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So then, after a few false starts I finally broke my performance duck last night. I thought it would be nice to share the experience with everyone as without a lot of the knowledge that I've gleaned from this site I might never have done it.

The occassion was a wedding, but not just any wedding oh no. Twas a lesbian wedding. So imagine my surprise when I turned up all ready to do Colour Changing Rugby Top and Arthur or Martha Test and it was just a bunch of normal people. Myself and my accomplice were tasked with keeping the 10 or so tables busy for an hour between arival at the venue and the speeches.

So what did I do, how did it go, etc.

1) I wasn't conventionally nervous as such, but it took a big effort of will to actually walk up the first table and get cracking. Once I'd started it was fine, mainly because I'd decided to stick to about six tricks that I knew I could do in my sleep if necessary.

2) I performed Poker Player's Picnic as my opener to get plenty of people involved and serve as an excuse to produce the aces, which I then used to monte them to confusion. The cards went away and out came the pot of jam trick. General delight. Out came the cards again and I did my ACR, ending with card to mouth then later some more ambitious loads, so to speak. Cards away again and it was time for a bit of rubber band nonsense combined with a borrowed ring so I could chuck in a quick bit of Ring Thing. Then on to the next table where I varied the card tricks a bit but stuck to the other stuff.

3) The amount of natural off beat misdirection you get from a table of half cut people is awesome. Once I'd warmed up I was trying and getting away with all sorts of jiggery pokery, I even did a pitch and ditch with the jam pot thus causing it to vanish. I've never even practiced that before in fact I more or less put the jam straight in my pocket then acted out vanishing it and they went mental. I also loaded a card under a bloke's backside which allowed me to come up with a line I think I'll be using a whiole lot from now on: It's not at the top, it's not at the bottom, it's under your bottom!!!!!!! terrible I know but the punters liked it.

4) Kids are fine if you give them absolutely no choice but to do exactly what you say. I was asked to do a trick to a group of them and was a bit worried as I have no experience with or material for the little blighters. So I decided to do a quick one coin routine and that did the trick. Actually they were pretty well behaved so I don't intend to base any further expectations on them but it was a lucky start I think.

5) It felt surreal to be handed a hundred notes for an hour of doing what I'd be doing in the pub anyway. I nearly handed it back saying 'No honestly it's not worth that, I just put the jam in my pocket when you were looking at your neighbour'.We even got an extra tenner each because apparently we were better than anticipated. It was wonderful to have people coming up to shake your hand or ask for more magic the sense of appreciation made the night, plus I got merrily drunk on free champagne and consumed more than my fair share of nibbles.

6) Everyone treats you better when you're wearing a suit.

All in all then it was a very positive experience which I'll definitely repeat. For next time though I'm going to brush up my non-card material so I've got more of it, I'd have been a bit stuck if people had been watching from adjoining tables. Fortunately it was spaced out enough that folk kept themselves occupied well enough without me.

For anyone that's wondering about taking the plunge go for it. It's great fun.

Well done Bronze and you're right, it's a great feeling to come away knowing that you've given a great performance. Even after you've become more experienced it still feels good.

I'd decided to stick to about six tricks that I knew I could do in my sleep if necessary.

Very very wise move.... stick with what you know and know well and you can'r go far wrong.

The amount of natural off beat misdirection you get from a table of half cut people is awesome.

Too much time can be spent worrying about misdirection so you have shown here that it really isn't sometihng to be worried about too much as the specs often misdirect themselves!!!

5) It felt surreal to be handed a hundred notes for an hour of doing what I'd be doing in the pub anyway. I nearly handed it back saying 'No honestly it's not worth that, I just put the jam in my pocket when you were looking at your neighbour'.We even got an extra tenner each because apparently we were better than anticipated. It was wonderful to have people coming up to shake your hand or ask for more magic the sense of appreciation made the night, plus I got merrily drunk on free champagne and consumed more than my fair share of nibbles.

The third most satisfying aspect of magic...... getting paid!!!! (The first is accomplishment of well practiced moves!! Second the looks of enjoyment at what you've done!!)

Very well done bronz - I'm glad your first experience of working has gone so well.... this can only serve as a springboard for your confidence and ability so that next time is even more gratifying!!

Congratulations.

Congrats bronz! Some really good advice there

Cheers peeps! The main aim of this post was to give a bit of a boost to anyone in a similar position to myself and to debrief a little bit around people who know what it's like from our side of the table. I doubt I've revealed any hitherto untold knowledge here but it's always handy to have what you already know reinforced by someone who's speaking from fresh experience.

Strangely enough it gave me no desire to ever want to do it for a living. For myself I think that would take the shine off things slightly, even after an hour the same tricks were starting to wear a bit thin from a performance point of view but as a practiced amateur I can think of very few other ways to spend a more fulfilling evening.

bronz wrote:For myself I think that would take the shine off things slightly, even after an hour the same tricks were starting to wear a bit thin.

I do this for a living and yes doing the same tricks over and over again does tend to wear a bit thin. But the reactions you get make up for this, I normaly perform about 12-16 different tricks when I am working, doing 3 tricks at each table, roughly 5 mins.

Anyway glad to here it went so well for you, and hope you gave out your business cards.

Brilliant stuff Bronz, sounds like everything went really well and you enjoyed yourself, which has got to be the main thing.

The wedding wasn't at the Ashford International Hotel was it by any chance? My girlfriend's aunty knows a couple of lesbians who were getting married there this weekend.

That is both great news to here that it went really well and good avice as I have my first paid wedding this coming weekend.
Got a meeting with the Sci-fi Channel this lunchtime concerning some magic ideas for a webcast, a James Bond evening on wednesday and this wedding on Saturday.
I've only ever done one proper gig before this week. It's all gone proper mental.
Anyway I will definitely take note of the thoughts here and I'm happy it all went well for you and here's to more gigs!!! Hoorah!!

It was in the Post House which is just round the corner from the International. Must've been the same people, how many lezza weddas are there?!

Sounds like it was the same one. Small world, huh?

Well done Bronz. Being paid to do magic is the best feeling in the world, ain't it!?