The following playlist I played at a wedding on December 15, 2018 in Jacksonville, Florida.
The bride & groom were mid 20s and had a ton of friends. Probably 200 people at the wedding. Most everyone was a college grad from a big school.
Vocal jazz was playing during dinner - right into cake cut. They let me choose the cake cut song - which was How Sweet It Is. I played Brown Eyed Girl and walked over to bride and groom and asked if they were ready to party. They said “yes”… So I started with the standard 6.
Even though it was a young crowd, I still started with the standard 6. It was a little slow at the very beginning because everyone ran to the bar. Which is another reason to start with the standard 6. It just warms up the party. By the time Shout came on, most people had got a drink and were on the dance floor.
Give Me Everything & We Found Love matched well with Low and had that 128bpm dance vibe. During cocktail hour I talked to groups of people and they said they liked NSYNC and Backstreet Boys… so I played Outkast because it was the same BPM as we found love and I could transition into throwbacks.
Bye Bye Bye was a bit of a flop. I could see the energy level on the dance floor go down. So I only played 1 verse and 1 chorus then switched to I Want It That Way - which was a hit. I played all of I Want It That Way and did reverse bass flop into Fancy. I noticed there were only 20 year olds on the dance floor, So I played Play That Funky Music… which worked! Young people stayed out and parents age guests joined on the dance floor.
Despacito was on the Must Play list and someone came up and asked for Danza Kuduro. But instead of going straight there, I played Mi Gente first because it was the same BPM as Play That Funky Music. Then played 3 latin style songs.
At the end of Danza Kuduro I lowered the music and told everyone “At this time we are gonna do this thing we call the DANCE TUNNEL. I showed them how to do it and started the dance tunnel with Sexy and I Know It. Towards the end of that song, I saw everyone fizzling out of the dance tunnel so I yelled “Everybody on the dance floor!” and the dance tunnel was stopped and everyone started dancing.
Then, I did a reverse bass flop to I Love It and Fireball. All same bpm.
This 90’s early 2000s section was the best part of the night. I mixed a couple verses and a couple choruses of each song. Keeping the energy level high. Ride Wit Me all the way to Hot In Herre was all mixed at 100 bpm. The Da Dip to My Boo was all mixed at 130bpm.
I started this with a christmas song that was on the must play list. Then played whitney & beyonce for the ladies. I saw someone doing the stanky legg so I played some hip hop songs. And got a little rachet with Mo Bamba, Gas Pedal, and I’m different. I noticed the vibe was getting a little Buckhead hip hop club so I changed it with some ole school next…
Gold Digger was a hit. and when I mixed Hey Ya! I let there be a couple seconds of silence beforehand. The reaction to Hey Ya! was priceless.
Cupid Shuffle was on the Play Only If Requested.. and sure enough someone requested it. As soon as I played it half the crowd boo’d me lol, but I told them to do something funky. I didn’t play much of the cupid shuffle. And blasted All I Do Is Win! Dance A$$ was the same bpm and I mixed that back to back at around 150bpm.
I hit a delay echo and let Dance A$$ fade out.. then mixed in September. The younger crowd LOVE it and the older crowd joined back on the dance floor. I usually play September into Boogie Shoes.. they are the same bpm and genre. Always seems to work!
This was the bouquet toss and the garter song.
Sing along section. Don’t stop believin’ - I went out on the dance floor with the mic and had people sing at the top of their lungs.
At the beginning of shook me all night long I said.. “I’m going to try something. See if yall dig it!” I said that because I didn’t know if they were going to like it or not. But to my surprise - as soon as I played it - the energy level went through the roof!
I wanted to get back to some EDM 128 type stuff. So I played Good Feeling and kept it going with Blow, Cardi B and Bruno Mars. I kept increasing the BPM from 128 to 136 and all songs were mixed with bass flop/reverse bass flop.
I had never heard Walk On By, but it was on the must play list. I figured it was a song the bride and her bridesmaids knew. So I played it. Half the crowd went to the bar.. So I kept it EDM downtempo stuff and played Lean On and Stole the Show. The crowd that was out there knew every word of the song. Wasted people started showing back up to the dance floor!
Mr. Brightside is a great high energy sing along. Again I ran back out the dance floor with the mic. I was jumping and singing with the people. Someone requested Ms New Booty and DMX was the same BPM and genre. So it went well.
The last song, the bride and groom let me pick. A dude in his mid 20s had asked for Come On Elieen earlier in the night. I told everyone this was the last song - to make their way to the dance floor and played Come On Eileen. If they would have hated it, I would have played another song for last dance… but it turns out, this was a hit! Come on Eileen was a great last dance song and everyone went crazy on the dance floor.
