Weddings! You can never be too sure what you’re going to be asked to play! Despite having a fairly comprehensive playlist for the bride and groom, the inevitable mix of ages invariably results in some eclectic song requests. One minute you’re playing One Direction for the kids, next you’re mixing in some Swedish House Mafia for the bride and her friends. Then some Motown for the bride’s mother, and some Elvis to keep Uncle Pete happy!
I was DJing at Dawn and Ben’s wedding reception last Saturday at the lovely Coulsdon Manor Hotel. Dawn is very much a Garage kind of a girl... the playlist she gave me included Sweet Female Attitude, Artful Dodger, Craig David, Wideboys... Ben seemed to prefer Kings of Leon, Killers, Kaiser Chiefs etc. Then she adds at the end of the list... “The kids have asked for things like Gangnam Style, and Ben suggested maybe some Lionel Ritchie... I have an Aunt who loves Elvis, a bit of Diana Ross for my Nan, maybe some Queen.” Love it! Now it’s just a matter of juggling so that everybody is happy!!
Obviously it doesn’t work out that way! Dawn’s friends would really prefer to dance to R’n’B all evening, Dawn’s Nan likes Diana Ross, but also would like some Eagles, there’s a friendly guy who would love some jazz funk or some reggae, and one little lad who keeps asking for more Girls Aloud!
Just when I think I have gauged the room right, Dawn’s Aunty asks for Some Girls by Racey. I surprise myself to find I have it on my hard drive. That’s something I don’t think I’ve played since 1979!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNwYwavVnas
[Which leads me on to a slight bug bear... back in the day when I lugged boxes of 45s around to gigs, I don’t recall a huge problem if I had a request for a track I didn’t have with me. It was quite simple... if I didn’t have it I couldn’t play it! These days, with computers and hard drives, there’s an assumption that I should have anything and everything. Sure, with mobile internet connections I could spend the evening finding and downloading missing songs from my pretty comprehensive music collection, but nine times out of ten it would be an obscure track that I, and most of my audience, have never heard before. There’s nothing worse than clearing a packed dance floor for the sake of one person.
Ok rant over!]
This was something I’ve been meaning to get off my chest, and is certainly not a reflection of Dawn and Ben’s guests, who were very happy to party on down to the wide selection of music on offer that evening. Towards the end I even had them sitting on the dance floor for an obligatory Oops Upside Your Head - I’m so glad some things haven’t changed!!
