21st Birthday Party Band

3:15pm – It’s a 21st birthday party band tonight for Indie Rock cover bandPunch The Air‘ that we’re performing at. So I (Your author and professional musician Andy Starkey) load the van up with my sacred vintage bass guitars, various bits and bobs and then head to my friends house to pick up my extra LED stage lights that I let him borrow last week for a wedding he was performing at. (To hire a 21st birthday party band contact me Andy and let me know the date and postcode of your event)

21st Birthday Party Band
21st Birthday Party Band

3.30pm – My good pal is actually in thankfully and he has the gear ready for me by his front door. So I leave my musician friends house exactly on schedule. I’m off to a great start then. Hopefully the traffic on the roads won’t be too bad today.

4.30pm – I’ve been on the road for about an hour now and luckily the roads and motorways are pretty clear apart from a 50mph section of the M40, but it’s only for about a mile so there’s no real hold up. The van is running very smoothly having just past its first MOT while in my possession (with no advisories). I’ve listened to a couple of great driving playlists and have just completed ‘Rubber Soul’ by The Beatles. I wonder to myself if there are any 21st Birthday specific songs? (I look it up when I get home…no there aren’t.) 

5.15pm – I’ve reached J14 of the M25 and marvel as aeroplanes fly very low over the motorway. I hope they don’t fly too low. 

Arriving at 21st Birthday Party Band

5.28pm – I arrive at the community hall we’re performing at two minutes earlier than planned (124.2 miles taking 1 hour and 58 minutes with no major speeding incidents). It’s now absolutely boiling hot outside. I check my phone and see thats its 24 degrees, so its going to be one hot and sweaty affair for a live band and guests this evening. I speak to the client (The father of the 21st birthday boy) who is happily sticking up huge blown up pictures of his lad on the walls in various places.

21st Birthday Party Venue
21st Birthday Party Venue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He buys me a pint of shandy and I start to cool down a little. We discuss times of live entertainment etc and I start to load in the PA lighting and my bass rig from the van. We’ve got a really decent sized stage (amateur dramatics stylè) so they’ll be plenty of movement from us tonight. I place the speakers and sub on the floor in front of the stage (and also the dancefloor lighting) to give us maximum stage space.

6.00pm – James arrives and I continue to set up while he brings his amp and function band guitars in.

 

6.15pm – My drummer arrives (Slightly late as he had to pop back home 5 minutes into his journey to pick up his drum mics…doh, drummers eh!). He starts to bring his gear inside and starts to assemble his drum kit.

Seeing what the birthday party venue has to offer

6.25pm – I notice that there are various onstage and hall lighting switches hidden behind a side curtain, so give then a quick flick….most do nothing, some add a little more ambient light. This may help our live birthday band somewhat. 

Hire A 21st Birthday Party Band
Hire A 21st Birthday Party Band

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.15pm – We’ve nearly finished setting up but there is no sound coming from the mixing desk into my in ear monitoring system….. yep, the leads gone kapput. It gets quickly replaced and we’re all ready to sound check. Its a very echoey room as its got a wooden floor, and no sound dampening on the walls or ceiling, but it still sounds really great. A few tweaks here and there and we’re ready just in time as the guests arrive.

Cranking up the DJ set

7.30pm – I meet the birthday boy (His actual 21st Birthday Party Band was a few days ago in the week) and we have a quick chat about a few things. I’m surprised he’s not plastered yet. The arrival music DJ set goes on we head outside to cool down a little.

7.40pm – I head back in slightly worried that its a little too bright in the hall. So I find the bar manager who turns off most of the lights. Its now looking a lot better with our dancefloor lights doing their things. The clients customised projector logo that I designed for him (featuring his favourite bands logo) shining nice and clearly on the wall. I head back outside again and join the rest of the band.

 

8.35pm – We get changed into our on-stage clothing and head to the stage for a final tune up.

Time for the first live performance at this 21st Birthday Party Band

8.45pm – Live music commences with the first song of the first set underway but unfortunately James breaks a string one minute in. (Its only a top E, they always break). No one else has noticed and we continue on with the song anyway. A very quick swop over of guitars after the first song and we’re into the rest of the first set. Its fast and furious and very hot on stage and the audience are happily dancing away. The birthday boy runs screaming to the front of the hall singing his head off to each new song. There’s Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Primal Scream, Stereophonics and much more.

9.05pm – The client joins us on stage for some expert tambourine playing during ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’ and all the cameras come out. Then its straight into some Kinks, Monkees and Lynyrd Skynyrd and some Indie rock covers.

9.30pm – The first set ends to whoops and claps and we head off stage to get some much needed air outside and down a couple of pints of water each. Its still really hot outside, but at least its cooler than inside. After a few minutes the buffet arrives (Pizzas) so we tuck in to keep our energy up. The client thrusts his iPod into my hands and asks if we can play his playlist over the PA. “No problem” I tell him and disconnect our DJ gear. I pop on his favourite rock tracks for him and his friends to enjoy while eating. So far its seem to have been a great 21st birthday party band for us and the guests.

Second live performance

10.10pm – We head back on stage, to tune up just before we kick into the 2nd set. There’s songs from Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, Pulp before we get the audience to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song to the client. Then we crack into The Ramones version of Happy Birthday ourselves . Followed by some 80’s, some 70’s and a decent slab of Britpop from Oasis, Blur and Reef. Everyones dancing now and although there aren’t many guests at this event they’re all dancing and singing their hearts out to us. Highlights include the whole room singing the riff to ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes back to us.

10.57pm – After 3 encores we end the set with the screaming ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ by Jet. There’s rapturous applause and the live sets are done. The client comes on stage and shakes all of our hands thanking us for a brilliant night.

The end of the night

11.00pm – The end of night DJ set goes on and we head off stage (looking like a complete sweaty mess) to catch some much deserved air outside again. Guests come up to thank us and talk about the evenings events with. We head back in and start to break down some of the gear. The client comes up and thanks me again. Saying that his son had said it was exactly what he wanted for his 21st birthday. He tells me how happy he was to have found us to hire a 21st birthday party band.

21st Birthday Live Party Band
21st Birthday Live Party Band

12.00am – The lights go on and we start to load the van and cars up. It doesnt take too long as packing away is MUCH quicker than setting up. A quick goodbye again to everyone and I’m back on the road again at 12.15am

1.00am – Crazy amounts of rain keep me awake on the way home, as does some excellent music by Blondie and The Clash.

2.15am – I arrive back at home (Much earlier than I thought I would do) and settle into a cold beer. Popping on an episode of ‘American Dad’ while I chill out before heading off to bed. Its been a really great 21st birthday party band and we were all happy to have been a part of it all.

Contact Indie Rock cover party band ‘Punch The Air‘ for a quote as a wedding band, party band, corporate event band, birthday party band. Choose from all our party packages. Book a 21st birthday party band. 

Local Wedding Band

5.50pm – And I’m off to the venue to a ‘Punch The Air‘ local wedding band. Even the M54 has roadworks at the moment, so that’s now every motorway around my home town. Luckily it was pretty clear sailing / driving and I arrive at the venue Pimhill Barn, Harmer Hill, Shrewsbury, Shropshire wedding band 20 minutes earlier than planned (arrival time was supposed to be 7pm on this occasion). James the guitarist had just arrived so we had a wander around the lovely farm, realised that the wedding speeches were still taking place and so chilled out for a while as Matt the drummer arrived. (Why do drummers always arrive last when they always have the most amount of gear to set up?) 

 

wedding-band
wedding band

 


Local wedding band loading equipment in

 

7.10pm – (The schedule only running 10 minutes late) We’re able to move our vehicles right up next to the load in doors of this Salop venue so it’s a very easy load in (and out later). We help out the serving staff by moving the tables for this evening wedding reception so we can get our indie rock wedding band gear in and get setting it up. This really isn’t our job but we want to get set up so and not let things run late. It’s a beautiful looking barn and we have the whole end 1/3 section which is plenty big enough for us. There are cool large retro styled bulbs hanging from the ceiling and a large wooden illuminated star on the wall right behind where drummer Matt will set up his drum kit. We speak with the bride and groom quickly and we’re ready to start setting up. It’s not going to be hard work today in this lovely barn.

 

Local Wedding Band
Local Wedding Band

 

7.40pm – Its all going very smoothly and stress free and there’s plenty of room for our live wedding entertainment, the PA and the lighting (including our new high powered lighting rig) at this Shropshire wedding band. Apart from one cable being connected into the wrong input and one XLR deciding to break on us there are no further set up issues at all….this is now one seriously tight ship.

 

 

Local Wedding
Local Wedding Punch The Air

 


Soundcheck sorted

8.20pm – Only 70 minutes have elapsed and we’re set up and have already sound checked our live wedding band (Knocking 20 minutes off our usual 90 mins wedding band set up time – This is what we can achieve when there are no Bridezillas or anything else is running very late).

 

 


 

8.25pm – We go off to get changed into our dapper wedding party band on-stage clothing, a quick dab of deodorant and trussing of hair takes place and we’re back on stage waiting for the bride and groom to arrive for the first dance.

8.40pm – We don’t usually do first dances, but the client had asked if there was any chance we could learn “Here Comes The Sun” and with us all being huge Beatles fans how could we resist? The bride and groom approach the dancefloor at this SY4 postcode venue as we kick into said song…..the photographers snapping away as we do our best to not ham it up Rock n’ Roll style while they happily dance along to our rendition. Before the song finishes many others have also joined them on the dancefloor and then we kick into the rest of the “Beatles heavy” first set.

 


During the first live performance

9.00pm – We’re well into live entertainment of the first set now with no real issues. Local wedding band guests are happily continuing to dance along to us while playing their legs like guitars and sloshing alcohol all over the floor (Mental note to self “Get serving staff to mop the dancefloor at half time”). We go out onto the dancefloor and play our guitars along side them merrily dancing away much to their enjoyment.

9.30pm – The first set is over, there’s a huge round of applause for our professional wedding band. The buffet is about to be served, so we head off to get some fresh air and a cold drink.

 

Local Live Wedding Band
Local Live Wedding Band

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.55pm  – We tuck into hot pork and stuffing baps, strong cheeses and are informed that we have a tab behind the bar and to “Help ourselves” 🙂

10.15pm – I chat with the bride for a while checking that she’s fine with the evenings entertainment so far (Which she is of course)….I’m surprised she’s still quiet sober :). I then have a chat with the groom about when they would like us to go back on stage. Originally we’d planned for 10.45pm, but we both agree that 11pm would be better.

 


Wedding running late, no problem for your local wedding band.

11.10pm – Batteries are changed in our in ear monitoring systems and a little later than planned. We crack into the second Indie Rock Cover Band “Party set”. There’s a couple of light hearted punk numbers to start with and then onto a new song. “Common People” by Pulp performed in our own unique style. Guests are going crazy at this point jumping up and down, climbing the beams of the barn. They even attempt to invade the stage area.

11.40pm – Its in full swing and the guests are enjoying themselves as much as we are enjoying performing for them. They sing-a-long to the huge chorus’s of “I Love Rock n’ Roll”, “Sex On Fire”, “Parklife”, “Wonderwall” etc. A quick encore and its….

Midnight – The second sets over and we say our thanks and start to pack away and the DJ set goes on. But apparently its not over yet. The groom comes over and starts to barter with us for more live material…..how can we refuse 🙂 So we start putting the gear back together again, another quick change of batteries and we’re into a third set. We let the guests decide which songs they want us to play so we perform “Valerie“, “There She Goes“. Then “Seven Nation Army” (With massive crowd participation) and a few other great numbers.


 

Third live set completed

12.30am – The third live set is now complete and it really is time to start packing away. The guests continue to happily dance along to the final 30 minute wind-up/wind-down DJ set we’ve put together for them. This complimenting us for our “Kick-ass live show” as one guest says…..”What a remarkable wedding band” another guest remarks.

 

 

 

 

1.00am – That’s it, the nights entertainment is over. The lights go up, guests drink up and start to leave the venue. We continue to pack away the rest of the PA and lighting and start to load up our vehicles. It lightly rains outside. We chat again to guests and the bride and groom. It sounds like they have all really enjoyed their entire day and our evenings entertainment.

1.30pm – We say goodbye to the bride and groom, set our sat navs to HOME and we’re off. There’s still roadworks on the way back (No doubt it won’t be the last time I see them). I think to myself that it was one of the best and least stressful weddings we’ve ever performed at. I’m very happy with how it all went.

2.20pm – I finally arrive back at home and fall asleep on the sofa until 3.30am

 


Two days later we receive an email from the client:

Many many thanks for Saturday night – you were fantastic! Lots of people commented on how good you were. I apologise if I pestered a little too much, and for the impromptu request for an additional set. I was a little worse for wear by that point! We hope you had a good time. We’ll most certainly be recommending you to whoever we can for a local wedding band.

Many thanks
Tom and Hannah

……ah…..bless em’ 🙂

Contact wedding party band ‘Punch The Air’ for your local wedding reception band.

 

 


Shropshire wedding band video.

 

Band Near Me
Band Near Me