A Mobile DJ Gig 50TH 60TH 70TH Can Be Far More Exciting to Play at than a 21ST or 18TH!

0:02 First of all, my name is Jonathan Ellaskins

Oh hi, I'm in the bath and before anyone says anything about nudity or anything like that, just imagine you're on the beach and you're watching people on YouTube on the beach. Well, that's about as much as you're going to see I'm afraid. Anyway, this video is DJ related and it involves you if you're a mobile DJ. First of all, my name is Jonathan Ellaskins. Also known as the DJ Tutor and on the odd occasion I have a bath, which I'm doing right now. Now, I put a post on Facebook today and it caused a stir and it made people think and scratch their heads. It made people wonder and realise that things change, times are changing and they are in the mobile DJ industry. Now, I've been DJing for a very long time.

Not as long as some people, and a lot longer than others. But what I can tell you is when I started DJing in the very early 80s and I was asked to do a 70th or 80th or 50th or 60th or 40th birthday party, being a young whippersnapper, I was scared. It haunted me because I had to play loads of old stuff. And it was very scary, it was very daunting because people would come up to me and ask me for obscure Elvis tunes I'd never heard of or the Cartland Twins when from 1950 or they'd ask me for waltzes and 40s music. But that was then. Now this is now. So let's imagine now you as a young DJ or for that matter anybody as a DJ any age And you're asked to do a 70th birthday party. Now, you may, okay, and think about this because this could make you some money here. You may think, no, I'm not going to do it. I can't do a 70th. That's ridiculous. But we're now, imagine 2020, okay? It's 2019 now, so it's rounding up to 2020, depending on when you watch this video, of course.

2:27 In 1990 he'd be 40 years old

So let's go back 20 years to the year 2000, and then let's go back 30 years to 1990. So that 70-year-old would be 40. 40, 50, 60, oh sorry, 50! No, 40, yeah! 50, 60, 70. So in 1990 he'd be 40 years old. Now that begs a question. What were they listening to when they were 40? Now, probably listening to popular music, and probably still up for it, and probably still into the groove. That was the dawn of the sort of rave era. So, the fact that maybe they listened in the background to Robert Miles' Children, Real to Real, I Like to Move It, Robinette's Show Me Love, some brown paper drum and bass, Techno is highly likely because they would have listened to the radio and they're only 40. So what I'm saying here is that when you ask to do a 50th or 60th or 70th birthday party, okay, they may want you to play a bit of the 60s and 70s but you have to remember what age they were during the decades prior to now.

4:02 I will play the music they want

So, if they're 70 now, then they're 60 in this decade, and then they're 50 in the last decade, 40 in the last decade and so on. And then they're 30 in the 80s. So by definition, someone who is 70 would go nuts for Wham!, Club Tropicana, Caribbean Queen, Michael Jackson. You've got to think. Logically and laterally. So in a way, this now is such a great era for DJs to play old school music because, and I'm going to speak personally, you know, if I'm asked to do a 21st or an 18th birthday party, I cringe. I absolutely cringe. I mean, I can do it. It's no problem. I will play the music they want to. And in fact, if you book me. I'll play the music you want to, and you can book me. But on the other hand, if you want some classic dance tracks, some good, solid, stomping, 4x4 to the floor, drum and bass, techno, house classics that just are there forever, then give me a call. But also, you've got to remember that you can do it too. So please remember...

Okay, this is the important bit. If someone who is 60 and 70 phones you up and says, I'd like you to do my birthday party, don't panic and worry because they're old in the tooth. They are indeed not because they were around during the height of the dance era, the 90s and early 2000s when the dance tracks were up here. Euphoric sounds. Yep. Higher state of consciousness, Josh Wink. Wow. I remember listening to that tune many times at a rave Abergwessing near Llandaffery in the middle of the night with a banging sound system and a strobe. And that memory will stay with me forever. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.