We have done a couple of parties this weekend – Friday night was a 50th Birthday party for someone who I still only know as Steve, while yesterday saw a very grand wedding, probably the last of the 2008 wedding “season”. Both of these gigs were at our regular haunt, Lakeside, just north of Nottingham on the A60.
Steve’s party was very good. A great crowd were really up for a good time, enjoying our music as well as two good sets from the band “Notation”.
The first dance at yesterday’s wedding was DJ Sammy – Heaven (Candlelight Mix). This has turned up a few times over the last couple of years, but hasn’t really made it to the top of the wedding charts as yet. However, it is a very female vocal and quite sweet sounding version of the Bryan Adams hit.
Lakesidehas a number of different wedding “packages”, one of which is “The Ultimate Wedding”. This involves the wedding party having exclusive use of the whole venue. All three floors are given over to different forms of entertainment. We providedisco in the Tower Suite on the top floor, a fun casino is set up, along with the evening buffet on the middle level and there is live music on the ground floor. This weekend that live music was provided by Notation, an excellent duo who not only have a wide repertoire, but also bring a great sense of fun. They were also working at Lakeside on Friday, but with me up in the Tower Suite. As I just have to switch off the installed equipment and head for home, I rather felt for the two of them having to de-rig and carry the gear down on Friday night and again, having to de-rig at the end of Saturday’s gig as we walked out and headed for home.
If there is a downside to an “Ultimate Wedding”, it is that it can be quite difficult to get people to move round the building to where the action is taking place at any particular time. When I arrived, the Tower Suite was empty apart from a couple of staff members re-arranging the furniture after the earlier meal and speeches. It took until just after 8pm to get people to come upstairs again for the First Dance, although when they did, we had a great time with a packed dance floor and a great atmosphere. However, this meant that when Notation started their first set, there were about three people down in their room. It wasn’t until the second time that I announced that the buffet was being served downstairs that my room thinned out a bit. Even then, lots of people went down and brought platefuls of food back up to the Tower Suite.
During and after the buffet, most people did stay downstairs and Notation got a good audience. This left me with very few people, which made it difficult to maintain the earlier buzzing atmosphere.
However, I had a bit of fun when I realised that there was a Scot upstairs in full regalia with kilt and all. I put on Andy Stewart’s – Donald Where’s Your Troosers and he and his lady were straight onto the dance floor. I was prepared to apologise for taking the mickey, but they loved it. They also loved the song that I played next, The Corries – Flower Of Scotland.
As ever, the final hour, after the band had finished and the casino had ended, the room filled up again and with many of the crown in a singalong mood, the usual party anthems were pulled out of the CD boxes.
The evening ended with Eric Clapton’s – Wonderful Tonight and another weekend of disco was over.
We will be working with Notation throughout the Christmas party season which starts in late November and runs, predictably enough, through until the end of December. I’m looking forward to having some fun with them both.
By Sunday lunchtime I am starting to feel human again and looking forward to venturing out into the real world this afternoon.
Ride Safe
Dave
Chuffinghog 