Warm, friendly, intimate; just a selection of some of the many pleasant and highly appropriate adjectives I would use to describe last week’s ‘Heads Up’ party. From our arrival at the underground bar to the very last moment Miss Divine switched off the CDJs in the teeny weeny hours, the whole room felt like a big group of friends meeting up and having an enormous party.
Simon Dunmore kicked off the night and smacked headlong into a set that was little darker than his customary style. Perhaps it was the fact that his set was being closely followed by headliner, international DJ, producer and six times Amsterdam label heavyweight 2000 and One (aka Dylan Hermelijn) or that he was just in a particularly roguish mood, but Simon set the tone perfectly for what was going to the best heads up party yet. 
With 2000 and One at the helm the crowd were stirred into a frenzy quicker than you can say 'dance' and before long the room was thumping and fit to burst with bodies, Asahi and Jagermeister . 2000 and One's set came to a peak with Masters at Work's 'Deep Inside' and the whole room crashed into a crescendo of hands and smiles and shouts. I caught up with him after his set and he chatted about how revolutionary Defected's Thursday parties are in making house music more accessible to fans. He seemed genuinely touched by the response he received and raved about how passionate the crowd was.
Just before midnight the gorgeous first lady of Defected, aka Miss Divine, took her place behind the CDJs. Just when we all thought we had reached the pinnacle of the evening her set guaranteed the room stayed crowded despite the fact it was a school night and we all had to do the inevitable commute this morning. The instant we all heard the now legendary first few chords of Dennis Ferrer's anthem 'Hey Hey' the room exploded into excitement and the tray of Jagermeister I was transporting went up with it. Even my tray of shots missing in action didn't stop me from throwing some shapes to one of the finest house records ever.
I'm uncertain if it was the new party date of the first Thursday of the month or the fact we have all been detoxing during January, however, last night’s atmosphere was the finest yet. The small room was chock-full of house music lovers who wanted to stay and party all night…and party we did!!
Words: Kelly Rounce
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