DJ vs The Band

With some of the discussions that have taken place recently, I have decided that this post shall be dedicated to why DJ's shit all over bands. I am going on tour next month to do a couple of gigs in Sydney. Which is how the issue was raised. Sitting down to an overpriced meal at the Crown a few weeks ago the topic came up, and then escalated into a full scale arguement. DJ's are better than bands, bands are better than DJ's. 2 hours and several hundred dollars later, it was decided that we should all agree to disagree. So, I'll put forward my 2 bob and you can decide for yourself.
Before I start, I'd like to mention that I do appreciate a good band every now and then, but in terms of entertainment and monetry value - you can't beat a DJ. I do not hate bands, even though it may sound that way at times. But I have gone out of my way to research the reasons why people find bands appealing, at several establishments across Melbourne in a bid to try and get a balanced arguement across.

1) Why do bands feel the need to take a break every hour? They get paid a shitload of money to entertain the punters, but all they ever do is go out and mingle with the skanky groupies in the hope that they'll get blown in the car park at the end of the night. From what I have seen, bands will perform on average a 50 minute set, then take a 15 minute break (sometimes longer depending on the groupie situation). So if they were doing a 4 hour gig, they would only be performing for 3 hours tops. Why even bother? There is no point in going out to see a band that will only play half the night, but wait, you are only probably there to cheer on the DJ that is working his/her arse off while the band is on break, trying to get some action.

2) A DJ's workload is much higher than most people think. What I mean by that is that when most people think DJ, they naturally assume that it is a person that plays CD's. WRONG! Most serious DJ's will play records. But that's not what I'm refering to. DJ's require many skills, which include (but is not limited to):

• Being able to mix and sample tracks .
• Read crowd reactions - to determine whether the crowd is getting into whatever it is you are playing.
• Putting up with requests from drunken skanks requesting Bon Jovi.
• Smoking while leaning over the decks without ashing all over the records.
• And the list goes on, but have other points to make so I won't bother at this stage.

3) Bands can charge in excess of $100 per ticket for a concert that goes for about 3 hours tops. Meanwhile, you can go to a rave (which lasts from anywhere between 8 through to 36 hours!)and see a shitload of DJ's performing sets that go for as long as a rock concert for the same price. AND the DJ's won't take a break.

4) No matter how pissed the DJ is, the DJ will never invite dickheads from the crowd to help sing along to whatever song is playing. Especailly 500 miles by the Proclaimers.

Now I can crap on all day about this, but am getting very tired as I now have a job. Which is great. But getting up at 5.30 every morning, is not so great. So I leave you with these thoughts, and promise to be posting more often, now that my life is back in some sort of order. More updates on that coming up...

Till next time... Onwards and Upwards

PS. Did you hear that Michael Jackson got off? Yes, and this time, there weren't any 10 year old boys to help him. Boom boom.