Halloween has become one of the most talked about weekends of the year with great parties and line-ups coming at you left, right and centre. But if one gathering could encapsulate the spirit on this occasion, it’s Mulletover.
Found hosting parties every few months, Mulletover put together one of their infamous Halloween do’s for their October edition offering the perfect excuse to get everyone dressing up. This year’s Mulletover Halloween event was hosted by Proud 2 in London’s o2 Centre. The space, which can still be recognised by its former name – Matter, is sporting a brand new look. Proud 2 has moved away from the industrial finish that Matter carried with an almost decadent feel to the interior where the ceilings now house glamorous chandeliers and the overall space holds a caricature feel to it which worked well with the Halloween theme. It may be a little further to travel than Mulletover’s usual Great Suffolk Street location, but a night out at an actual club rather than a warehouse felt somewhat rewarding – a nice breather from what has become more of the norm in London. With Geddes, Guy Gerber and the legendary Tobi Neuman in Room 1 and the fantastic duo Ivan Smagghe & Andrew Weatherall residing in Room 2, one could only expect greatness from this killer line up.
Arriving to hear the deep groovy sounds from Geddes mixing up a bit of deep house and minimal, we noticed the DJ booth had been set-up on the stage as opposed to the caged DJ booth used during the ‘Matter’ days. Musically, Mulletover never fails to impress; starting off with the introductory house grooves of Geddes, moving into the smooth ambient sounds of Guy Gerber and transgressing to the Berlin tech house sound belonging to Tobi Neumann, all rounded off with the combination of tech house and funky Chicago house from Neumann and Geddes B2B. Geddes’ set really hit it off, the crowd loved him and the combination of DJ and crowd were at one. Guy Gerber played some of his new material from the 11:11 project – the Gerber/Diddy collaboration - though unfortunately the ambient sounds didn’t quite fit. There was a momentary setback as a result wherein the crowd and music didn’t quite connect and there seemed to be a displaced feel to the atmosphere, but this was quickly recovered. We decided to venture into room 2 and get a good helping of Ivan Smagghe and Andrew Weatherall. This, on the contrary, was much more laid back than room 1 with plenty of space to dance and nice choppy beats reverberating off the dancefloor. As always those two fantastic artists never fail to impress no matter where they play! Yes, Mulletover did it again with a perfectly tailored line-up that delivered well.
One thing about this venue that I can never seem to shake is that it always leaves me feeling a little bit lethargic, regardless of who’s playing. It must be the sheer size of it; no matter which way you walk you are always facing a surge of people, and at some points it literally feels like there is no escape. This, despite the make-over, is still the case and I often found that I had to settle myself for the fun ahead on more than one occasion. However, we were looked after very well by the security who were warm and helpful.
On reflection, and in every respect, the night was a success and what you would expect from a Mulletover party; good music, good venue and good sound. One might argue, the key ingredients for a good night!
Words: Aneesha Qazi
