Last night, The Love Junkies played Gaynes Park in Essex. The band turned up early to try out a new lighting rig. Having allowed enough time to give the system a proper workout, we got in a sound check and there-in commenced battle with the sound limiter.

Booo! Pah! More frustration! Set very low, the limiter forced the band to turn down so much we had difficulty in playing. Sometimes you have to ask yourself, what’s the point of these things? The worst of it though was the fact that we had set our level during the soundcheck and managed to play without it ripping the power from our equipment. However when we actually got to start playing for real it seemed that the sound limiter was more sensitive. Subterfuge perhaps?

We tripped it twice during our opening number Dancing in the Street, even though we had set our levels – as you can imagine this is really embarassing and not a great way to start the night – the only people who get it in the neck are us as the guests don’t (largely) understand. Therefore, we would advise any Bride and Groom hiring the venue with a band in mind to be aware of this. We have a lot of experience playing with sound limiters and this one is calibrated particularly savagely.

Other bands take note! Okay, moan over.

Marcus and Dave are overjoyed with the new lighting rig

The rest of the wedding went well. Having managed to turn down quiet enough to play our set we aired some of our new material, including She Said, Poker Face and Firework. The band’s favourite Poker Face, put a smile on our faces as we all sing “Mamamama”. Got the audience up and dancing. Gagamania.

Even better were the new lights. We got a laser-thingy, two twirlymagigs, four spotywotsits, two poleys, one truss and a smoke machine – which we were told to turn off 🙁 – thanks GP. In action, in a dark room, it all works rather well. Very, very impressed. The laser looks really cool with the fog machine.

Barbara Windsor – “there”

And guess what? Not that I’m interested in celebrity spotting but Barbara Windsor was there. She was. No word of a lie. Honest. Really. I don’t think she danced though. We’ve also played to celebrity guests such as Pam St Clement (Paaaaaat from dour soap Eastenders), Jimmy Greaves (from Football, like) and Andy from CBeebies. So if you have a celebrity at your wedding, er, we won’t fawn over them, talk to them (unless spoken to) or suffer from any starstruckness. We promise. Unless it’s Al Pacino, Debbie Gibson or John Shuttleworth.

As always I like to comment on the catering. Great to see a Hog Roast – my favourite – and also a chocolate fountain in action (I thought those guys were out of business!)