Spinning Truths & Dropping Wedding Bombs: DJ ESG’s No-BS Guide to Your Big Day
- In a world where weddings are both chaos and perfection, DJ ESG—aka Eric Scott Gold—emerges as the wise-cracking, truth-dropping, mic-spinning legend the Philadelphia Tri-State area never knew it needed. Armed with nearly 175 thousand streams across 15 separate platforms, he’s the proud host of the region's number one wedding podcast, where advice flows freely—sometimes for couples, sometimes for vendors, and always delivered with the subtlety of a confetti cannon.
DJ ESG is not your average private event DJ; he’s a walking wedding encyclopedia with a sarcasm filter permanently set to "off." With 30+ years in the biz, over 3,500 events rocked, 1,000 glowing reviews, and a résumé so sparkly it could double as a disco ball, this guy doesn’t just sugarcoat reality—he skips the sugar altogether. Millennials and Gen Z? He sees you. He knows your flea-sized attention spans. That’s why his micro tips are short, snappy, and unfiltered, served with a heaping side of "you're welcome."
The accolades? Oh, they’re endless. Seven-time "International Mobile Entertainer of the Year" finalist. Multi-time "Best Of" winner in Philadelphia, San Diego, AND Bucks County. The nation’s loudest, proudest LGBTQ wedding advocate, and the first to hoist the Pride flags at the International DJ Expo like the hero weddings never knew they needed. Oh, and did we mention he’s officiated over 200 weddings? Including 50+ same-sex unions? Or that he had the honor of MCing THE Jason Kelce wedding with his buddy Bob on the decks? Yeah. #GoBirds indeed.
So, buckle up for DJ ESG's wedding wisdom—raw, real, and straight from the heart. Peace, Love, and God Above!
Spinning Truths & Dropping Wedding Bombs: DJ ESG’s No-BS Guide to Your Big Day
Playlist Predicaments: DJ ESG's Adventure in Reviving a Wedding Dance Floor with Rock Hits
Ever been caught in a musical pickle at a wedding, where the must-play song list doesn't even get the bride and groom moving? That's exactly what happened at my latest gig, and boy, was it a challenge! Dive into the world of wedding DJ-ing as I recount the chaotic yet hilarious experience of trying to juggle a sticky playlist that was more flop than bop. You’ll hear about the art of reading a dance floor, knowing when to ditch the doomed tracks, and keeping the energy alive with some impromptu genius. Spoiler alert: it involves an alternative rock set that saved the night!
This episode isn’t just a recount of musical mishaps; it's a treasure trove of lessons on balancing client requests with crowd vibes. I chat about the importance of having the couple on the dance floor for their must-play songs and how I navigated a playlist that made me question my life choices. From the moment when the bride left during her requested song to the 40-minute rock set that brought the house down, it’s a testament to the power of adaptability and the magic of music that everyone can groove to. If you're planning a wedding or just love behind-the-scenes DJ stories, this one’s for you!
Peace, Love & God Above! :-)
what's up, guys? Dj es john's wedding advice, season number 12. And today I'm talking about when your song list just fucking sucks. I, I had a bride and groom this weekend. Man, they were super sweet, we had a blast all my tiktok pages look at the video amazing.
Speaker 1:But they had like four or five must play songs on there that I knew were not gonna work, like they didn't even for them, like I played them and they just like left the dance floor the bride and the girl. I'm like what the fuck am I playing? Like why, why are you giving me must play songs that you know that you're not even going to dance to yourself? Why do you expect these people to dance to it? It's like why, all right? So they gave me this list of must plays and this list of plays and everything on the playlist was super. It went over my songs that I put in there were great. They went over. Part of their playlist was great their must play list, I mean. But then there were some songs that were just like what the fuck is this? And I knew that going into it and, as a good DJ, I knew when to try and when not to try to make those songs work and there's only certain times of the day or the event that you can make those songs work. And that's when you know the dance floor is sort of empty and you're trying to get the bride and groom to come back and you use those songs as leverage. But when the dance floor is packed and you have to stick them in because you haven't got there yet and you've had a packed dance floor the whole night long and you're like, oh shit, I gotta play these five must-play songs, when the fuck am I? I mean, if I don't play them now, I'm never gonna get a chance to play them. You know, are they gonna remember that later, you know? So I'm like at the end of the party and I start playing like one after the other, and the dance floor just wiped out. It was like yeah, like do we need to? Like I'm pointing down, like do we have to play this shit crap stuff that you have in front of me? And she was like nah, don't worry about it, thank God. So I took it over my head, launched it over my head and then just went back to what I was doing and we ended the party in a fucking bang. They were like one more song, one more song. I played one more song and that song went over and the party was amazing.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, when you give me a must playlist and I say you have to understand this must playlist has to work for everybody there, not just you and one other person, and then if you still don't understand what I'm talking about, you still need your must playlist. You've got to be dancing to that song. You can't give me a must playlist and then leave. It doesn't work because that must playlist either the bride or the groom, or the brides or the grooms have to be on that dance floor during those songs with people, or else it doesn't make any sense, like zero sense. And one of the songs was like the one I was dreading and I was like, oh, that was the one she wanted and I put it on and she like looks at me, she goes. I got to get some air. It's too hot in here. I got to go outside and I'm like the song you asked for is the one I'm playing right now. The one you begged me for is the one I'm playing right now. You're going outside, hear this song. The dance floor is cleared, I'm changing this song and I just looked at her and I kind of said the whole, I kind of said that to her, not that way.
Speaker 1:And I just looked at her with a big smile on her face and I go, can I get this off? She was like, yeah, absolutely do whatever you got to do at this point in time. And I did this whole like alternative rock set. It lasted like 40 minutes of every alternative rock song you could possibly think of um, that was hot in the 1990s and 2000s. And I did like a snippet of each one of them. So you got like the chorus and a verse and it just went on and on and on. And every time I would change a song they would be like, oh, whoa, that song. And it was hot. Like I did it on the fly, I did it live. And she was like she runs back in, she goes, this is awesome. And I was like, yeah, I know, that's great, I'm good at what I do, that's why you pay me the big bucks Like, all right, whatever. But man, they were such a fun couple and I had such a good time.
Speaker 1:But like, when you guys give a playlist like, and a must-play list and a do-not-play list, if you give a must playlist, you got to be on the floor for that. Like you can't be like somewhere else on that must playlist. Because if the must playlist is great, maybe you only need to be on the floor, but if it's like a wishy-washy must playlist, it's almost like songs that you know people aren't going to dance to, but you're going to dance to it. You got to be there. Like, you got gotta be there. Like you gotta be there.
Speaker 1:You know, you gotta think about it this way if you're in driving the car and you're sober, you gotta say to yourself if I get drunk that night, am I still gonna remember even writing this shit down?
Speaker 1:Because you know I've done that before where I haven't played must play songs, and I've gotten afterwards like everything was great, but he didn't play my two songs and and I was like and then sometimes I play the songs that you have to have and you're not there. It's like, why am I playing this? So remember, if you're going to give a must-play list of songs and the DJ plays them, you really have to be there for them or they're pointless. I'm telling you it's great advice and it'll keep a dance floor either packed or empty it out like the plague, like here comes the hurricane, get out of town. You know what I mean. I mean, there's still those weirdos that stay around praying for a miracle, but for the most part, if a song comes on that sucks or that nobody else knows, they're off until you put something else on where they all know and then they're all coming back. So I'm telling you, dj ESG, it's great advice Peace, love and God above.