Last Friday was the culmination of a hard month’s planning as King’s put on its most musically ambitious end of term party to date. People complained that the theme (toybox) was too accessible, suggestive of the easy-digest concepts used at bops and May Balls rather than at real events, but this fact lost its import in light of the party’s larger successes.

King’s’ termly ‘mingles’ are steadily rising in profile as Cambridge students continue to search for exciting places to let their hair down and get theirdanceon. King’s is particularly good for these two things, with its three music venues making it possible to cater to a variety of tastes. Chetwynd, Keynes and the Bunker offer different possibilities, and the line-ups were organised withcloseattention to the moods of each. The event was defined by its musical variety and can be best understood in those terms.

The first act in the Bunker, Stefan & Jonny, opened the night with some funk and soul, dancing in the DJ booth and completely unfazed by the empty room. Early arrivals at were infected by their energy and by the time DJ Tom took over,there were some committed dancers. Stefan & Jonny’s funk and soul were replaced withDJ Tom’saccessible deep house and acid house.As people began to filter in,heraised the bpm with some harsh industrial techno mixed with pop a capellas like ‘Bills, Bills, Bills’ by Destiny’s Child. The pop was perfectly judged and gave the intensity of the main music an intriguing edge.

Upstairs, KOKO KITSCHA played some vintage-feel deep house to a good crowd in Chetwynd, followed by Le Jockey who finished the night spectacularly with an all-vinyl set. Next door, in Keynes, the live musicians absorbed their listeners.

It hardly mattered when half way through the night a smoke machine set off the fire alarm. People embraced the opportunity to run onto King’s’ lawns bedecked in their childlike get-ups and take a photo or two. The publicity had worked well and most people had made an effort to colour themselves up as something or the other. 

The risk that the enormity of King’s might not be filled, or that the presence of so many different spaces might make the event fragmented and incoherent were avoided thanks to the dominance of the theme. It became evident that themes are less about the decoration of a location (King’s’ effortwas fun and light-heartedbutultimatelyuninspiring) than about the decoration of the party-goers. People looked more at each other than they do at the walls. The publicity team’s decision to scatter toys before the night was a clever one as it pre-emptively embedded the theme in a way that decorations could not have. The balloons were a nice touch: the evening ended on a bang as a costumed dancer in Keynes pulled them into the crowd so people could give explosive voice to their enjoyment