Had a couple of really interesting djing gigs this weekend. One for Adam Regan hosting the Hare and Hounds back bar all night with Sam Redmore, and one from John Mostyn, hosting the Bham Opera After Party of King Idomoneo in a disused warehouse!

Both were really enjoyable gigs, but with noticeable differences (not just the venue). Friday i took Traktor scratch out, and musically  started with chilled stuff like Thievery Corporation, Kruder and Dorfmeister and Cinematic Orchestra. Then i took it into some dj food, quantic soul type business, then into soul and funk, with a little bit of breakbeat, then some more soul and finally into some drum and bass for the last hour and a half.

The chilled stuff got smiles and friendly hand shakes, the soul got the girls up, the breaks a few polish boys up, and the drum and bass filled the dancefloor. I had some problems with Traktor for the first 2/3 hours, but i dont really feel i needed to take it out as there was nothing i couldn’t do with a pair of cdjs.  So Saturday i took out cds to the bham opera gig, and played diverse stuff like mr elephant mixtapes, funky latino stuff like quantic, classic funk and soul, a bit of indie, some ska, bit of dance, then back into soul then mellow love stuff like Al Green, and Massive Attack, etc for the last half hour.

All of saturday rocked, from start to finish. I mean really rocked. A couple of chilled numbers to start, but almost immediately the teen dance crew were up and wanting to dance! There was ages from 16 – 65, and while there were various requests throughout the 5 hours, no-one was difficult to deal, even the teenagers, with because everyone felt catered for with the spread of music, so it literally just got better and better… Aside from one chin stroking dj (techno label owner who thought i should dropping some of my techno), the hare and hounds had a really similar vibe, but obviously on a smaller scale.

Both were a mix of people, probably being more diverse at bham opera, and the spaces were obviously very different, but for me as a dj, i was learnt a couple of things from both gigs.  Mainly (a) if i’m going to take traktor out, i may as well be doing something special with it, as often your entire record collection can be more of a hindrance than a choice, and cds can be a lot easier to navigate in the heat of the moment, and (b) that djs that play for the crowd have a lot more fun than those that stroke their chin, (although we’ve all been there, and even they can’t help but dance when everyone else is!

I’ll be doing my best to exploit Traktor at the next project x presents, (which is kinda the reason i bought it)..

Just need to find some time away from workin on these events to actually develop the set now!

The rest of the bank holiday was spent flyering, bowling, eating and drinking.

Oh and i got watch Batman at the Imax on monday..definitly worth the extra few quid