This year I was given the amazing opportunity to be one of the DJ’s at the Pack Disco (alongside DJ Casey and DJ Charlie M.A.C). I was pretty nervous about it since this would be the longest and largest live DJing event I’ve ever done, but I was also really excited because of that. I decided to do throwback pop since it’s a genre that really gets people dancing and singing their hearts out, it puts most people into a state of nostalgia. I learned from the last time I DJ’d a silent disco (for the honors village) that you really have to read the crowd because they’ll definitely show you what they want. So I played some more classic throwback songs like R.Kelly’s Ignition, but since I noticed this crowd was so open and excited I also got away with playing stuff like Call Me Maybe and What Makes You Beautiful (it was amazing to watch people’s face when they realized what song was playing).
There were definitely more highlights from that night too. After the show some of the other people who were involved in running the event told me that they thought it was funny that I played Mr. Telephone Man because they hadn’t heard it in ages, I hadn’t either, weirdly enough halfway through the event it just came into my head and I decided to throw it in and I’m glad I did. But of course there were some highlights that I had hoped would go well and they did, but they kind of exceeded my expectations, this crowd was amazing. I knew Bohemian Rhapsody would do well, that song is a classic, but I did not expect people to pull out their phones and start a huge hugging-swaying circle. It was beautiful. I also noticed a dance circle form at some point, though I can’t remember the track’s playing at the time, it was really fun watching people get really into the community spirit and start to interact more. My absolute favorite things were the moments when I would look into the crowd and make eye contact with someone on my channel and we would either nod and smile or point and each other and shout ayeeee. It was amazing interacting with so many people solely on the basis of music.
The whole event itself was an amazing and unforgettable time and I’m so glad to have DJ’d with the people I did. We talked before and after the event and it was all positive vibes going around. We wished each other good luck before, and had more of a team spirit going during the disco then a competition. After the event ended you could see the excitement on all of our faces, it was a successful event and we couldn’t have been more happy have been a part of it. The whole time we felt the community vibe. People kept trying to give requests (though we couldn’t take them for safety purposes) and we had several people come up trying to give high fives and fist bumps. I don’t know about my fellow DJs, but with all that excitement built up I didn’t sleep til after 4am. It was totally worth it. Thank you to the IRC for choosing us!
– DJ Psyched