Music for Middle Aged audience

I have to chime in here as well. I will be on the decks for 40 years soon (getting sooooo old). And most of it has been as a mobile/DJ/corporate DJ doing just the stuff you describe. I love (nearly) all kinds of music and I make sure I get to listen to my own personal music choice at home and in the car.

However, when I get in a booth, behind a controller or mixer, my personal preference goes to the back-burner and I focus on addressing the musical needs/wants of the group of people in front of me. I will use my knowledge of music and my experience with comparable events to take them on a musical trip. No two of my gigs are the same, although you can always fill in some of the tracks that will make it into a set.

In a sense we are so much luckier than musicians. While a percentage of what I play on these nights keeps coming back every gig, there is generally so much to choose from. Where a decent cover band might have 40-50 songs to pick from (or even 100), my base collection alone is over 1000 tracks with many times that for my request collection. The cover band won’t mind playing those few songs over and over again though, as they derive pleasure from the actual act of playing live.

Same goes for me. I enjoy making a party happen and as I said I have a broad liking of music. “Hating” any track is a choice (when on the decks, not in private!) and I usually (few exceptions in 40 years lol) choose not to hate, but just to accept that other peoples tastes are valid options. If I think there are enough people that will like a track and I think I can fit it into my set I will play it.

If, like Scottie, you don’t get any pleasure out of these kinds of gigs, I would strongly suggest not doing them. It’s not fair to yourself or your audience.

I’ll freely admit that being a mobile/wedding/corporate DJ is not the same as being a club/festival/resident DJ and the more genre-centric you are, the less appealing the mobile end can become. It is by no means “easier” and takes experience and usually a more elaborate collection. Also people skills are more important and mic use is definitely in the cards. And, not unimportant, it’s the best option of actually making some serious money DJ-ing, apart from being a “celeb” DJ/Producer or big name resident.

On-topic: If you lack a collection that can cater to this group already and have to collect music for the purpose, it’s gonna be hard picking and I can almost guarantee that people will come ask for stuff you won’t have. It still happens to me from time to time. Being able to offer an alternative (different track from same artist, different track from same genre, etx) often helps. Mainstream is usually the way to go with these parties, some real classics (look up any greatest 70s/80s dance/disco chart in Google), time-frame appropriate hits (greatest 90s, greatest 00s charts/samplers are a good place to start) and current mainstream chart stuff. Happy music, sing-along stuff, relatively lots of genre and tempo changes. I can go from reggae to ska to pop to disco to house to “country roads” in one set easily if the mood strikes me and the crowd.

Remember the following:
* These people are not clubbers (although the 30 yr olds might just be festival-goers!)
* They are not there for you, or even the music. It’s an X-mas party with co-workers
* They WILL get drunk as the evening progresses, the 2nd half of the night should generally be a breeze LOL
* When picking music for an audience, take into account that they usually have started getting into music in the age range of 10-15 – listening at home, with friends, school parties, with the age of 18-25 (the dating years) generally being the period they actually did go out to bars and dancings/discos/dance clubs/festivals. Also they will probably still listen to radio to be exposed to current music, but only the mainstream stuff they hear on the air. So for someone in their early 30s, the early 00s can very much “their” music, with even some early 10s thrown in. For someone in their 50s it might start with early 70s all the way up to mid-90s.
* You need to use highly recognizable tracks. The “ah, this I know and want to dance to”-effect is the easiest way to fill the floor. While I might play some stuff I find appropriate and think might work that is largely (still) unknown, I don’t make a habit of trying to educate these kinds of crowds. That is something that is expected of you as a resident DJ for example (you are the guy there to introduce them to new music imho), but not very relevant to the mobile scene.
* Enjoy yourself

As usual my three cents worth.