Early Part Of The Evening

[llcooljoe 0]

If you are a dj at a party, it's often the case that you will be playing at least an hours music or more before anyone contemplates dancing. People arriving late, chatting and eating etc. So what music do you play during that time? Slower stuff, lesser hits, just pile on the classics as soon as the first person arrives. What?

Edited December 29, 2007 by llcooljoe

[stoke53 0]

I try and play reasonably uptempo music nothing worse than durgy slow stuff at the start makes people want to go home before theyve got there. But always leave all the popular stuff till after the buffet. Sometimes but very rarely they will dance before the buffet but thats usually when its a booking with a large amount of guests.

 

alan

[Norfolk DJ 0]

 

Depends on the function.

 

Corporate dinner dance - soft background music/maybe even some classical stuff

 

Weddings - medium uptempo stuff.

 

40th Birthday - alot more uptempo.

 

No absolute rules, you really need to assess the postion when you start. A good example of this are wedding receptions. Some require low key music for the first hour whilst others the crowd are looking to dance from the word go.

[Andy Westcott 0]

As said, no rules here, but typically I would play what I like to call 'handbaggy' stuff - nice happy medium tempo, not too exhausting, but easy to dance to should anyone feel they want to. Patrice Rushen's 'Forget Me Nots' would be a good example of this, as would Hot Chocolate's 'You Sexy Thing'.

 

(I maintain two lists of memory joggers - early evening & main for just this reason.)

 

Once people have started to react to the music I may change tack a bit, but it all depends on the night.

[Stephen_N.I. 0]

Following on from this post I think it would be good to make a playlist of various member's suggestions for such a thing.

I've always meant to do a background cd but never got round to it.

I would appreciate your suggestions. :joe:

[Tonsk 0]

My background stuff is more toe tappin stuff, like what Norfolk DJ says...

 

For examples:

 

Hang Up by Andy Abrahams

Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Michael Buble

Loco In Acapulco by Four Tops

Always Have, Always Will by Ace of Base

ABC by the Jackson 5

 

and things like that - Things they could party too if really drunk, but are happy to toe tap and get in the mood while chatting....

[Reverandfunk 0]

As a general rule i put on a grandmaster party cd, 90 mins long job done lol

[Tonsk 0]

Only problem with a Grandmaster Party CD would be if you want to play the same songs later...?

 

[Reverandfunk 0]

i tend to use number 3 as a rule and from memory there is nothing on there that I would play later on. i think lol

 

Personally I dont pipe it overly loud anyway and most people early on are more concerned with:

 

catching up with people

getting to the bar

the buffet

[Danno13 0]

Are you sure its number 3, looking at the tracklisting there are quite a few I play regularly in the main part of the night..

 

1 Run DMC - "Walk This Way"

2 The Four Seasons - "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)"

3 Wild Cherry - "Play That Funky Music"

22 Irene Cara - "Fame"

24 Lionel Richie - "Dancing On The Ceiling"

26 Tony Christie - "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo"

28 Billy Ocean - "Love Really Hurts Without You"

29 Amii Stewart - "Knock On Wood"

31 Foundations - "Build Me Up Buttercup"

33 Diana Ross - "Chain Reaction"

39 Van Morrison - "Brown Eyed Girl"

44 Blondie - "One Way Or Another"

 

I have a couple of folders made up with much the same kind of tracks that Andy Wescott mentioned, a few more i regularly use -

 

Shola Ama - You might need somebody

Brand New Heavies - Midnight at the oasis

Eternal and Bebe Williams - I wanna be the only one

Chic - Everybody dance

Booker Newbury III - Love Town

George Benson - Give me the night

Alicia Bridges - I love the nightlife

A taste of Honey - Boogie Oogie Woogie

Barry White - Let the music play, you see the trouble with me, Its Exstacy

Bill Withers - Lovely day

Stevie Wonder - Signed sealed delivered, For once in my life, Uptight, As

Diana Ross - Stop, You keep me hanging on

Four Tops - Reach out

M People - Movin' on up

Spiller - Groovejet

Supermen lovers - Starlight

Calvin Harris - Acceptable in the 80s

Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra

Go West - We close our eyes

J gelis band - Centrefold

 

As always though, depends on the crowd.

[DJGAVT 0]

I use any of the following:

 

Grandmaster Swing (The amount of people that ask me where they can buy this is silly)

Mastermix Good Groovin 1, 2 ,3 & 4 (these are good for any type of function.

 

 

Those 5 CD's do anything and everything

[Reverandfunk 0]

It is definately 3 i play, but like i said i've got the volume turned down and all the lights off so the punters know things havent kicked off

[TonyB 0]

I have at times played tracks that were played in the warm up bit again later when everyone was dancing. Sometimes because it just feels like it will fit in with the set at the time and other times because its been requested later on.

 

So perhaps you could classify the warm up bit as a prelude of whats to come.

[Reverandfunk 0]

warm up is a good description, you can also see whos tapping their feet and to what.

 

Plus the good thing about grandmasters is they dont play the full track usually just a couple of mins max

I swear by mine but really need to update them as have heard number 3 about 50 times lol

[deejaymitch 0]

I used to be really paranoid about playing the same track more than once at a gig. But I had to force myself to get over it. Listen to the radio, watch a music channel, there are certain songs which are played hourly, because people demand them. I don't take it to extremes but I now don't see anything wrong with playing a few songs twice over the course of the evening.