Okaaaay....time to limit the number of requests methinks!
The event planner for Sunday's wedding "locked out" at midnight last night, and the customer was in there right up until the end.
Sunday's wedding is a 5 hour gig...there is no overtime....strict midnight finish.
The playlist?
Around 70 of those tracks have been marked in the comments as "Please definitely play" (we'd already had words to the effect that it's either going to be about 30 seconds of each track or else a lot wouldn't see the light of day).
To be fair though....it's going to be a belting night so long as the guests are up for a party. I couldn't have chosen better on the Must Plays if I'd tried. The other 270 songs....well they're going to fill in the gaps nicely.
DJing by numbers on this one I think
While I am among the first to point out that some of our customers will never join the hallowed ranks of MENSA, even I believe that they can cope with the concept that I can't play fifteen hour of music in a five hour gig. Thus, having pointed this out early in the dialogue, all that is needed subsequently is a word that I will play what I can, and that's it.
Heaven forfend, next we'll be asking them to assign an order of importance to the requests, so that we know we can ignore the bottom 100. Brace yourselves, lads and lasses, here comes the age card:
" Ninety seven years I've been doing this job man and boy, and still I realise how little I know".
Every now and then a request for something innocuous
like " Shaddap your face " will have the assembled multitude charging onto the dancefloor like a herd of stampeding wildebeeste, because it has special significance to a person or event in the family or crowd.
Yes, we're the professionals, and yes we have an idea of what's likely to work well for a given crowd ( although even there we're probably making assumptions, until we find something that gets a favourable response ), but we never have that inside knowledge that the client may have, and sometimes, just sometimes, that's pure gold.
Okaaaaayyyyy.....
Just going through Saturday's pre-request list (it's for an older couple's wedding and includes such party faves as The Can Can by Bad Manners and The Music Man )
Can't believe this one though.....haven't heard it in YEARS
Ernie - The Fastest Milkman in the West
EDIT
It's also got the Birdie Song by the Tweets . I'm out
Last edited by Imagine; 28-08-2018 at 11:41 AM.
Father daughter dance?
As for I Am The Music Man... I went to Alton Towers in my teens & was subjected to repeated plays of that track at the turnstiles. We must've been queuing for over an hour & I likened the experience to a form of torture. When the single eventually escaped & became a must play at every party back then I can't say I grew to like it any more.
In recent times Black Lace have had a few resurgences but I reckon only for their ironic value.
You may call it 'fun'. I call it better forgotten. Like Damien's version of The Timewarp.
Anyway.. I'm continuing to code my request web app... It's going well & should be ready for prime time in a couple of weeks.
My ethos is to give the customer what they want. There aren't too many of us will play tracks like the ones on the playlist below.
And now a confession....I've done several parties for various members of this family in the past and the playlist is always of a similar ilk. Some of the songs have very deep meanings (like the groom's late father always being the first up to The Twist), and others are tracks that they ALWAYS have when they have a party as a sort of traditional thing....there's a reason for most of the tracks on this list.
I rarely publish playlists (it leads to too much hassle), but this is what the customer has asked for just to make you cringe a little Justin
And do you know what? I'm actually looking forward to this one an awful lot. It's going to be a lot of fun (because this group of people always are). It's a Retro setup for the wedding, very relaxed and informal, no restrictions on things like using the mic.Power of love - Jennifer Rush (First Dance)
Annies Song - John Denver (After first dance)
You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry and the Pacemakers (Last song of the evening)
Dancing Queen - ABBA
Take On Me - A-Ha
Love Shack - B-52's
Can Can - Bad Manners
You're The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White
She Loves You - Beatles
Twist And Shout - Beatles
Night Fever - Bee Gees
Ernie - Benny Hill
Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets
The Shoop Shoop Song (Its In His Kiss) - Cher
(Is This The Way To) Amarillo - Tony Christie
Let's Twist Again - Chubby Checker
Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
Cracklin Rosie - Diamond, Neil
9 To 5 - Dolly Parton
When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman - Dr. Hook
Crocodile Rock - Elton John
Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley
Oops Upside Your Head - Gap Band
I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
That's What I Like - Jive Bunny & The Mastersmixers
Grease Megamix - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
The Locomotion - Kylie Minogue
Our House - Madness
Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann
Thriller - Michael Jackson
Tiger feet - Mud
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
I Will Always Love You - Parton, Dolly
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - Proclaimers
Gangam Style - Psy
Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex
Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast
This Ole House - Shakin Stevens
Wannabe - Spice Girls
Fun Fun Fun - Status Quo with The Beach Boys
5, 6, 7, 8 - Steps
It's Not Unusual - Tom Jones
Delilah - Tom Jones
Hokey Cokey - Unknown Artist
Superman - Black Lace
Birdie Song - The Tweets
I Am The Music Man - Mark Leyton Bennet
Y.M.C.A. - Village People
It's Raining Men - Weather Girls
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston
I appreciate it's not every DJs cup of tea....but just once in a while it's going to be nice to let my hair down and have FUN rather than worrying too much about losing the energy of the floor because I've mis-matched a beat somewhere, or having a bride scowling at me for playing Sweet Caroline.
So long as I have photos of a happy, smiley bride and groom and their associated guests....my job for the evening will be done
I know there's a grey haired old git who'll see this and go all dewy eyed as well
After getting another excel spreadsheet this week, I am going to ask clients to fill out an online form, so then I have exactly what I need interns of structure and number of songs. Perhaps I could build in a suggestions area, but it will probably just be a simple wordpress plug in?
Your DJ - Mobile DJ The New Forest, Southampton & Hampshire. Toby
https://yourdj.co.uk/
I use DJI for all my information and have just been changing email etc to say ALL song requests must be on DJI and the information MUST be submitted within 14 days.
Maybe sounds a bit strict and demanding, however this summer seems to be a summer of playlists - including last Saturday when a 189 song playlist was emailed over on the Friday evening, all songs played were from the playlist and requests, then I receive an email saying the choice of music was poor