One of my favorite event forms to DJ have always been class reunions. I enjoy the opportunity to provide music to facilitate memories for people that have shared some part of their past together.
I started doing class reunions back in the early 80’s, by accident really. There was a group of Police Officers in Morris County who were all big motorcyclists. They belonged to an organization named The Blue Angels. They hired me once as a professional DJ for an Oldies (50’s & 60’s) gig, and from there I ended up doing many class reunions because I got a reputation as a good professional Oldies DJ. This was funny to me since I was not born during a large chunk of the music I played and was a little boy during the rest. In took time for me to build a solid collection of this music on vinyl (all there was back then) and more importantly know the music. Eventually, I had what I considered enough knowledge and library to do this on a regular basis. This is where all the reunions started coming from.
Class reunions are fun times. The professional DJ has a real clear direction of what selections to play, leaving some room for those who want music from other periods than high school or college. This tight playlist offers the opportunity to really dive into this period and play both what was on the top of the charts but also to play stuff that was not as popular. We can do this since we know that if you were in high school or college at the time the music was out, chances are you had some knowledge of the whole music scene. This is unique because usually we cannot play the lesser known, music from the past, people just do not know it except those who were in their teens and twenties at the time.
So if you are a professional DJ who really has an affection for music from a certain period, I encourage you to market yourself for class reunions during that period. They are such fun events and you get to jump back in time for the night along with the guests. Trust me, these are such fun events and you will want to do them all the time!
