I play resident at a ‘chain venue’ in my city… Fridays at on of the clubs and Saturdays at the other… The Fridays are always hard work… Tough crowd/ no crowd and the Saturdays are absolutely amazing everyone is dancing and loving life…
I’ve just done a New Year’s Eve gig at the Friday night venue, and it was the worst gig of my year!!! (Shouldn’t be right that should it??) its normally not very busy and great anyway but tonight nothing I played connected with the people in…
Between me and the other dj (my best mate) we play a mix of house, hip hop, garage and funk and at least every week one of these genres connects with the people in and we can work our night around it…
Now the sat nigh venue is always busy and we have a good night, but the Friday night venue is soo different were starting to think we’re not actually any good and that we only have a good night on sats because there is already and always will be people in dancing…
Happened to me on NYE. Played a private gig from 10-1pm and was told to play what I play. No one danced, except the club owner. Felt pretty bummed. Still feel pretty bummed. Sometimes it’s just not the right crowd.
Sometimes when I am playing sweet nobody knows it, and other times I knowingly sucked and got tons of compliments. One time the crowd pissed me off and I started purposefully not mixing and just pressing play. I got a ton of compliments which made me even more pissed. When you are doing open format this kinda thing happens. In reality a horrible DJ with okay track selection is fine for most pop gigs. If nothing I am doing is working, even when it blew up the club before, I start playing ridiculous tracks. Chubby Checker, Di%$ in a Box, Hey Mickey, Venga Boys or whatever is funny or stupid. Try walking around and asking people what they would like to hear as well. Peace.
Love it, but they probably got bored after like 30 minutes. Whenever I want to play funky shit it only works for so long, then I have to gradually bring some harder tunes in. This is in a bar scene that is, clubs are a different story.
I played an hour of Disco, an hour of Discoey House, and finished up with more 90s style/garagey stuff. I didn’t blame them; they were asking me for Salsa. Still felt butthurt though. It happens.
You should see my Friday gig man, sometimes it’s legit, and sometimes these people really just want to hear shit like Garth Brooks, etc. So depressing. Thankfully the bar owner doesn’t give a shit what I play and loves House, so I just roll with my shit.
NYE, St Patrick’s, Weddings (insert holiday where parents get a sitter here) the guests are mostly amateurs not ravers. IMO, I think you have to pretty much play what they will dance to vs. your regular set.
I had an experience once to play a variety of genres. I started of with some good house, transitioned into some disco house and then for a bit hit some 90s freestyle. Shortly after, i had someone come up to me and tell me am i going to play anything else besides music that sounds like the radio (where i am from, radio stations will frequently play 90s freestyle in mid afternoon). I felt offended but i just reminded myself not to take anything to heart. When you’re djing, you’re not just playing music, you’re setting the mood for the dance floor. As advised, definitely have some variety in your playlist for times when you need to switch the tempo and energy. Sometimes it can get dull if you play the same genre for more than 15-30 mins depending on your slot time.
In the end, you live and you learn from these experience. Sometimes its not you at all, but the crowd can be different from one night to another.
Definitely have experienced that it does suck but keep doing your thing if you love it. I do also, I think in general people take DJ’s for granted unless you are a big name DJ with a following, so keep working and building your rep and skills!
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