It’s the moment all DJs look forward to all year – what track to see in the next 12 months of music. It rounds up the year gone by and brings in the new one – sending an already excited dancefloor into spasms of delight. Or it’s a damp squib that ruins everyone’s night and sets the coming year off to such an appalling start everyone might as well hibernate and call it all off for another 365 days. It’s a lot of pressure so we asked Brighton’s best DJs, and our editor, their favourites and how they chose them.
CE CE ROGERS ‘Someday’
BY MUMDANCE
New Year’s Eve tunes are always a bit of a tightrope as you want to play something that everyone knows without sounding too clichéd, I think my perfect NYE track is ‘Someday’ by Ce Ce Rogers as it is not only a timeless track within itself, but also has spanned generations through various guises. I played it at Bugged Out a couple of NYE’s ago and it was a really special moment, one of the highlights of my career. It brings a real feeling of togetherness to a room.
GEORGE MICHAEL ‘Careless Whisper’
BY TEEN CREEPS’ CONRAD ROGAN
When it comes to playing records for a room full of drunken lip chewers on NYE, something that gives me great joy is watching a collective wince go round the room as an utterly uncool yet instantly recognisable intro comes in. However, there are certain records that quickly turn from laughter into collective hugging, beer spilling and arms in the air power grabbing. I don’t care what people say, this is an absolute banger. Plus, anything who can get people attempting saxophone solos always deserves a place in any party set. Maybe.
CHEMICAL BROTHERS ‘Swoon (Boys Noize Summer Mix)’
BY POUNDANCE’S GEORGE NUNN
That nervous sweat as the clock breezes past 11.50 on NYE happens every year, what gets played at midnight?! You don’t want to play a track that’s too obvious; the track at midnight needs to be the pinnacle of the evening. Chemical Brothers’ ‘Swoon’ epitomizes this. With lyrics like “Just remember, to fall in love”, it’s such a euphoric start to the year. Saying that, as the time reaches 12 this NYE, I’ll still be bricking it.
2 UNLIMITED ‘No Limit’
BY BLAH BLAH BLAH
What to play at the cusp of a New Year is perhaps one of the toughest decisions a DJ has to make other than whether to get out of bed before or after midday. So what makes a good NYE tune? For us midnight needs to be memorable and a bit of a sing-a-long. Therefore we try and go classic and unexpected, something tongue in cheek can work well if you’ve got the crowd hyped enough. One year we got away with 2 Unlimited’s ‘No Limit’, everyone seemed to know the words to that one.
ORBITAL ‘Belfast’
BY JAMES KENDALL
The worst thing you can play at the break of a new year is a boring club track. The midnight track is essentially an end-of-nighter in the middle of a set. The time I got it completely right was at the millennium. I knew it needed to be something emotional, with gravitas, that people could still dance to. ‘Belfast’ makes me happy and sad and dance and cry all at the same time. This time it made me fall off the bar as I climbed up to meet the other people dancing on it. The crowd’s reaction had me buzzing for hours.
JUSTICE VS SIMIAN ‘Never Be Alone’
BY EDDIE THE GOATBOY
For me, the sacred New Year midnight slot is a moment of complete unity of everyone in the club. It’s definitely the only song in my set I ever pick in advance and it’s best to pick a big banger from the year just gone. The NYE that really stands out as a golden achievement was 07>08, mixing the Big Ben chimes with Justice Vs Simian. It caught a lot of people by surprise, which is just how I’ve always liked to do things. You’ll never hear me play ‘Auld Lang Syne’.
WORDS BY BLAH BLAH BLAH, JAMES KENDALL, MUMDANCE,
GEORGE NUNN, CONRAD ROGAN
