First gig ever! At a club

First of all: HAVE FUN!

There is only one first gig and no matter how it turns out, be sure you enjoy it and make it a happy memory.

As for how it turns out, expect things to go wrong. They most likely will, just like any rookie college football player will botch a play in his first ever game. It’s part of the learning curve, the growing process.

Promoting yourself is not something I would worry too much about. Post your gig on the appropriate channels you already use (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, stuff like that), don’t “force” people to come. Just tell them that you are there and that any support is appreciated. Perhaps have some business cards drawn up if you already have logo and DJ name and such and make sure your website is in order. If you have mixtapes, you could burn a few to CD to hand out. But only if you have it, if you don’t – don’t worry and leave it on the to-do list for future gigs.

Prepare! Go through your collection well in advance and pick tracks that you think go well together, make them into mini-playlists of 3-4 tracks. Pick tracks that you think will work in the time slot you have been assigned. Talk to the organizer/owner to find out what they expect a closing DJ to do and adjust your music selection accordingly.
Have enough music with you when you go to the gig, but not everything you own! About twice the music you can play in the time you have (say 20 tracks an hour times 2 is 40 tracks per hour).

Mixing-wise do what you have been practicing and don’t worry about it.

Some things to realize: While this may feel like the most important moment of your life thus far, the audience couldn’t care less. Not about messing up transitions, not about fancy FX use and not about mistakes. What they do care about is music selection and I don’t mean the actual tracks, but the flow you create, the mood you set, the musical journey you take them on, etx. They are there to have a good time with friends, chase those of the opposite sex (or same sex if so inclined), have a few drinks and don’t worry about every day life. If you can support that with your music, you have succeeded.

Up til now you have, hopefully, spent many hours practicing transitions and other technical skills. This gig will be the first real opportunity to learn the most important DJ skill “knowing what must come next”. Don’t fall in the trap of staring at the mixer/controller trying to be everything you technically be. Use good, common sense, transitions and spend LOTS of time interacting with and reading the crowd. That is where your education is. See what effect your music has on people. And (re)act accordingly. Keep doing what works (without becoming to boring) for a few tracks then mix it up some. If that works keep doing it, if it don’t mix it up faster. It’s loads of trial and error, there are no courses for it and you can’t teach yourself in your practice room. Only place is out there for a live audience and an unknown audience (club/gig) is better than one you know (like friends parties and such), but any audience is better than none.

To summarize:
1) Have fun, it’s your only first time … EVER!
2) Prepare
3) Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff (thanks to however wrote that book)
4) Enjoy entering the next step in your DJ apprenticeship, Padawan!

Hope that helps some. At any cost just the three cents worth by an old hand (40 years on the decks next year).