Turn the wedding beat around

Turn the wedding beat around

Wedding gig, Eltham Palace. After their first dance and exhortation for the rest to dance were played (shall I mention them? Err, U2’s All I Want is You, and It’s Not Unusual), we were away. Bobby Byrd’s I Know You Got Soul and Aretha’s Respect. Wifely advice then got me through the first hole, S Club rather than old Spice for the littl’uns, discofying that floor.

I got them going again on that there surface on my return to the decks. Bit of danceable rock for the blokes and campus favourites – Jump Around, wildpitch classic Renegade Master, Born Slippy, Regret. With Strokes’ Reptilia my most outré selection, this was no musical exploration. But as Popjustice and that kin of sites will tell you, there is decades worth of pop music to choose from, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a cheesefest (like what the bow-tied pro was knocking out). But even in a wedding it’s about programming the tunes in advance and getting the selection right on the night.

If proof be need be, it was in three different puddings. Soon the requests were coming in from people lurching into the booth. Smiths, Prodigy (Out of Space would probably be the only one that worked), RATM(!), Roses’ Resurrection, Charlatans (just played ‘em mate – obviously a fan), Girls Aloud. And the professional dj gave me his agency’s number, so maybe I’ll give up trying to arrange nights that push the sonic palate attended by 15.2 mates, and head for the corporate sterling. Then I got a call that the married couple had been playing the CD of potential floorfillers all morning in the honeymoon suite.

Best mix: Jacko’s Don’t Stop into Outkast’s Hey Ya

(image is of the Eltham Palace circular ceiling, where the service was held)