I did the unthinkable - Left a gig without playing!
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  1. #1
    Tech Mentor emil_brikha's Avatar
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    Default I did the unthinkable - Left a gig without playing!

    It's 1 AM, the club is packed and it took 10 minutes just to get to the DJ booth.

    For some reason, the manager of the place was DJing (i.e, changing songs after they finish). As I put my DJ bag down and start unpacking i see rows and rows of drinks and clothing items but I take some of it away to make room for my stuff.

    While I've got my laptop in my hands and fiddling with the Echo DJ sound card to get it into the express slot a girl comes running and jumping, bumps in to me and makes me drop the sound card on the floor, in the dark.

    Out with the cell phone, use the light to find the sound card, pick it up, dust it off and start fiddling again.

    It takes another 10 seconds before one of the manager's friends comes and leans right across me, pushing me to the side, to speak to the manager who just went from a low tempo hiphop beat to a 135 bpm "I'm blue...." remix, knowing I'm just about to go on and play an RnB set.

    I almost lost my balance while being pushed so I try to shove him backwards somewhat carefully to regain my balance. That's when the guy picks a fight with me.

    I explained to him I'm supposed to get on and play in 5 minutes and I need some space to setup. The icing on the cake is then the manager, who defends his friend, saying "he's with me". Well... duh.

    5 more people come pushing their way through to get their sweaters and jackets in the booth and I had enough.

    I packed my stuff back down, told the manager that I'm leaving and tried to explain why. He ignored me, and I left. During 15 years of DJing I have never, ever left a gig, until tonight.

    Have you?
    Last edited by emil_brikha; 03-18-2011 at 08:05 PM.
    Emil Beatsnatcher Brikha | www.LQP.se | Dell XPS M1330 (2.1 ghz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB ram), Traktor Pro 2.03, Novation Twitch.

  2. #2
    DJTT Moderator bloke Karlos Santos's Avatar
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    Simple answer to that question Is, no I have never experience something as bad as that.
    You did the right thing walking out. That is terrible behaviour on the part of the manager.

  3. #3
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    make sure you mail him a bill for your fee. he booked you. he didnt provide a place for you to work. its his bad, not yours. if he refuses to pay, inform him youll be taking the bill to a collections agency to get payment on your behalf.
    Baked Chicken | Brown Rice | Asparagus | Apple Juice | Snack Wells | Pretzel Chips | Lots of Water

  4. #4
    DJTT Dominator JesC's Avatar
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    I never left a gig. That their loss. Dont burn bridges with the owner. Just let it be. send a email saying hey sorry about what happend and let him know your side of the story.
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  5. #5
    Tech Guru josh@firestorm's Avatar
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    its a tough situation, but yeah - it was right what you did.. but do as JesC said and just explain in an email to the owner (and CC the douchebag manager on the email as well!), that way hopefully the manager will CC you on his reply to the situation and you can post it here for our entertainment!

  6. #6
    Tech Guru Coldfuzion's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JesC View Post
    I never left a gig. That their loss. Dont burn bridges with the owner. Just let it be. send a email saying hey sorry about what happend and let him know your side of the story.
    Do not apologize. Email him telling him what happened and why you did not play (don't be rude though - explain to him like you did to us), but there is ZERO reason to apologize. Fuck that shit. Straight up. If you have no reason to apologize, don't.

  7. #7
    Tech Mentor ANok?'s Avatar
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    man that sucks! sorry about the rough nite. I don't like when people pack in the dj booth unless there is tons of room..which is rare.
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  8. #8
    Tech Mentor heaps's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xtianw View Post
    make sure you mail him a bill for your fee. he booked you. he didnt provide a place for you to work. its his bad, not yours. if he refuses to pay, inform him youll be taking the bill to a collections agency to get payment on your behalf.
    Seems like bad advice in the long run... That is, if you ever want a gig in the same state again.

  9. #9
    Tech Guru djproben's Avatar
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    I did this once before but only because the owner was a douche and had booked a huge party that brought their own DJ and never called me to tell me not to come in. He did the right thing in booking it, I was a house DJ and this party brought a huge audience that I wouldn't have brought, but why the fuck did he forget to mention it to me? He had booked me for the night and we had talked a couple days before. Douche. There I was walking in with my equipment (this was back in the day before S4s and shit; I had brought 2 turntables, mixer, and 4 bags of vinyl) and the bouncer didnt even want to let me in. He's like, oh, there's already a DJ here, we don't need one, like I was a fucking traveling encyclopedia salesman or some shit. It took me a half hour till I finally got to the owner; he was apologetic but basically too drunk to care, he bought me a drink while I simmered down and he promised it wouldn't happen again. And while that particular disaster never happened again, enough bullshit did that I finally quit playing there. It's one of the huge drawbacks to trying to do business with people who own and work in bars -- a fair number of them are alcoholics.

  10. #10
    Tech Mentor heaps's Avatar
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    ^ Hey, I work in a bar

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