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NEWS: Sonya Mac leaves crowd unimpressed in Mandela
The Union’s attempt to attract more students to the Thursday ‘Twisted’ club night by inviting DJ Sonya Mac to take over the decks has seemingly failed. This comes in the wake of the Union slashing working hours of bar staff. Declan Gallen (aka DJ Deci) lost his Thursday night slot to the Cool FM DJ from last night, and will now play in the Bunatee bar whilst Sonya Mac plays Mandela Hall. However, reports from last night aren’t good.
BY CATHERINE WYLIE
One student told The Gown, “Last night was the single worst Union night out I’ve ever had. And I’ve had plenty. The drink was cheap but the craic was non-existent. Even with Bar Sub closed to artificially boost the crowd in the Bunatee and Mandela, the crowd was thin and the atmosphere completely dead. Sonya Mac’s music, basically just the lowest common denominator pop possible, obviously holds little appeal for Queen’s students. If I wanted The Box, I’d have gone to The Box.”
Others said they saw people go into Mandela but leave immediately and return to Bunatee where DJ Deci was playing. One source said, “It was worse than normal, it was completely dead. Bunatee was busy when DJ Deci was playing though. She did play requests towards the end and that went down well, but the rest was just bad remixes that weren’t suited to the crowd. I think it says a lot when Bunatee was busier than Mandela at the end of the night.”
Another source voiced his concern that not only was DJ Deci being ousted from his usual slot, but the regular DJs in Bunatee had also lost their slots. He said, “I wasn’t very impressed. She played music that would suit the Beach Club or Clubland in Cookstown. The crowd didn’t seem into it. DJ Deci should be reinstated in Mandela. I think the whole thing is ludicrous.”
Tags: Catherine Wylie, Gown, Mandela Hall, newspaper, qub, Queen's, queen's university, sonya mac, student, The Gown
This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 9:31 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
actually the bombing of nagasaki and hiroshima made tactical sense whereas booking sonia mac did not
Apparently she's been axed already... £250 well spent... not like that equalled the cost of all the staff shifts that have recently been cut...
To be fair Deci was playing the same tripe every week, from 12am onwards it was the same songs every week...bored of stacys mom.
Mandela hasn't opened any earlier than 11.30 for ages, that needs to change. Maybe then all the bar staff wouldn't be getting their shifts gassed.
So Sonya Mac was cack....how about giving Jim Harte and Aidan a chance in Mandela instead of sacking them from thurs nights.
The whole Union has gone to absolute pot, bring back Denis.
Metallica - are you Paul Lily in disguise.
As someone already said - the bot is packed cos it holds only a fraction that the mandela does!
If you want a Cool FM DJ then go to the Bot. The reason we go to the union on a Thursday is because we want something different, we love the music and the fact that it's NOT the BOT! I think it's very clear that the Cool FM DJ in the union completely bombed!!
lol cant see anyone beating the bot thursdays with connor phillips! it is always packed.
Maybe the union should contact the GAA to organise a night as their nights out are and always will be a massive success.
Why did they get rid of one DJ to be replaced by Sonya Mac of all people.I swear this union gets worse every year! Last year the union promised to have a weekly gay night, well they did have just the one TABOO anyone remember it?! maybe they should bring back the gay night have Sonya DJ there and let the decent DJ have their slot back. If they want Sonya that much then stick her on QUB RADIO. This whole thing just shows QUB and the Union don't give a damn about what people want or need but instead they focus soley on what makes them look good! THE UNIVERSITY SHOULD BE ENCOURAGING NEW TALENT. THE STUDENT MORAL IN GENERAL THIS YEAR SEEMS TO BE SO FRICKIN LOW. GET YOUR ARSE IN GEAR QUB!
The union needs to get a late drink license or something. I've been to Rain about 3 times this year and the only decnet thing is that you can get booze to nearly 3:D That's the way Mandela should be. If it was open to 3 with drinking til half 2 everyone would be there. Sort it out guys!
If the Union have any sense they won't have Sonya back. If they give her a few weeks to settle in then that will be the nail in the Thursday night coffin altogether for the Union. Then everyone will associate Thursday nights in Union with Sonya Mac, and as is clear from above, the Union do NOT want that! So many good points made by people here...lots of competition on Thursdays, the music isnt the problem, places open until 3am, and also...Sonya Mac is NOT going to attract the Mandela crowd. As someone above remarked, students are not impressed by some local celebrity DJ. Deci plays the music we want to hear so why was he removed? And good point made by someone...bet Sonya was paid much more than Deci. Ridiculous.
I heard she came out and said, "Welcome to Twisted at shine".
What a joke!
Last night was just alright, If Sonya would shut up when dj'n she talks way to much by naming every song we already no what it is and then at the end of every song shouting out something at Queens University Students Union, gone give over like. I dont know what has happened this place coz we never would have missed it on a Mon/Thurs and the Bot is like a barnyard, and thats something for me being a culchie. So what are QUBSU gona do about this??
Why should sonya be given a chance to settle in? that isnt the issue here at all!!!!!!!!
Deci was ousted from his usual slot which he's been in for a long time in favour of a "celebrity dj", and the two boys who play Bunatee have lost their shifts entirely apparently. AND there has been an epic cull of bar staffs' hours?
serious questions need to be asked here.
Although I didn't manage to get to the Union this Thursday, I would give Sonja a few weeks to settle in. Once she gets a feel for the crowd, maybe she'll play music better suited for Mandella Hall. It was only her first week afterall, too soon to be so condemning.
The music obviously isn't the problem on Thursdays because it's the same DJ on Monday nights and it's still busy. On thursdays there's Box, Bot, Stiff, Limelight school disco once a month, whereas only real competition on Monday's is Scratch. If anything the fact Sonya Mac was playing prob made regulars stay away.
Two word review: "Shit Sandwich"
When I'm out I like music that I can dance to, not the weekly chart fodder.
Expecting another good night at the union, I was shocked to have the majority of the night take me back to the days of notorious clubs like the coach or belmont.
Some of the mixes sonja put on didnt even sound like they worked together, although, a highlight of the night was the fact that i didnt hear rage against the machine been played. a song the union has killed by being over played with young fellas who have to jump about and act the bigman simply becuause their too high on sexual frustration.
most of my night was spent in bunatee as i thought it played better music. didnt realise until now that deci was playing.
i vow that deci should get his job back!
I wouldn't go to Mandela because Sonya Mac is playing. Why do the Union think that she will draw a crowd? I'd definitely opt for the bot. we're not 15 year old excitable kids. She's hardly a superstar DJ. DJ Deci plays brilliant music and plays exactly what the crowd wants to hear. The music isn't the issue. It's the fact that there are so many places popular on a Thursday. Also, Union need to be careful about their advertising as I seen a letter in the Irish News questioning their 'get twisted' slogan.
Bring back DJ Deci!! :) Sonya mac...........pffft!
The bot only holds about 400 people upstairs! Mandela capacity is over 3 times that. Even at its most quiet the union will still pull in 5/600 odd people - plus Radar is usually quite busy.
I normally go to the Radar and then Mandela but went to Sketchy last night cos I knew Sonia Mac wud be a nightmare!
what are the bot doing these days? last time i was there the place reaked.
Dont know about that - the Bot was bunged as usual last night, most of my mates head there now instead of the union... it's a shame cos the union used to be great on a thursday, just looks like they cant compete with what the bot are doing now.
awww mate - looks like the union got greedy and tried to bring in the spide/chav/underaged crowd. but sure it was was busier than everywhere else!!! faaail. the union is for student, not spides!
What about changing things up every now and then, some house DJ's or something.
Why would the Union bring Sonya Mac to Mandela? She suits the Mandela crowd about as much as Ashley Cole would suit the preisthood.
Clearly, this was a disastrous, but hilarious, attempt at trying to make more money.
I wonder how much they paid her? Bet it was more than what they paid Deci.
Well, it failed.
Hell rub it up them!
Knew it would be bad. She played utter shite in Robinsons and was also playing from a ministry of sound CD half the time and pretending to do the mixing
Glad to hear it didn't go down well. Sonya Mac is very annoying and jumps on any band wagon going so long as it meets the popular opinion of cool fm listeners. Uni students aren't typically Cool Fm listeners, their demographic tends to be 13-17 year olds and whoever made the decision to bring her to Mandela needs a good talking to. It's up there with worst decisions ever made like the Iraq War, bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Appeasement!
Bring back Deci to his rightful place!
Also how bad was it? Was there any booing? I know had I been there I would have booed her for ten minutes and went and spent the night in Bunatee!
In conclusion- Sonya Mac- Turd! Deci- Legend!
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The music is great in the union (normally I mean) it appeals to lots of people of diff tastes.
There are tons of simple things I think the union should change that have always pissed me off about it though:
1) The floor in the mandella is always manky for instance. I always have to remind myself to wear leather shoes or I'll get my pretty cloth/suede ones trashed. They need to learn how to use a mop. The stiff Kitten at least attempt to clean up spills (badly though) by throwing some blue tissue on the ground and kicking it about. Even doing that would make me happier.
2) The mandella is too black it looks like a dungeon it's really depressing. It's the SU get some student artists to paint something cool on the walls. Or just pick a different colour.
3) I've never requested a song cos the DJ is way up there on the stage and it seems like too much hassle.
But as for making the union popular again, maybe they should try advertising Mondays as the big student night out there? It was always my Monday stop as Thursday nights had a lot more competition for my patronage.
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