DJ Shadow booted during his set for being 'too difficult'
staxwax
1,474 Posts
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.
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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(*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.
Its distasteful and disrespectful
There's a 20 minute record to beat..
I think I could do it in under 4:52
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Most boring disclaimer ever.
I'm going to start having fun again...just for my own benefit. *Cues mad boring.*
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.
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.
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.
Either way, Shadow missed an opportunity. Additionally, he got slapped with some (eBay lingo) negative feedback.