As another Queens Birthday long weekend carves its way through Sydney, many lucky party goers should be left with some amazing memories after events such as We Love Sounds at the Hordern on Sunday night. The Sounds brand and its regular events are amongst the most well known in Sydney, and with every long weekend event selling out well before the event for six years one can only attribute this to their reputation that carries a vibe of quality, experience, variety and good music. The event celebrates the 6th birthday of the brand and strays from the Greenwood Hotel where regular nights are held. They have used the Hordern Pavilion in order to be able accommodate more punters although the format is similar to Sounds on Sunday with the event starting in the early afternoon and finishing after midnight. Some huge names have been billed for the event including Deep Dish, Danny Howells, Paul Harris (Dirty Vegas), Boogie Pimps, Ali B, The Outlaws, Ewan Pearson, and many more. The acts were spread across the main room in the Hordern and a partially covered outdoor stage. 

After a great day of outstanding weather and many delicious pre-drinks we finally made our way to the event just after six o’clock having missed Ben Korbel and the Bang Gang DJs. The line up to get into the venue was surprisingly small and the process extremely smooth; which is always a great start to the evening considering that the event was sold out in advance. Onstage in the main room Boogie Pimps were playing some funky house much to the delight of the many people already enjoying the tunes on the dance floor. The main arena was already starting to fill its exuberant space with excited people and the beats churning out of the huge sound system continued to gather momentum as the night went on. Outside the mood was bright and funky with some tasty breaks being slammed down in the chilled but clear evening temperature. Ewan Pearson was on next to warm up the crowd before the start of Deep Dish’s three hour set and he kicked off his set with a heap of energy as he began a delightful tech house set full off funky, techy and interesting tunes. Some of the tracks he played were Alter Ego – Rocker overlaid with a Beastie Boys accapella, and a remix of Snoop Dog – Drop It Like Its Hot.

Soon it was time for Deep Dish to begin their three hour set and after the spectacular performance on Wednesday night at Yu I was looking forward to what they would play to such a huge crowd. At the start of the set two acrobats either side of the stage performed a dazzling visual act involving manoeuvres on drapes hanging from the ceiling. The lighting was also bumped up a notch to coincide with the start of the set and its capabilities were shown off more and more as the night progressed with some spectacular visual sequences. Deep Dish played an amazing set in my opinion which was full of enjoyable, melodic and funky tracks such as Chemical Brothers – Battle Weapon 6, David Guetta feat. Jd Davis – The World is Mine (Deep Dish Remix), the beautiful Deep Dish – Say Hello, the ever popular summer anthem Deep Dish – Flashdance and a remix of The Killers – Mr Brightside to name a few.

Paul Harris who is the producer behind the moniker Dirty Vegas was up next with a DJ Set which was quite good but was a hard act to follow after Deep Dish. He played a whole range of tracks spanning progressive and house including some of his productions and remix work such as Dirty Vegas – Days Go By, The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army (Tim Deluxe Bootleg), and a great new remix of Luke Chable & Danny Bonnici – Ride. Throughout the night a whole stack of breaks, broken beats and hip hop flavours could be perused in the outside arena featuring names such as Ali B, The Outlaws, DJ Cash Money, Koolism and Kid Kenobi & MC Shureshock.

Finally after an absolute stack of fun it came to the final set of the night however many seen to be heading after what was quite a long day. Danny Howells stepped up to slam down the last two hours of the night with some quality layered tech tunes. I couldn’t recognise any of the tunes he was playing but it was all quality layered tech and progressive, occasionally meandering towards the tougher edged tracks and sometimes splashing out with some funky sounding tracks. I am not sure it was the awesomeness of Danny Howells last time he was in Australia or the quality of Deep Dish which made me struggle to get into his set as much as I thought I would. However could easily be attributed to the long day and night of partying that had transpired.

Overall, I must say that the Sounds crew really do know how to put on a party. The night was crammed full of great varied music, amazing setup, production and lighting, flawless organisation and minimal lines for drinks, toilets and entry. Deep Dish were without doubt the highlight of the night for me closely followed by the slamming set by Danny Howells with his feisty tech tunes. The ITM Karaoke Bus was also a hit with many people at the event which no doubt provided many an amusing moment for all those involved and any onlookers, as some classic tunes were ‘reworked’ by aspiring vocalists. For more info on upcoming Sounds events check out their website at http://www.sounds.net.au/. See you at the next one!