Worst DJ you’ve seen?
OK, obviously I’m excluding events like weddings, house parties, etc., or anything with non-electronic music…but whose the worst DJ you’ve seen at a well-established club?
Last night I think I saw the worst. I live in Bombay, a city with a budding electronic scene (lots of talented local DJs and producers, and also a lot with the support of their wealthy parents) that still has growing pains. A lot of the people that go to these parties aren’t really all that into the music (let’s just say that people go there just to sip on a few drinks…and they leave early). All bars by law have to close by 1:30 (many close at 1). You get the occasional place that will pay off the cops enough to stay open til 3 every once in a while, but that’s a rarity. The exception to this rule are a handful of clubs, all located in hotels (hotels are the only places allowed to have stuff going on until later), that stay open til 3 or 4 (some of the really exclusive Bollywood places stay open til 5). I went to what was, some say, the best club in Mumbai last night, and it was a nice venue. I was really excited to get to see Dmitry Molosh, maybe my favorite up-and-coming DJ. It should have been a great party, and there were actually a good ratio of girls there (almost unheard of in this country), but it sucked because not enough people came and I bet that very few of them knew who Molosh even was (or even some of the more famous DJs in the genre). It was also a buzzkill that my friend and I were definitely the only people there rolling our faces off. The music was great but not as good as it could have been (and that’s not Molosh’s fault, on a night like this you can’t play like you’re in Ibiza or some other great party).
One of the top local DJs played after him (a style of progressive house similar to Molosh…my kind of music), and the place closed at 4 with hardly anyone left (and about three were actually dancing). But then it opened into an after party in a different room. I had never seen anything like this in India (it was also the first time I was allowed to smoke indoors). It should have been great but there weren’t quite enough people there and, more importantly, no one there danced. Everyone was tired of dancing I guess, which made sense for this crowd (they’re not really that used to having to get up and dance for a few hours).
Anyway, it wasn’t going to be easy for the DJ. It was a tough crowd and the volume was pretty low (surely because it was the latest party in the city). But this guy was just horrible. He started with some boring songs, so no one was dancing, and then tried to up the ante and throw in more hits. But whether he tried to pick it up or bring it down, nothing ever seemed quite the right energy level, and everything was always horribly timed–these songs came on in the moments when they shouldn’t have, and they were never the right picks for the moment. I mean this guy put on that Sahar Z remix of Lalitha Ashtotram: it’s this really epic song that came out a couple years ago that’s really spacey and this was literally the worst possible scene to play it in, especially because of the low volume. It was an insult to the song. And later on he played Frankey & Sandrino’s Acamar! I mean, 2015 was a long time ago, and no way are you going to play that song quietly at a party where no one is dancing.
Every once in a while one or two people would start dancing, and eventually they’d stop. I was trying to enjoy my roll and got in there a few times, and occasionally someone else would. There was this group of bigger guys sitting on the sofa and drinking, and eventually one of them had gotten up to dance and tried to get everyone in the group to do the same. It took a lot of effort, as they looked completely exhausted, but finally they got up and moved to the floor. But none of us could dance because the DJ was playing one of his really low-key, boring songs. And we all waited for like two or three minutes but he didn’t change the track. We were standing right in front of this guy and I guess he didn’t even look. They tried for those two or three minutes to dance but the song was undanceable, and so they just went back to the sofa and sat down. No one really tried to dance after that point, no matter how hard he tried to bring up the energy level. And so the party pretty much ended. The lady DJ started to play but the damage had been done, no one was in the mood. Other people had been coming in and out to check on the party, but they usually wouldn’t stay, because it didn’t look any good, and that just made it feel even worse. Mumbai actually gets a party at 5 AM for once and it was a total bore. I bet they could have kept it open til 6 or so but there was no point and everyone knew it.
The whole night just really killed my motivation to go out here. Anyway, anyone else have any experiences they’d like to share?
