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dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The 80s Night' (80sNight)
Monday, November 10th, 2025 01:52 am
Our second time running The 80s Night at the welcoming Friendship A.R.C. and thankfully higher numbers than last time, who seemed to have a good time.

The playlist is below¹ ...

The 80s Night (1900-2300) )

We're back at the Friendship A.R.C. again next time, but also back on Sundays again, on Sunday 26th April 2026. There's also something else as well, but that's a different matter. And probably requires a new usericon.

¹ Yes, I know that there's a song in there that I shouldn't have played, according to our rules - it snuck in while I was unsupervised, as Kat wasn't up this time.
dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The 80s Night' (80sNight)
Saturday, July 26th, 2025 08:47 pm
Having been required through force of circumstances to find a new venue and, as a result of Whitby's shortage of venues, a new day, too, Kat, Jaye, and I were running the night on a Monday for the first time. And also on the other side of the river for the first time, in the welcoming embrace of the Friendship Amateur Rowing Club (one of Whitby's two ARCs, which are confusingly close to each other). Some way up the cobbles of Church Street, and through a subtle doorway. A combination of April, Monday, and the new venue conspired to result in lower numbers, but those there seemed to have a good time.

The playlist is below ...

The 80s Night (1900-2300) )

Next event is Monday 3rd November, again at the Friendship ARC on Church Street.
dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The 80s Night' (80sNight)
Monday, November 11th, 2024 11:03 am
Our fourth time on the Royal Hotel's entertainingly-sprung dancefloor. Improved bar response meant fewer queues, other than the traditional one outside the doors at the start. Another hectic one for me, being single-handed behind the decks as usual in November. Thanks again to our security, the hotel staff, and to all of the attendees.

As usual, the playlist is below ...

The 80s Night (1900-2300) )
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Monday, October 7th, 2024 04:05 pm
Possibly the most imposing venue I've ever DJ'd, the wedding and reception took place in the Great Hall of Warwick Castle, where the lights reflected off the polished stone floor and the arms and armour all around the walls. Lee Chaos (Judder, Doof Wagon, etc., etc., etc.) and I were sharing the DJ duties.

We did have our own Spinal Tap moment trying to find the access road to the courtyard, as we'd accidentally been sent the directions from about a year ago, which referred to 'the building works'. Those works are now a fully completed hotel in which several of the wedding party were staying ... After a couple of confused phone calls, and a lot of driving back and forth (discovering, among other things, the overflow parking field) we eventually found our way to the courtyard. It was 'helpfully' pointed out that castles are supposed to be hard to get into, but with help from some designated ushers, we got inside and Lee set everything up.

After the meal, some of the tables were cleared away, the artisan cheeses were cut, and the bride's 'bouquet' (replaced with a cuddly toy to minimise the chance of damage) was thrown, the music was started. There was no first dance, so it was straight into the sets, with a scattering of the couple's requests among them (marked below with an [R]).

The sets )
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dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The 80s Night' (80sNight)
Sunday, May 5th, 2024 02:00 am
A third visit to the Royal Hotel's fully-sprung dancefloor, and another four hours of The 80s Night. This time the division of labour was pretty efficient, with Kat doing the hard work of selecting most of the tunes and letting me do the easy bit of cueing them up and pressing the buttons.

Thanks again to the hotel and security staff, and all of the attendees who enable us to keep doing this.

The 80s Night (1900-2300) )
dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The 80s Night' (80sNight)
Saturday, March 16th, 2024 02:30 am
The second time for The 80s Night on the high-quality dancefloor of the Royal Hotel, again running the event as promoters rather than just the DJs and, as is the pattern for Hallowe'en events, with me flying solo behind the decks (which was, as ever, somewhat nerve-racking).

(And somehow, I didn't post up this list until now.)

The 80s Night (1900-2300) )
dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The 80s Night' (80sNight)
Friday, May 12th, 2023 11:33 pm
In Whitby again, and this time with the full The 80s Night team. However, a whole new venue, as substantial changes to our previous location meant that we had to find a new home in mid-February and, to add to the stress, this would be the first event where we were not just DJing, but also hiring the venue and security and covering other expenses directly.

The staff at the Royal Hotel were incredibly helpful, and we were set up in our grandest location yet, the ballroom, where we were even on an actual stage with white tablecloths on the table for the decks, and there was a proper sprung dancefloor! Jaye wrangled the lighting controls, the friendly and helpful door supervisor from SSGL arrived, the doors opened, and we set the ball rolling on a condensed four-hour version of The 80s Night.

The 80s Night (1900-2300) )
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Friday, November 11th, 2022 05:02 pm
Back in Whitby for the first Tomorrow's Ghosts festival run by Ghostwriter, and back in RAW again for The 80s Night. It felt more like a 'normal' Whitby than the previous one, possibly partly with the greater numbers and the fact that there were more things going on over the weekend.

Anyway, back in the booth up in RAW, and we had five hours of The 80s Night in person, and then a bit under two hours of The After Party, all unfortunately DJing solo, as one of the team was unable to make it up this time, although that did mean sneaking in a few songs they would usually veto (and not having to be quite as careful dancing in the booth). Unusually, even threw in a couple of requests, but I'll put that down to being unsupervised, so don't count on it becoming a regular thing ...

(For those who don't know, The After Party is the name for the after-midnight alternative set, where we try to recapture the eclectic nature of alternative clubbing in the 90s, but with even more music to choose from.)

Thank you, again, for everyone who came along and had a good time.

The 80s Night (1900-2400) )

The After Party (0000-0145) )
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Sunday, June 5th, 2022 04:35 pm
Last night it was back to the artistic surroundings of Vout-O-Reenee's, a private members club and gallery under a Catholic church ... and also the venue for Shadows Of The Crypt, a night of "80s-era goth, post-punk, new romantic ... and more". After DJing with co-promoter and DJ Skintight SJ at a party at the end of April, she invited me to fill the guest slot on the DJ roster this weekend. A slightly-delayed start due to issues beyond the venue's control (which might have influenced a couple of track choices), and we were up and running. So, without more ado and waffling, here's what I played in my two sets. I may have used "... and more" as a get-out clause a few times, with a crowd of assorted goth and punk fans.

What I played )
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dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Saturday, April 30th, 2022 08:48 pm
Last night I ventured to a private club in a crypt beneath a functioning Roman Catholic church to DJ a birthday party among surreal surroundings, assisting DJ Skintight SJ (who you may see DJing at any of a wide number of events around London). We split the night between us, doing a couple of sets each through the night, and playing music from 7pm to just before 2am as guests arrived, chatted, danced, ate (rather good) cake, drank cocktails, and danced. The surroundings are uniquely (and surreally) decorated, and the club has its own art gallery.

Vix had provided a short list of requests (and an even shorter list of songs to avoid), along with some stars to steer our ship by. This may have influenced the inclusion of a few tracks that I've not played before (or owned before Thursday). They seemed to go down well, but I'll leave identifying which they were as an exercise to the reader, as well as the name of the online club which I suspect prompted several of those requests. (And, to prove that it wasn't The 80s Night, I even played at least one request by one of the guests.)

Here are the sets we played... )

(One advantage of the demise of my previous car and its replacement by something rather newer and more efficient - being able to DJ events in London without the added expense of the ULEZ.)
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dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The 80s Night' (80sNight)
Saturday, April 30th, 2022 12:48 pm
Last week, due to April's Whitby weekend being a peculiar one (no bands at the Spa, rather fewer folk in town), the main, in-club version of The 80s Night was postponed to October.

However, I pre-recorded a three-hour set, so that those who weren't coming to Whitby could join in, and those in Whitby could listen wherever they ended up being. As it turned out, many of them came to one large holiday apartment - with the furniture pushed back, the living room was almost as large a dancefloor as we'd had at some venues. The music was streamed through a phone to a battery-powered speaker, and after the sun went down, we briefly relocated to the bandstand by the pier for a some outdoor dancing (including an impromptu unscheduled Locomotion conga and Nellie, both inserted into the set by our designated speaker-minder), confusing the cruising youth on their endless circuit around town, before returning indoors for shelter from the wind - it did make me regret including some of the slower tracks.

If you want to stream or download the set, you can do so from here.

The setlist )
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Sunday, November 14th, 2021 07:12 pm
Last night I braved the challenges of the congestion charge (hours now extended) and the ULEZ (area recently expanded) to go to a pub that my satnav didn't believe existed, by way of roads that, until halfway through the journey, were closed. A pub which turned out to have been sheathed in scaffolding for ages (to some irration for the manager) and thus didn't have a sign that was easy to see, either.

On the upside, I got to experience the curved cobbled ramp of the car park under Smithfield, which from memory appears in a Bond movie and, more importantly, as the location for a major encounter in one of the Rivers of London books.

Anyway, once there I did some DJing. Or at least, I played some tunes at people, which is as close as I usually get. Quite a large number of the songs were from an extensive list of requests/suggestions by the couple, so feel free to assume that the good choices were theirs.

What I played ... )
dancefloorlandmine: Pink and blue neon-style lettering of 'The After Party', with white lettering beneath for 'The After Party' night (80sNightAfterParty)
Wednesday, November 10th, 2021 11:31 am
Returning to RAW for the first time since 2019 for a fully three-dimensional, semi-interactive (what's a request?) version of The 80s Night, and also some The After Party. Thank you to everyone who came along and made our return to in-person clubbing both safe and fun.

For any who may be curious, here's what we played ...

The 80s Night (1900-2400) )

The After Party (0000-0100) )
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Monday, April 26th, 2021 02:43 am
It turns out that there was a need for a third online version of The 80s Night. So we put one together. Another three and a half hours of The 80s Night, with, once again, an hour of The After Party as a chaser.

Here are the setlists, and the sets can still be streamed or downloaded from here.

The 80s Night )

The After Party )
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Wednesday, November 25th, 2020 02:47 pm
I recently put together an hour's mixed bag set of tracks from some of the albums I've acquired over lockdown. You can find the set HERE, and here's the setlist (and where you can get hold of the tracks). There's a few covers among the set, and this particular set is mostly in the vaguely industrial corner of the genre polygon.



Setlist )
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dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Monday, November 2nd, 2020 02:15 am
For the second rendition of The 80s Night in the pandemic, we recorded a longer set than in April, running to three-and-a-half hours, and also added an hour of The After Party to follow up.

And here are the setlists (with a link to the streaming/download site at the bottom of the page) ...

The 80s Night )

The After Party )

The recorded sets can be found (either as a single combined set, or as two separate sets), along with other of my sets (including April's 80s night, and The After Party from last November), for streaming or download, HERE.

Due to popular (?) appeal, I'm working on a possible design for a commemorative t-shirt - more details will be forthcoming once I've worked out pricing, printing, posting costs, etc.
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Tuesday, May 26th, 2020 02:36 am
On Sunday I was considering re-creating another set from a past event, but as the news started to reveal the tale of Dominic's Great Road Trip, I started working out a different setlist, and I recorded it on Monday afternoon (after watching a press conference taking place in a rose garden).

hearthis.at/simon-landmine-gh/dj-landmine-20200525/

Be warned, some of the tracks contain Anglo-Saxon words in the titles, let alone the lyrics, and it starts pretty strong from the opening track, so probably not suitable for listening in the company of young children.

(That chorus in the first track is "Can't hear ya 'cause your mouth's full o' ...", in case you're wondering.)

(Other sets are also available via tinyurl.com/djLandmine.)
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Sunday, December 15th, 2019 06:37 pm
On Saturday night I was again the The Old Nick in Holborn with my decks and Alex's borrowed PA, for Andy Ravensable's 40th birthday, with a sandwich set (two sets of something faintly chewy on either side of some tasty tunes) - with Psyche providing the latter, and coping smoothly with a mid-set technical issue.

And then another rapid load-out in the pouring rain (which seems to be a trend with The Old Nick - I wonder if they lay it on specially to ensure that people didn't linger outside talking loudly?), and out of the ULEZ before the pumpkin hour.

And here's the setlist ...  )

There's the slightest possibility that some of my track selections might have been mildly inspired by recent political events. Possibly.

Thanks again to Andy for asking me to DJ, and to Psyche for playing the good stuff in the middle.
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dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Thursday, November 7th, 2019 05:30 pm
A return to RAW Nightclub for The 80s Night, again followed by our The After Party alternative club night offering, but this time without a band in between. Once some pre-opening teething troubles had been surmounted, people started turning up as the doors opened - with the first twenty through the doors getting the limited edition "Top 20" badge we'd put together. And then it was on with the music, with the usual accusations that we were trying to kill people. (Why would we do that? We want them to come back again to dance next time!)

Thanks again to everyone that's supported the night in various ways. Hope to see you at RAW again in April.

The 80s Night, 1900-2400 )

The After Party, 0000-0200 )
dancefloorlandmine: DJing at B-Movie Nov 04 (DJ)
Sunday, October 13th, 2019 06:23 pm
Due to a certain amount of calendar congestion towards the end of this month, the Gothic Valley branch (wing? regiment?) of the Women's Institute held their Halloween Party this weekend. Returning to the redecorated Old Nick in Holborn (where I had previously DJ'd for the GVWI in 2017), I set up my gear and the borrowed PA, as the venue staff added cobwebs to every available location, and the WI team added a variety of spookily-themed items. (This may be the first time that I've shared my 'booth' with a large neon-green spider as well as another DJ.)

Musically, it was mostly a case of providing some spooky atmosphere for the first part, with some intermittent dancing, and then following the raffle and auction with more in the way of dancing music, alternating with Adam (DJ traumahound) on a half-hourly basis.

Here's the setlist ... )
Adam's set can also be found here - www.amodelofcontrol.com/dj/6672/ (as can the rest of his informative and entertaining music blog - have a look around it!) - as he mentions, it was a hideously wet night, which meant that numbers were slightly lower than hoped, even if enthusiasm wasn't.

And then it was a quick rush to de-rig, pack the car, and get out of Denver central London before midnight, to avoid turning into a pumpkin being charged twice for the ULEZ.

(As a bonus, the tables we were using as a booth were a perfect height - no back-ache this morning!)
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