Club classics! Meet Woody Cook and Becky Tong, the superstar scion DJs who entertained Britain’s most dazzling eligibles at Tatler’s Little Black Book party
Ringing in the next generation of the gilded youth, getting the party started with the likes of Tatler cover stars Lyla Elichaoff and Esme Bertelsen – Woody and Becky were the conductors of good vibes at the Little Black Book. But what did the DJs make of the night? What song got the social set swinging? And what is the one thing that any deck master worth their salt-rimmed margarita must categorically avoid?
‘No requests!’ laughs Becky Tong as we catch up after the most glamorous night of the year. It seems counterintuitive, of course, but Becky gives DJing advice, you’d better take it. The 32-year-old knows her way around the Little Black Book better than most. It may have been a good five years or so since she last graced Tatler’s most exclusive dance floors, performing with Amber le Bon, but she says the experience never really leaves you. ‘That’s the fun thing about it back in the day,’ she says, ‘those people… you bump into them throughout the rest of your life. It’s a key time of your development in the creative party scene.’
Of course, with a father like the legendary DJ Pete Tong, the party scene really is in Becky’s blood. Her first pilgrimage to Ibiza was at the age of seven, and she has plenty of fond memories of pre-revamp Tramp – though the best ones, naturally, are a little hazy. Her best time at the legendary nightclub? ‘Seeing Sink The Pink…’ a pause – ‘That’s all I really remember of that one!’
Now, this scion of the sound system put her expertise to full use as she held court on the dance floors of Tatler’s Little Black Book party. One thing, she noticed, is how young the crowd were: ‘I last went when I was one of them,’ she laughs, ‘now it’s “Oh my god, these kids!”’ How better to get a new generation dancing than with a naughties club classic. Becky’s song of the night? ‘Heads Will Roll’ by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the A track remix. Amid all the music, though, Becky made one crucial error: ‘By the time I’d started down the margarita track,’ she laments, ‘I couldn’t have a martini!’