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THE SOUNDTRACK

This time last year, a couple of bland Ministry of Sound compilations were still acceptable musical fare for a party. Not any more. Thanks to a huge revival of the country’s live music scene, the grooviest party-givers are hiring DJs and live acts.

The hottest name in town is Har Mar Superstar, whose brand of sleazy Prince-style stagecraft is always a hit with the ladies. If you can’t book him, there are always the Libertines, who sang at the party after John Richmond’s fashion show, Mary J Blige, who belted out a few numbers for Elton John at his white tie and tiara ball, and Jamie Cullum, who lent a certain jazzy chic to Donna Karan’s 20th-anniversary party. For those who, ahem, aren’t in the market for a Har Mar or a Kelis, hire a tribute act — music and comedy rolled into one. Or a gypsy band. “You can’t get better than gypsy bands,” says Piper. “They make a circle in the middle of a party and play till 6am. It’s brilliant dancing music. The gypsy campsite is the original mad party. They’ve got an aura of drunkenness and violence in a joyful, celebratory fashion.”

Then it’s over to Mr Deejay, who shouldn’t be playing cooler-than-thou house music, but sing-along anthems. “We play what we like,” says Emma Deeks of the much-loved London club night Oh! You Pretty Things. She finds that Kim Wilde’s Kids in America and Heaven 17’s Temptation go down particularly well. “Ah, yes, poptastic 1980s and bad one-hit wonders,” says Rusty Egan, a DJ at the Clapham Grand, Tryst and Boujis, Prince Harry’s favourite nightclub. “People don’t care about mixing any more. Just stick it on. It’s all about having a laugh.” Then freeze the moment. Burn the evening’s soundtrack onto a CD and copy it for everyone.

THE ENTERTAINMENT

So, your guests are on the dancefloor, showing off their moves. You could just leave things there. Or you could take your party up a level. The creative host will provide his guests with anything from husky-voiced cabaret singers crooning Edith Piaf, peepshows, jugglers and tombolas to mobile saunas and hot tubs. Have you tried a piano jukebox? “There’s a list of songs on each table and when you want one of them sung, you put a pound in the singer’s cocktail shaker. The singer is not amazing, it’s all a bit wonky, but that’s why it’s charming,” says Pablo Flack, the co-owner of Bistrotheque in east London and currently one of the UK’s most inventive hosts.

Party games are also making a comeback — don’t forget that a guest with smooth gamesmanship can make a stunning impression. Piper — whose most recent pièce de résistance was a vodka tea-fuelled, candlelit piece of performance art in a hidden masonic temple — would happily put all of his faith in the humble blindfold. “You can do lots of things with blindfolds,” he says. Other favourites are Sardines and Mafia, an advanced, sinister and highly addictive version of Murder in the Dark (visit www.princeton.edu/~mafia/ for the rules).

After that, the game is trying to make it home before dawn.

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