Calvin Harris anyone?

[poor-student]

So last night at the Silent Disco the DJ said that Calvin Harris is coming here in November; can anybody substantiate this rumour?

If he is coming, let's hope he's better than Vernon Kay / Mr Hudson, and play's for more than, say, 5 minutes!

[schmod]

I can't comment on the accuracy of that statment, except for that it'd be a lot of money for the Union to spend on an artist (and a lot of risk -- the profit margins on anything more complicated than a bop are razor-thin)

He's also got a fairly full schedule in November, including a gig at Fat Sams on the 4th. This makes a lot more sense than a St Andrews gig from his perspective, given that Dundee is close enough to draw in the St Andrews crowd, has a more experienced staff, not to mention better relationships with all of the major booking agents. The entertainment industry practically runs on favors, and is entirely about who you know. Unfortunately, due to a variety of circumstances, The Union can only book a few shows a year, which in turn means we don't have an extensive relationship with the talent agents, which in turn means we have a hard time booking acts, and generally tend to have to pay more to do so. It's a vicious cycle.

That said, I was seriously impressed by the new guy who's been doing the bops when I visited during FW. His set was in many ways better than Vernon Kay's (although a bit of variety certainly never hurts, and I think that Vernon Kay certainly did a good job of providing that)

Vernon Kay wasn't a particularly great DJ, but did a fantastic job of working the crowd, which tends to be what non-music-snobs and the moderately-intoxicated bop attendees seem to appreciate. I certainly noticed this during my brief tenure as a Bop DJ. Successful DJs are the ones who know how to read a crowd, and are willing to make mild compromises regarding their own personal musical tastes.

The Freaks, on the other hand, were easily some of the best DJs I've ever seen perform live, but managed to clear the room from a sold-out show down to 13 people by the end of their set. They had absolutely no intuition for how the crowd was reacting to their music, and people don't tend to go to clubs just to appreciate the artistry of the DJs performing. (They also happened to be a one-hit-wonder that didn't play their one hit at any point during their set. Ouch.)

[Delts]

No idea whether this rumour is true or not either. To add to what Schmod said though, it is always tricky with the outside acts. Calvin Harris should do well considering how many chart hits he's had, but I can't see the union getting anything more than a DJ set, which based on Faithless, won't sell as well as it should.

The outside DJ's are always a risk since they often don't know how to read the crowd, and the St Andrews "scene" is cheese, something most DJ's don't want to play. Caged Baby last year was fantastic, but again due to the style and the lack of enjoyment from Eclectic Method a few nights before, it was dead.

[HookerBot]

Calvin Harris does get played a considerable amount at the Bop though. Surely he'd put in a few of his own songs, seeing as how popular he is.

[nobody]

But let's face it: his last album was horribly bad. "I created disco" was much better.

[Delts]

Calvin Harris does get played a considerable amount at the Bop though. Surely he'd put in a few of his own songs, seeing as how popular he is.

I'd expect him to play basically just his own stuff. As I said though, Faithless are absurdly popular, have had a ton of chart hits and yet didn't sell nearly as well as I would have thought. Although from all reports it was a fantastic night.

[Delts]

Apparently it's true. At least I hope it is since tickets have went on sale...