DJ Shadow booted during his set for being 'too difficult'

staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
edited December 2012 in Strut Central
Did you see this? - damn - dont know what the deal is here but thats gotta be hard to swallow - especially if you're the headliner? I guess most dj's will have had conversations or comments about their style or set at some point but Ive never been told to step off because someone wasn't feeling it, have any of you? After only 20 minutes?

DJ Shadow gets booted off the decks in Miami for being ???too confusing???

Someone at Miamis Mansion is pretty cutthroat it seems - no dj divas allowed.








Mansion have previous in this respect: back in February, the club terminated a set from highly regarded NY house DJ Dennis Ferrer. According to Ferrer, he???d been told his music wasn???t ???commercial enough???
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  Comments


  • I don't think it had anything to do with him being a diva*. Seems to me like they (club owners? audience? both??) didn't like the music he was playing. They kicked Ferrer off for not being commercial enough.

    (*Unless, of course, one considers his eclectic, unfamiliar set to be rather diva-ish.)

  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    Herm said:
    I don't think it had anything to do with him being a diva*. Seems to me like they (club owners? audience? both??) didn't like the music he was playing. They kicked Ferrer off for not being commercial enough.

    (*Unless, of course, one considers his eclectic, unfamiliar set to be rather diva-ish.)

    Right. I dont think of him as a diva thats not what I meant - sometimes 'superstar' acts, bands or dj's can get away with being very uncompromising or 'difficult' if you will because of their status - seemingly not in this place. A lot of djs will be scratching their heads about playing at the mansion after this kind of news im sure.

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    This happens more and more often nowadays - I've heard of it happening to Jazzy Jeff, Mark Farina (wasn't playing enough house, apparently), Dennis Ferrer and now Shadow. Not just in Vegas/Miami either. Moneybags promoters with no idea what they're doing and without the stones to tell Bobby Bottleservice and his crew, well maybe you guys should just fuck off back to your apartment with a bunch of hookers and a Swedish House Mafia mixtape and let everyone else enjoy what they've paid to hear.

  • Someone should have told Josh that DJing in 2013 is all about jumping onto inflatables and playing the same shit as everyone else.

  • BurnsBurns 2,227 Posts
    Why is this happening to a DJ and not "musicians" or bands? Would they do this to turd bands Seven Mary Three, Third Eye Blind, or Oasis? Probably not.
    Its distasteful and disrespectful

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    Burns said:
    Why is this happening to a DJ and not "musicians" or bands? Would they do this to turd bands Seven Mary Three, Third Eye Blind, or Oasis? Probably not.
    Its distasteful and disrespectful
    people are there to see those bands while a lot of these djs are just booked to play a random night

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,902 Posts
    bboyparkz said:
    jumping onto inflatables


  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    The club is getting dissed like crazy on its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mansionmiami?fref=ts

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,789 Posts
    17 days until Carl Cox is told to play pop music.

  • I'd be happy to get booked at the Mansion.

    There's a 20 minute record to beat..

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,789 Posts
    badder_than_evil said:
    I'd be happy to get booked at the Mansion.

    There's a 20 minute record to beat..

    I think I could do it in under 4:52


  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    When you make boring your artistic statement...

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    When you make boring your artistic statement...

    That ain't the point. If you book Shadow, then you know what you're going to get. If you don't, you're probably in the wrong business. Same applies to Carl Cox or Ricardo Villalobos or Jazzy Jeff or whoever.

    Then again, if you're going to bow to the whims of someone who says they just put $10,000 behind the bar and they wanna hear Swedish House Mafia or else, I suppose getting it in the neck on Facebook for dicking around the 2500 people who paid $30 a pop to hear Shadow shouldn't be any kind of worry.

  • BurnsBurns 2,227 Posts
    What was Josh playing at da clurb anyways in Miami? Was he playing his brain-freeze samplaplaya steez? In a sense you could blame it on Shadow, know your venue and play what the people want.

  • ScottScott 420 Posts
    Shadow is an odd choice for that place. Mansion is everything you'd think of when you picture a South Beach club.

    At the same time, Miami Beach is a popular place for Euroman vacations, so I'm sure he had a strong contingent there to hear "his" style of music.

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    HarveyCanal said:
    When you make boring your artistic statement...

    That ain't the point.

    No, I'm pretty certain he was yanked for being boring.

    Had Shadow had that crowd in the palm of his hand, they woulda left him to it.

    I mean, yes...if you book boring and that's what you get, you shouldn't be surprised and resort to being an asshole of a promoter who pulls the plug on the headliner. But who, even those who book Shadow, actually expect him to do boring like it's the only thing he knows how to do?

    Plus, he wasn't even dressed properly for such a club.

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Burns said:
    What was Josh playing at da clurb anyways in Miami? Was he playing his brain-freeze samplaplaya steez? In a sense you could blame it on Shadow, know your venue and play what the people want.

    I disagree. The fault lies solely with the club. Someone at that level, you book them because they play what they play, not what Bobby Bottleservice expects to hear. I don't care whether it's the Mansion or Wills & Kate's wedding reception - you book a dude like Villalobos, you don't get all Gong Show on his ass for playing minimal shit all night. That's what he does. Know your job. If you're all about "giving the people what they want", then book DJs who are happy to do that, not dudes who are internationally-known for doing a very specific kind of thing that might not appeal to your clientele.

  • im sure Shadow still got his fee...contracts and all. I am sure he isn't sweating that some dipshit fist-pumper didnt like his stuff.

  • I don't know shadow and I don't know the Miami mansion.

    Seems like a case of the Dj brought the wrong music.

    A gig is potential employment opportunity. Diversification is Teh key to survival, especially when your playing in new places, under a different management.

    Sayin' sorry things didn't work out better for shadow...
    disconnected.

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    I'm all for artistic integrity and all... but there has to come a time where you realize someone is paying you to entertain people, and that involves you knowing the crowd you are entertaining.

    Dudes are paying $14 a beer for a reason. We don't really know how the crowd was reacting that night (aside from the fan boys in the front row).

    I'm wondering if Shadow gave the club this disclaimer he did in the clip below?



    WARNING THIS MUSIC MIGHT BE TOO FUTURE FOR Y'ALL.

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,390 Posts
    GatorToof said:
    I don't know shadow and I don't know the Miami mansion.

    Seems like a case of the Dj brought the wrong music.

    A gig is potential employment opportunity. Diversification is Teh key to survival, especially when your playing in new places, under a different management.

    Doc got it right. He's not a wedding DJ with a bag full of Kiss100 club bangers.

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    Flomotion said:
    GatorToof said:
    I don't know shadow and I don't know the Miami mansion.

    Seems like a case of the Dj brought the wrong music.

    A gig is potential employment opportunity. Diversification is Teh key to survival, especially when your playing in new places, under a different management.

    Doc got it right. He's not a wedding DJ with a bag full of Kiss100 club bangers.

    Yeah, but that doesn't give him the right to spin some avant garde shit either. He can do whatever, but if shit isn't going over well, then they have the right to give him the boot.

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    RAJ said:


    I'm wondering if Shadow gave the club this disclaimer he did in the clip below?


    Most boring disclaimer ever.

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    RAJ said:


    I'm wondering if Shadow gave the club this disclaimer he did in the clip below?


    Most pretentious disclaimer ever.

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Yep.

    I'm going to start having fun again...just for my own benefit. *Cues mad boring.*

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Why is this so difficult for people to grasp? Don't hire a Range Rover and then complain that you didn't get a Ferrari. How many of you have actually DJ'ed for money on a regular basis? By which I mean, at least once or twice a week at the same venue/venues for months/years at a time? If you haven't, then your opinion - valid though it may be on one level - is not an informed one. If you've never argued with venue-owners or promoters about music policy, or ever been in a situation where you are expected to tailor the music you play to suit different crowds on different nights - and I have - then I'm sorry but you do not know what the fuck you are talking about.

    Laugh at Shadow's pomposity all you like, but he did nothing wrong here. High-end clubs want to book internationally-known DJs so they can say they get the biggest names spinning at their club. But they don't stop to think about whether or not every DJ they book - many of whom will have built their rep by playing a very specific kind of thing - will be a good fit for the aesthetic of their club. It's like this - the club fucked up. They know Shadow has a name, but either they didn't consider if he was the right kind of name for a club like this, or they decided they could wear the cost of cutting his set short in terms of bad PR against the night's take and just said, fuck it.

  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    Burns said:
    What was Josh playing at da clurb anyways in Miami? Was he playing his brain-freeze samplaplaya steez? In a sense you could blame it on Shadow, know your venue and play what the people want.

    I disagree. The fault lies solely with the club. Someone at that level, you book them because they play what they play, not what Bobby Bottleservice expects to hear. I don't care whether it's the Mansion or Wills & Kate's wedding reception - you book a dude like Villalobos, you don't get all Gong Show on his ass for playing minimal shit all night. That's what he does. Know your job. If you're all about "giving the people what they want", then book DJs who are happy to do that, not dudes who are internationally-known for doing a very specific kind of thing that might not appeal to your clientele.



    It's not like DJ Shadow is some unknown entity whose musical selections are a total mystery. If you need a big name who can be a chameleon and will play whatever is necessary to engage the crowd then book one of them. They're not hard to find. Shadow has always done "his thing," and if you book him, then ask him not to do that, it's your own fault for being stupid.

  • RAJ said:
    Flomotion said:
    GatorToof said:
    I don't know shadow and I don't know the Miami mansion.

    Seems like a case of the Dj brought the wrong music.

    A gig is potential employment opportunity. Diversification is Teh key to survival, especially when your playing in new places, under a different management.

    Doc got it right. He's not a wedding DJ with a bag full of Kiss100 club bangers.

    Yeah, but that doesn't give him the right to spin some avant garde shit either. He can do whatever, but if shit isn't going over well, then they have the right to give him the boot.

    the fuck? he hasn't got the "right" to spin what he wants?

    this is a slippery slope away from admitting a DJ is just a human jukebox.

    If shit doesn't go over well, then the people not liking it can leave. If the promoter doesnt like it, then they can chalk it up to making a bad investment...going gong show on someone is pathetic.

  • DJ_Enki said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Burns said:
    What was Josh playing at da clurb anyways in Miami? Was he playing his brain-freeze samplaplaya steez? In a sense you could blame it on Shadow, know your venue and play what the people want.

    I disagree. The fault lies solely with the club. Someone at that level, you book them because they play what they play, not what Bobby Bottleservice expects to hear. I don't care whether it's the Mansion or Wills & Kate's wedding reception - you book a dude like Villalobos, you don't get all Gong Show on his ass for playing minimal shit all night. That's what he does. Know your job. If you're all about "giving the people what they want", then book DJs who are happy to do that, not dudes who are internationally-known for doing a very specific kind of thing that might not appeal to your clientele.



    It's not like DJ Shadow is some unknown entity whose musical selections are a total mystery. If you need a big name who can be a chameleon and will play whatever is necessary to engage the crowd then book one of them. They're not hard to find. Shadow has always done "his thing," and if you book him, then ask him not to do that, it's your own fault for being stupid.

    Either way, Shadow missed an opportunity. Additionally, he got slapped with some (eBay lingo) negative feedback.

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Doc, we need 18 long paragraphs explaining how our opinions don't count. Only then will we start considering that boring is okay just because the deejay playing it is (semi-)famous.
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