This was one heck of a party!
The Stock Shop are a local retail company based on the business park just outside of my own village, so when the call came to provide the soundtrack to the company’s 30th birthday celebrations….how could I possibly refuse?
The venue? The local rugby club house which has seen a transformation taking it beyond all recognition from the last time I worked in there for Neil’s 40th.
The picture above really doesn’t do the changes justice, and I’m told there are more changes on the way. As a trustee of my local village hall, I know just how hard it is to find the money and time to make the necessary changes to make a venue appealing to the public.
Back to the plot though because I’ve strayed off topic….again….
My set-up was never going to be massive for this event. The venue isn’t huge, access is via an external fire escape so heavy equipment is out of the question for health and safety reasons, and to be honest, a huge concert rig wasn’t going to be needed….I ALWAYS select the equipment which is suitable for the venue and the number of guests as opposed to throwing as many speakers and lights as is humanly possible at an event….it just looks and feels better from the client side of things.
The evening consisted of the owners of the company and 50 of their employees, all there for a two day conference. The evening was to be a celebration of the company’s 30 years in business.
We kicked off with a playlist of background music made up of tracks selected by the attendees from the year in which they were first employed by The Stock Shop. As you can probably imagine….this list was very wide and varied covering 30 years of musical tastes. During this part of the evening, I also provided ambient lighting in pink and blue to give a relaxed feeling to the function room.
During the background music, the guests were served a three course meal by The White Pheasant, another local company with an excellent reputation. I’ve got to admit, even having had dinner before I arrived my stomach was grumbling at the aromas coming from the kitchen!
Meal over, and it’s time for presentations, and a surprise for Operations Director Mark, who was “promoted” to Managing Director by his parents who started the company 30 years ago!
And then….it’s my time to shine and do what I do best – create the perfect party atmosphere!
“Let me say a huge thank-you to you, for providing a fantastic evenings entertainment on Monday! We all had a great time and the music was perfect, everyone said great things about you and I cannot thank you enough for your contribution.
I will definitely be recommending you to friends and family and will certainly be in touch should we have any future requirements.”
To be honest, most of the music played came from the guests. I kicked things off with a couple of ’80s tracks (because that’s when the company was “born”), and the guests pretty much took over from there.
I was impressed!
Weekday parties, particularly Monday nights where the guests have to be up with the lark the next morning can be notoriously difficult to get things moving on the dance floor. I needn’t have worried with this one!
Without applying stereotypes (90% of the guests were older females), the music went pretty much down the line of party classics that I expected it to go. All of which was lapped up and well and truly danced to!
So…to some pictures (because you know you want to see how it went!)
I apologise in advance. I’m not a photographer and some of the images below are overexposed or blurred. Taking pictures isn’t my job during the evening (although I try my best), and I tend to concentrate more on the music and fun side of things.
And so we come to the playlist(s)
Because of a slight overrun on the awards and presentations, and the fact that a coach had been booked to collect the guests and take them back to their hotel at 11pm (I didn’t know about this part until it happened), actual party time was short (just over an hour). However, everyone left on a high and that’s always a good thing in my book.
Corporate entertainment often runs in this way, with a lot of time spent on wining and dining, and very little time for dancing. The main part of my job during these events is to ensure everything through the evening runs smoothly, from the lighting of the room during the meal, the levels of the microphones during the speeches, and all important party at the end.
The important part for me is that the guests enjoy themselves, relax and eventually….let their hair down. All of those boxes were ticked for this particular event 🙂
Background music (selected by the guests and relevant to the year they started work with The Stock Shop)
Spice Girls – Too Much
Bingo Players – Get Up (feat. Far East Movement)
Drake feat. Wizkid & Kyla – One Dance
Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
Mika – Grace Kelly
Scouting for Girls – This Ain’t A Love Song
David Guetta Chris Willis Fergie feat. Fergie & LMFAO – Gettin’ Over You
Ariana Grande – Problem feat.Iggy Azalea
Sam Smith – Money On My Mind
Hear’Say – The Way To Your Love
Beyonce and Shakira – Beautiful Liar
Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes
Madonna – Hung Up Radio Version
Gabrielle – Dreams
Phil collins – A groovy kind of love
Tinchy Stryder Featuring Amelle – Never Leave You
Clean Bandit Feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie – Rockabye
Calvin Harris, Sam Smith – Promises
P!nk – So What
Five – Let’s Dance
Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are
Post Malone – Rockstar
Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
The Saturdays Feat Sean Paul – What About Us
Jess Glynne – Hold My Hand
Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth – See You Again
Gareth Gates – Unchained Melody
Ed Sheeran – Shape of You
Destiny’s Child – Survivor
Baddiel & Skinner & Lightning Seeds – Three Lions ’96
Bryn West; Robin Gibb; Tom Jones; Vanessa Jenkins – Islands in the Stream (For Comic Relief)
Daddy Yankee – Despacito
Main evening playlist (only the first two songs were selected by me!)
Wham – Wake me up before you go go
a-ha – Take On Me
Abba – Dancing Queen
Abba – MAMMA MIA
Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
The Spice Girls – Megamix
Dolly Parton – 9 To 5
The Weather Girls – It’s Raining Men
Bucks Fizz – Making Your Mind Up (Imagine Remix)
S Club 7 – Reach
John Travolta; Olivia Newton-John – Grease Megamix
Los Del Rio – Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)
DJ Casper – Cha Cha Slide
Damien – The Timewarp
Steps – Tragedy
Bryan Adams – Summer of ´69
Bon Jovi – Livin On a Prayer
Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – December 63 (Oh What A Night)
Earth Wind and Fire – September
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline
Stevie Wonder – Happy Birthday
