The young lady had sent me no more than a couple of dozen favourites to play, and mentioned when I got there that if they didn't look like they were going to work, then to do what I do best. Hokey-dokey

We started off on a little Grandmaster 70s whilst the guests arrived whilst I mingled and got an idea of who was there. This was promising to be a good one. Even Rod Hull and Emu were present

As soon as I announced the opening of the buffet - the floor filled with dancers
Things died off after a couple of hours as people started to tire of the 70s, so I went into a little 80s, cheese, a couple of charts for the kids there (how does Despacito appear at a 70s night?!?!?!), and kept the floor nice and healthy for the duration.

After the wedding last week with very few dancers - this was a massive relief....I needed that one and lapped it up by the bucket load.

Even better, the license for the hall only went to 11pm - so I was home by 12:30 and drinking a well earned beer

Why was it a party that nearly wasn't....you'll have to be a fully paid up member of the private boards to read that part.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Had an Aussie / Scots wedding on Saturday in town.

Got parked right outside (give or take a bit of double yellow overlap ) so that was good.

Had a bit of a technical issue with one of my dmx boxes so I was getting a bit flustered - father of bride does that whole Aussie with no sense of social airs or graces: "come on to lad, just get started we're getting bored."

This is at 6:45

I had to make do with the issue, got changed, left my clothes including wallet, house and car keys plus phone in the bogs. Luckilly someone handed them in.

After that it went brilliantly, excellent fun, lots of dancing and I got a "BEST WEDDING DJ EVER!!!" from a crowd of, admittedly really drunk, Aussies as I was loading out and they waited on their uber.


Had a rare non wedding on Sunday - christening with scores of mental small kids. I like to do a lot of games I've made up myself but when they're all like 4 and under you just have to go with the basics. Finished up drenched in sweat with a very happy mum and group of parents thanking me for tiring the kids out.


Wedding tomorrow, wedding on Saturday and then I'm off to Amsterdam for a few days early on Sunday for some RnR (and I don't mean rest and recuperation btw )

[DJColsie]

A midweek wedding for me last night at one of my preferred supplier venues. Booked 7 - 11.30.

Small rig plus plus uplighting as an extra. Full fee. Horrible wet load in and wet trolley back with the cases.

Only about 25 - 30 guests with many couples having kids.

First dance and cake cutting delayed till 8pm through apethy. Slow dance floor until fish and chip buffet.at 8.30.

Played bride and grooms 4 children's requests during the buffet, all Disney songs.

Got a reasonable dancefloor until 9.45 when all the couples with kids departed leaving 8 people. At 10 the staff where cleaning the windows! At 10.10 the bride told me to finish at 10.30.

Home an hour early following a very wet drive home.

[mattydj50]

A midweek wedding for me last night at one of my preferred supplier venues. Booked 7 - 11.30.

Similar for me on Tuesday with a midweek wedding which was also the Groom's 40th birthday party (cheapskate).

A mixture of Scottish & Irish heritage, so the playlist had some Irish tunes and a note saying "I'll get back to you with some Scottich tunes" on. They never did, so I made some up. Donald Where's Your Troosers did get requested for the blokes in kilts though, but unfortunately, no one told them that they were supposed to dance to it (or even raise a smile), so I knew where that evening was going.

Booked for 80, we estimated 45 people turned up for the evening, which was odd as there had been 53 at the day do. Around 10 kids who decided that running around outside was a better option and late arrival of evening guests meant that the Cake Cut, Birthday Cake presentation, First Dance & Bride/Dad dance was pushed back until 8.45 and took over 20 minutes to complete. Hot Pork Sandwiches for the evening buffet after which it was party time. Unless of course you were in the group of people who had obviously just come for free food, who buggered off home shortly afterwards.

Still, the bride was enjoying herself and we did manage to entice a few on to the dancefloor, but with the brief of 60's & 80's music plus Motown, there was a stand off with a few younger guests who wanted "chart" music and the usual filth. Put A Donk On It got requested, do you know, I still can't find my copy of that!! I did manage to whet their appetite though with a bit off Grandmaster 2016 & 2017 until their goldfish attention span kicked in (or their phone batteries expired) whichever.

Eventually, with numbers reducing faster than the pound/euro exchange rate, the venue manager called last orders at 1120, shut the bar at 1130 and we wound up at 1155.

The bride came over with mega hugs and thanks and said that I had been brilliant.

Lucky for me, as I was up for work the next day, and had to make a delivery to the venue the following day for the wife, the room was not in use on the following day, so I quickly tidied up, clothed the gear over and legged it. I went back after work yesterday to strip down and load out. Once I'd tracked down the elusive Duty Manager with the keys that is, who left them with me and told me to lock up when I'd done and drop the keys back into reception!

I'm sure that I must be due a salary from them by now!!

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Anglo-Scots wedding tonight and it was great considering it was a Thursday night and with numbers probably suitable for a room half its size.

B&G have been a pleasure to deal with and their guests were great too.

Lovely venue down on the West Coast. I've not been in since it's had a major refurb but a pal who is down there a lot mentioned they have their own PA and you can set up behind a curtain whilst dinner is on. Bonus.

Except they decided the father of the groom would do a speech, then dinner, then grooms speech, then best mens speech

Which required use of the projector

Which was pointed at a screen at the back of the stage.

I loaded in and hung around until they were done. Set up my bits and bobs, really liking my new lighting set up.

PA sounds great.

Start filtering folk in and it kicks off right from the first dance.

I do a bit of ceilidh and it's only whilst I'm half way through calling the orcadian strip the willow I realise that the female in the couple I'm using to demonstrate is absolutely ripped off her bee hive. Like she can talk and looks pretty OK and stuff so she seemed fine but as soon as I try to get her to do something she's lost:

No dear, counter clockwise

Yes that's it - right arm to right arm

No, not that way, the other way

And so on.


She was a total wreck during it but everyone else managed to do a pretty good rendition.

After that it was pretty much playlists and bangers all the way through.

As I worked the tables at the buffet a guy grabbed me and said - "You're the best wedding DJ I've ever seen - seriously - THE BEST!!!"

Which was nice. Some chick said the same on Saturday as I was loading out but she was hammered

Get round to the last few songs and they'd decided on a false end of Loch Lomond followed by Shut Up And Dance.

They all went crazy and then were asking for one more tune. We were over time and I couldn't but I thanked them then worked the room a bit and got plenty of more plaudits.

Pretty nice for a Thursday night.

[Imagine]

And the run of good form continues

Tonight - slightly out of my usual 30 mile radius in the fine county of Norfolk (they have tarmac, electricity and everything out there these days! ).

The occasion, a pearl wedding anniversary in a bowls club....and not the sort of place I was expecting at all. In fact it was a better venue than most of the dedicated wedding venues I frequent of late.

Load in was a bit of a mare, either through the front door, round a couple of corners, down half a dozen steps and along a very long function room, or reverse down a tight back-alley, in through the kitchen (not quite as simple as it sounds) and voila! Guess which way I chose?

Twas a most excellent night. Only a few requests made pre-gig so much of the night was down to yours truly and the assembled guests. Buffet polished off it's time to open the floor and, well it didn't really stop to be honest.

The usual suspects made an appearance from the delicatessen of the local supermarket...by the bucket load. But, that's what they wanted so that's what they got. I aim to please and I seem to have done exactly that with the number of compliments and hand-shakes I got at the end of the night.

Apart from a couple of kid-friendly modern-ish tracks right at the start of proceedings to amuse the young-uns there....nothing past 1989 was played. I'm starting to enjoy these types of party

Time for a very quick cold beverage before retiring and then start planning for Thursday's wedding in the venue where I don't seem to be having an awful lot of luck with bouncing dance floors of late. Maybe it's time to get that particular monkey off of my back this time and ram the floor like I used to in there....but being a Thursday I won't hold my breath.

[Excalibur]

Friday and Saturday saw young Twinspin and me working together. Friday was a walk in with some " interesting " kit at a seaside venue. Curate's egg of a night, started well with splendid fish and chips from Papas on the pier at Cleethorpes, then three hours of apathy while John played the bilge from the playlist. An hour to go, and somebody threw the switch, and we then had non stop requests and a packed dancefloor.

Wonder if perhaps it took that long for the drink to take effect? Ah yes, the demon drink. We were treated to liquid all over the floor, with a fair smattering of broken glass, to make it more interesting for any barefooted ladies. The guests did however manage not to damage themselves to any significant extent, nor the kit we were using.

And then Saturday! Started well enough, arrived early, as room turn round was starting, and got the kit in no problem. It's a very nice venue, and it looked superb for the wedding. The kit wasn't too shabby either, DSB in the corner, John's Wizards on the poles, and my new VBars on the uprights below them. The Mauis complemented them beautifully, and all was set fair for a pleasant night.
First dance went very well indeed, a passable number of guests visited the dancefloor, and the requests were for very acceptable stuff. I was playing as the order came in for Cheese/Party and I duly obliged, with pleasure. I handed back to John, who kept the floor very busy, and that was part of the problem.

There wasn't a lot of space ( not helped by some gigantic LOVE letters along the wall next to us ), and as the floor got fuller, and guests more lively ( as in a blind Hippotamus on roller skates ) the kit started to get whacked. John and I ended up defending our position as best we could, and I actually spent three hours just standing by the speakers protecting them!

At one point, the groom stood on a chair, fell off it backwards, and would completely have taken out one Maui, had I not been between him and it. The only problem we didn't have was broken glass, but there was a lot of liquid on the floor, and multiple glasses of it being waved about. An absolute nightmare.

Eventually, the finish time arrived, but as you can imagine, I drove home completely on edge. I hate this job at times.

[Daryll]

Great gig an Saturday , One for Gary , Taplins place at Hook (ish)

Easy load in and very enthusiastic crowd , mother of the groom said they will be up dancing all night , and they were
Uplighting really set the venue off

Playlist


Paloma Faith Just Be 08/05/2017 19:38 (First Dance
Ed Sheeran Galway Girl 08/05/2017 19:45
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Dancing In The Street 08/05/2017 19:48
Sister Sledge We Are Family 08/05/2017 19:50
Toploader Dancing In The Moonlight 08/05/2017 19:54
Wham Club Tropicana 08/05/2017 19:57
aloe blacc i need a dollar 08/05/2017 20:01
One Direction What Makes You Beautiful 08/05/2017 20:05
Jackson 5 ABC 08/05/2017 20:08
Florence And The Machine You've Got The Love 08/05/2017 20:10
Odyssey Native New Yorker 08/05/2017 20:13
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell Ain't No Mountain High Enough 08/05/2017 20:16
The Temptations My Girl 08/05/2017 20:19
John Legend Ordinary People 08/05/2017 20:21
The 1975 Chocolate 08/05/2017 20:26
The Kinks Sunny Afternoon 08/05/2017 20:30
Junior Senior Move Your Feet 08/05/2017 20:33
Beyonce Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) 08/05/2017 20:36
Modjo Lady (Hear Me Tonight) 08/05/2017 20:39
Earth, Wind & Fire September 08/05/2017 20:43
Chic Le Freak 08/05/2017 20:46
Kool & The Gang Ladies Night [January 1980] 08/05/2017 20:50
Sophie Ellis-Bextor Murder On The Dance Floor 08/05/2017 20:53
Michael Jackson Billie Jean [March 1983] 08/05/2017 20:56
Wild Cherry Play That Funky Music 08/05/2017 21:01
Stevie Wonder Signed, Sealed, Delivered [I'm Yours] 08/05/2017 21:04
David Bowie Let's Dance 08/05/2017 21:07
Ed Sheeran Shape Of You 08/05/2017 21:11
Thin Lizzy Dancing in the Moonlight 08/05/2017 21:14
Elton John Crockodile Rock 08/05/2017 21:18
Pink Floyd Another Brick In The Wall 08/05/2017 21:21
Nelly Furtado I'm Like a Bird 08/05/2017 21:24
Shaggy feat. Ricardo -Rikrok- Ducent It Wasn't Me 08/05/2017 21:28
R Kelly Ignition (Remix) 08/05/2017 21:31
Four Seasons December 1963 (Oh, What A Night) 08/05/2017 21:34
The Rolling Stones Start Me Up 08/05/2017 21:38
Kinks All Day And All Of The Night 08/05/2017 21:41
Jackie Wilson Higher And Higher 08/05/2017 21:43
Aretha Franklin Respect 08/05/2017 21:46
Beyonce Crazy In Love 08/05/2017 21:48
Crazy Gnarls Barkley 08/05/2017 21:52
Maroon 5 Dont Wanna Know (feat. Kendrick Lamar) 08/05/2017 21:55
Lou Bega Mambo No 08/05/2017 21:58
KC & The Sunshine Band That's the Way I Like It 08/05/2017 22:01
Rick Astley Never Gonna Give You Up 08/05/2017 22:04
Men At Work Down Under 08/05/2017 22:07
Michael Jackson Beat It 08/05/2017 22:10
Destiny's child Say my name 08/05/2017 22:15
Justin Bieber What Do You Mean? 08/05/2017 22:19
Dizzee Rascal Bonkers (Produced By Armand Van Helden) 08/05/2017 22:22
Liam Lynch United States of Whatever 08/05/2017 22:25
The Streets Fit But You Know It 08/05/2017 22:26
Tenacious D Tribute 08/05/2017 22:30
The Darkness I Believe In A Thing Called Love 08/05/2017 22:34
TLC No Scrubs 08/05/2017 22:37
Snoop Dogg Snoop Dogg Drop it like its Hot ft Pharell Wiliams Lyrics 08/05/2017 22:41
Tears For Fears Shout 08/05/2017 22:45
Blink 182 All The Small Things 08/05/2017 22:49
Sum 41 In Too Deep 08/05/2017 22:52
Bowling for Soup 1985 08/05/2017 22:55
The Weeknd Starboy (feat. Daft Punk) 08/05/2017 22:58
Oasis Half the World Away 08/05/2017 23:02
Rudimental Lay It All On Me (feat. Ed Sheeran) 08/05/2017 23:06
Jimmy Eat World The Middle 08/05/2017 23:10
The Pigeon Detectives Take Her Back 08/05/2017 23:13
Seal Kiss From A Rose 08/05/2017 23:16
Wolfmother Woman 08/05/2017 23:24
Oasis Wonderwall 08/05/2017 23:27 (Last song of the night)


A few there that I wouldn't normally play , but the client is king

Cheers

Daryll

[Imagine]

I hate this job at times.

Sometimes Peter, I wonder if you're cut out for this job

In all fairness though - I'm glad I don't seem to get that sort of gig down here in the softie saarf. I don't even seem to experience the horror of the subs being used as drinks tables (I looked into getting a pair of SubSafes and couldn't justify the cost as it just doesn't happen to me for some reason).

I'm beginning to feel like I lead a very sheltered life...all of my clients seem to be very polite and fairly controllable under the influence of the falling down water (whether in glasses or on the dance floor).

Great gig an Saturday , One for Gary , Taplins place at Hook (ish)

Easy load in and very enthusiastic crowd , mother of the groom said they will be up dancing all night , and they were
Uplighting really set the venue off

Playlist

I like that playlist a lot (and indeed have stolen it for those brain fart moments when you get to within 5 seconds of a track cutting out).

My next two look "awkward".

Thursday night I'm in a venue where I don't have a lot of luck recently. The bar and the guests are in a different marquee to the disco (they're in direct line of sight)....but my last three there have been dire. The couple concerned got the guests to send in requests and to be honest, a lot of it is driving home in the car music as opposed to bangers that will fill the dance floor. We'll see how that one goes and ad-lib accordingly. Being a Thursday night though....I'm not expecting big things.

As for next Saturday - I don't mind admitting I'm well and truly out of my comfort zone. The entire night's playlist has been provided (thankfully not in any particular order)....I've never even HEARD of half of the tracks, and the rest certainly aren't the sort of thing I'd normally play for a wedding . I might be proven wrong on this one and it'll certainly keep me on my toes....I've got a week to listen to them and familiarise myself with what's what...it's either going to be a complete belter of a night or a complete nightmare