Haha yes, this was exactly what I was thinking—just a little teaser for those who catch it to say “I hope you like what I’m doing up here, but don’t forget your favorite is about to blow the lid off this place.” Just a little loop here or a little snare there to prime them. I’d never advocate for dropping the headliner’s hot new track, but in my head I was thinking “hey, maybe there is a creative way to show that you appreciate the headliner and to prime the crowd without making a total @$$ of yourself.”

Really appreciate the anecdote, as this is exactly the type of thing I was thinking. Cheers!

I’ve seen this done with a few big names over the years. Namely with Hawtin and Jeff Mills back in the 90s. Different nights, same club, same opening DJ. When he was opening for Hawtin, he teased the snare line from Spastik a few times in the hour or so before he came on. With Mills there were a few very faint whispers of the melody from “the bells” here and there in his set. If you weren’t paying attention you almost didn’t even catch it. But it was just enough to remind people why they were there, and who was about to come on.

Now – if this guy would have just dropped “the bells” during his warmup set – i think he would have been tarred and feathered by the end of the night. But the way he did it was beyond effective. If you can do it like THAT – then I don’t think anybody’s going to complain.

Depends on the situation and artist. Maybe a deep cut remix that’s unlike the original track so it’s even more disparate?

As a possible exception to the “never play a headliner’s track” rule–what about teasing one track throughout your set to amp the crowd up for the headliner? Does this not accomplish the warm-up DJs “role” while also bending/breaking the “golden rule”?

FWIW I’ve never done this, but the idea popped into my head while reading the comments and I am interested in hearing others’ opinions.