Armin Van Buuren was always a sucker for a Whitney song to close the evening...
One golden rule of DJing is that if you send them home singing something great, a strange thing happens: Ask anyone the next day how good the music was the night before, and most will remember the night as if every track played was solid gold!
Picking a fantastic end of night song that has people hanging from the rafters and beating down the DJ box door to try and get you to play one more is a surefire way to boost your DJing credibility, and to get everyone from the doormen to the management singing your praises.
Many years ago, of course, it was expected that at “discos” the night would end on a slow number for couples to get smoochy to, and in a lot of mobile gigs and at weddings it often still is! But nowadays, especially in DJ-led venues and at cooler bars and lounges, you have free reign to try something a little more create than just, y’know, Whitney Houston. So here are seven ideas for making sure the last song at your next gig sends them home singing (your praises):
- Something old – You might be expected to play current hits, upfront stuff, modern remixes, the latest sounds… if so, that makes this technique all the more powerful. Just rip one of the biggest hits in your genre from the last few years out of your box, and watch the dancefloor catch light
- Something new – Save the very, very best new record in your box until the end of the night. If this week you’ve heard a new song that made your body hair stand on end, sent shivers down your spine, had you screaming “what’s THIS?!?”, then discipline yourself and save it till the last record of the night. You’ll be glad you did…
- Something in a different genre – When I used to DJ late-night techno sets, I liked little better than at 6am – just as the sun was peeking through the skylights in the club and when the dancefloor was full of just the hardcore all-nighter people – throwing on a killer drum & bass record to close the night. The rush caused by a change of genre after two hours of relentless 4/4 beats never failed to blow the roof off
- Something you’ve already played that everyone loved – People don’t expect the DJ to play the same song twice (well, in good venues they don’t anyway). So acknowledging one particular song that went down really well in your set by playing it again at the end will surprise and delight your dance floor
- Something at a different tempo – If you’ve been playing 128bpm house all night, dropping to a 118bpm tune to close the night may be just the ticket to get tired legs back on the floor for one last dance. Conversely, if you feel the DJs and the tempo have all been a bit too laid back, upping the tempo a little at the close can inject some much-needed excitement before everyone is sent packing
- A surprising mashup – Injecting some humour, or something unexpected, by playing a mashup can be a great way of getting people interested in proceedings again for one last dance. Especially if it’s a mashup featuring a couple of popular records in your scene, and especially if you’ve played one (or both) of them already…
- More than one last record – This is one of my favourites. Instead of stopping five minutes before the end of the night, stop 15 minutes before. Most people won’t bother to check their watches and will think it’s 5 minutes to the end and you’re going to play one more record. Instead, you can now play three more. So take your pick from the six categories about and really go for it!
Of course you can combine any number of the above, choosing a mashup featuring an old song at a different tempo, for instance. Do this and watch the multiplier effect kick in…
How do you like to end the night when you’re DJing? What’s the best and/or worst example of this you’ve ever heard? Please let us know in the comments.
Now go to:
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Great stuff! Me likey
[ link ]Good one!
I play Electro throughout most of the night and like to end mine with some soft trance of good ol’ House music~
[ link ]Great article, the last tune of the night should always be an event.
One of my most memorable was Derek Dahlarge playing Oddysey’s “Going back to my roots” as the lights came up after hours of big beat electronica. Place went wild yo
[ link ]yes the multiple track thing works. they really feel like the DJ has went all out in trying to turn up the end as much as possible.
also, the hottest track out or most requested works.
I played LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” last after not playing all night. Finally played it last, and they went ape sh&t.
[ link ]House club I used to go to back in sunny Southend, always ended the night with Depeche Mode – Just cant get enough. You knew as soon as that synth line came in you only had 5 minutes left of music so you made the most of it. Nobody left without a huge grin on their face.
I always try to go completely off genre for my last tune. Probably because of this night. Finished a deep house set with Alice Cooper’s Poison at a house party recently. The few people who were still there got up on their feet for a very silly sing-a-long.
[ link ]I rock a mix hard electro and fidget all night. When closing time is nearing I switch to really filthy dub or dnb for the last track. People go nuts for that shit at the end of the night and they are all wrecked.
[ link ]I love finishing off my sets with either a remix or even an original of a song that everybody can sing along too. At the moment I am loving Gotye – Somebody that I used to know, mainly because everyone in my town absolutey loves it and so do I. But living in a town with only around 30,000 people in it makes it quite easy to pick a tune the everybody knows.
[ link ]- Something with feeling…not necessarily slushy but a ‘feel-good’ track is always appreciated by everyone at the end of the night. My favourite was “Want U To Know” by Freelance Hellraiser, a slo-tempo house track which repeats the same line over and over again.
[ link ]I disagree with the bit about “good venues” not expecting to hear the same song twice. The best DJ’s in the world have been bringing the same tracks in and out of a set repeatedly for as long as I can remember. DJ’s who just play one song after another don’t, but people who actually have control over their mix on a profound level do it on the regular. Check out some of Diplo’s mixes to hear what I mean.
[ link ]I am talking about playing tunes in their entirety more than once in a night, not skilfully using them in set construction.
[ link ]My closing favorites:
* Fischerspooner – Emerge
* The Prodigy – Out of Space
* Rage Against The Machine – Wake Up
* UR – Amazon
* The Aztec Mystic – Knights Of The Jaguar
* Octave One – Blackwater (Strings Instrumental)
Held a residency for more than ten years, by picking so emblematic sounds you have people waiting for it and staying till the very end.
[ link ]My killer last track is “Beat Goes On” by The Whispers, with some of my sounds and cool effects, everyone likes the change from electro house to something old remixed.
[ link ]Tuuuuuuune
[ link ]I tend to play quite underground stuff but Love dropping this. Wins almost every time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVWq294oZi4
[ link ]My DJ partner in crime used to drop this at the end of the night. In London with a bunch of old skool cats it goes down like a nuclear bomb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mT8AzdxT48
[ link ]Here’s another offtrack anthem we used to play to see people off that worked so well in London. Phil might understand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ohUHIjAxI
[ link ]Clicked on the link, started watching the song and even before it had finished playing I clicked on the buy in iTunes link and bought the song… heck I bought the whole album. Pure gold.
[ link ]Excellent article as usual…One night I do I always end it with a slow song so that people can get close and freaky…there are a lot of freaks at this party. Then I always come back with a new song that I am Diggin’ On and tell them that they can find that song and other cool new songs on my facebook. Sometimes its a different genre or different tempo or sometimes another hot dance track…It seems to work really well.
[ link ]Here’s a question for all you resident DJs. How do you deal with an exodus?
If you are working at a warm up venue and you know that just as the clubs open you are going to lose the bulk of your audience no matter what.
What do you do?
DJ Catch 22!!!!
If you start playing upfront house as people are leaving in the hope that you might keep them in the venue you could end up looking rather silly playing bangers to a half empty room of wine sipping introverts. But if you slow your roll and decide to let the evening wind down gracefully it might look like your change of tempo is the cause of the exodus!
In the words of the late great Jimmy Saville “hows about that then”
[ link ]Uhmm that’s a difficult one.
And your diagnose seems correct… fast or slow tunes are wrong.
Hence I’d suggest play play fast, but not as it was, irresistible obscure tracks. Keep the slower tempo and gradually take it down, while adding musicality or interest in the actual tunes.
For instance if you are playing house, mellow it down to end up in midtempo soul, swing or whatever music you place for your late set.
That way you’d get the keepers interested or at least appreciating you music, precisely at that switch time.
Not an easy task, it’ll pbbly demand turning into tune search mode, since the idea is finding ones with different tempos than usual.
[ link ]I’d give you one of my favorites http://youtu.be/PGVouWTRix4
beautiful and irresistible, Ah and beware of the beat, amplified sounds massive!! whereas on phones or small speakers doesn’t come out. Njoy!
That Incognito track is also aptly themed… for a closure. Lyrics (and that menacing beat) may play an important role too.
By the way, great article and brilliant ideas, Phil.
[ link ]I have also Djed for many years, and I can tell that this one inspires respect. You don’t get to find this just by chance.
I love to close with some classic soul. Since my country sucks regarding music culture, I KNOW I’m pretty much the only person doing this. And everybody loves it: from the more electro/hipster kids to the uglier cumbia/reggaeton crowds; everybody loves tracks like my girl from the temptations or stand by me from ben e king to close the night.
and also, queen, bohemian rhapsody FTW
[ link ]wow great to end a gig like that ill get in to it
[ link ]im sorry, but no 4, play a song that youve already played may just be the worst bit of advice i have ever seen, and will almost certainly result in you getting booed off (lucky its your last song)
[ link ]No need to be sorry, you’re entitled to you’re opinion Steve! I’ve done exactly this 100s of times so (as always), I’m just teaching from my own experience.
[ link ]Tiga & Carl Craig – Love Don’t Dance Here Anymore (C2 remix 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTCUmvpcoDk
Adam Beyer ended his 15 years of Drumcode set at Gashouder with Autechre – VLetrmx
[ link ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRAQss4hGKw
Sometimes I end with “Just A Friend”. You…you got what I neeeed!
[ link ]Brilliant stuff as always Phil.
[ link ]The Bad Touch by The Bloodhound Gang an “Doop” by Doop are sure fire winners, i normally drop these bangers at the end of my sets, whatever the time.
[ link ]I like ending with Armin’s “In and Out of Love”
[ link ]