If wonderful Eastington Park in Gloucestershire had permanent accommodation, we’d be fully signed up. It’s not just that’s it’s a lovely venue set in magnificent grounds with superb venue staff and a great room for live music; it’s just that HARD TO HANDLE BAND seem to perform there so often that it would probably make sense if we rented out a room or two. However, as we can’t do that, we’ll settle for enjoying performing there whenever we are asked to by brides and grooms.
As much as we’d love to play at Eastington Park every week, we are simply too busy performing at over 200 bookings each year at various venues across the UK. Just how did we get to this level? Well, it’s been a long and interesting journey. When we set up HARD TO HANDLE BAND back in 2008, we had a body of industry knowledge and a desire to bring something a little different to the wedding industry – while other Gloucestershire wedding bands were still trying to sound like The Commitments, with large brass sections, nondescript backing musicians and two or three lead vocalists over-singing every note – we wanted to take on board indie, modern pop and something a little different with the feeling of a real live Gloucester band.
Things took off pretty quickly, and that’s when we knew we had the right combination of high-energy live performances, a hugely eclectic playlist AND a live DJ, all offered at a very reasonable fee. And here we are, 18 years later, bringing joy to brides, grooms and wedding guests around the UK. A sobering thought for us is that often wedding parties were probably in school when we first started gigging. Example? The lovely Megan and David, who we had the honour and pleasure of playing for at Eastington Park last week. Of course it’s rude to ask a lady her age, but we’ll wager that Megan was only just in junior school while we were ripping out soon-to-be indie classics back in the early 2010s.
We like to think that’s it’s the wealth of experience that we bring to every booking we play that convinced brides and grooms that we are the perfect Gloucestershire wedding band for them. Among other things, we have an innate understanding that providing fully customisable live band sets is one of the key ingredients of a successful night and a full dancefloor. With this in mind, the playlist we prepared for Megan and Graham featured all of their song requests, including their first dance:
SET ONE
Hold my girl – first dance (George Ezra)
I’m yours (Jason Mraz)
A little respect
Valerie
I’m a believer
Teenage kicks
Rockstar
Don’t stop me now
Living on a prayer
La Vida Loca
Poker face
Crashed the wedding
Summer of ’69
SET TWO
Beautiful things
Watermelon sugar
On top of the world
Shotgun
Pink pony club
She’s so lovely
Shut up and dance
I gotta feelin’
All star
Get lucky
I will wait
Shake it off
Pompeii
SET THREE
I won’t give up (Jason Mraz)
17 going under
Year 3000
Somebody told me
Use somebody
All the small things
Chelsea dagger
Teenagers
Sugar, we’re going down
I bet that you look good
Sex on fire
Brightside
Teenage dirtbag
Angels
We like to think that’s one hell of an eclectic set, and it definitely help keep that dance floor full all night. Of course, it’s not just about the music; it’s about the full service we offer:
- professional live three piece function band
- 2 hours of classic and contemporary live band music featuring rock, pop and more
- live DJ performing sets before, inbetween and after live band sets
- choose from our playlist of over 350 songs or request your own favourite songs
- sound system and lighting
- all travel costs
- non-stop entertainment
Having a live DJ included without having to pay extra for the privilege is a great idea. As most bands and entertainment agencies only offer a preloaded Spotify playlist as a bolt on as an extra cost, we think we are providing a full service without creating a budget blow-out for you. You’re welcome! Megan and Graham certainly appreciated it and also loved our huge mix of music and boundless onstage energy – “100%, ten out of ten” pretty much sounds like the perfect score to us!
So what are you waiting for? Get in touch!
https://hardtohandleband.co.uk/
Tel: 0796 433 5657
E: info@hardtohandleband.co.uk
https://hardtohandleband.co.uk/wedding-bands-gloucestershire/