It’s New Year’s Eve, the biggest party night of the year, so I thought I’d share one of my New Year’s Eve gig stories (and a cautionary tale). This particular event took place many years ago and although I’d already built up a fair amount of DJing experience, this was the first time that I’d taken on a New Year’s Eve party. Prior to the gig I’d carefully planned the all-important count down to the New Year. I knew which tracks I was going to play before the big moment and also how I was going to keep the floor afterwards; I’d got chimes and Auld Lang Syne lined up, and – most importantly – I knew exactly what I was going to say on the mic.
The first part of the gig went well. The venue was nicely busy, and I had no trouble in getting the dance-floor going and satisfying the requests from festive punters. As midnight approached I began my carefully planned ten minute build up right on time. The tracks I’d chosen worked perfectly and I was just about to start my countdown to the New Year patter when I realised that the dancers were all beginning to look around towards the bar with confused looks. The next minute a helpful punter filled me in, the TVs in the bar were showing the BBC’s New Year coverage of Big Ben and the fireworks in London and … midnight had already past! I panicked, pressed play on Auld Lang Syne and mumbled ‘Happy New Year’ into the mic. I’d blown it! No chimes, no countdown and no slick patter! I managed to salvage the night, keeping a good crowd on the dance-floor until my 2am finishing time, but my botched bringing in of the New Year really put a dampener on the gig, at least from my perspective.
It turned out that my watch was just that little bit slow. It could have been no more than 30 seconds, but enough to really mess things up at that crucial time. So my advice for anyone who will be hosting a New Year’s Eve party tonight – check that you know EXACTLY what time it is and start that important countdown at precisely 10 seconds to midnight!
Whether you’re working tonight, or enjoying a much-deserved night off with family and friends, let me be the first to wish you a Happy New Year.
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