Yacht Club DJ Set
I had a DJ set last night at a private club outside of Austin. Really nice place, very beautiful, about an hour away. It didn’t pay very well, but the booker I work with needed it filled, and I wasn’t doing anything, and my rule is just to go and see what happens.
It was a 6–9 gig in one of the side bars—not the main restaurant—but the spot where all the wild people were hanging out. Those rooms are great for trying to win over a crowd. You can only plan so much. The Wi-Fi was solid, so I streamed the playlist from my last show, built on top of it, and doubled it. Old rule: for a three-hour gig, have six hours ready.
It ended up being about half 50s-style rock, which did not go over with this crowd. It was a yacht rock crowd, for sure. One thing I noticed was how open I was to requests, which is not usually the case. Someone asked for “Islands in the Stream,” which is a great song, and it sounded beautiful in the headphones. One of the gifts of DJ work is hearing how well these old records were made.
The place was literally called the Yacht Club, so of course they wanted yacht rock.
Lols.
All that stuff sounded great on the system.
This was also my first gig using the battery-powered sub, and it worked perfectly. With the headphones on top of that, it felt like a little listening session for me. I was pulling in yacht rock through Apple Music into the DJ rig, having a good time, and once I was having said good time, everyone else followed.
That’s when these gigs make sense. You can’t fake your way into it—you have to actually get into it. The manager was nice and the room was fine, but it didn’t really open up until the older dinner crowd left and the 50-year-olds like me stayed behind.
It peaked right at the end with “Private Eyes” by Hall & Oates. That one always works. It’s my go-to karaoke song and it’s beautifully recorded. On that system, with headphones, it might be my favorite sound in the world.
I’m not fancy about headphones. A lot of people turn their nose up at Bose, but I have an old wired pair (with pictures of my kids wearing them when they were tiny). I look back at those and think if I only bought things like that, I’d probably be happier. But of course I buy gear and try things. Half the reason I take so many gigs is because I bought gear I now have to pay for.
You need motivation, I guess. Maybe that’s mine.