The Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend is always a massive one for Sydney’s gay and lesbian party set, and on Saturday a new benchmark was reached with its most significant concert venue – the Entertainment Centre – inducted into the fold for the inaugural Super Fag Tag by the Fag Tag crew.

Known better for taking traditionally ‘straight’ venues and giving them that gay touch, the idea behind Super Fag Tag was a little like the Big Queer Nation parties of a few years ago. The plan, scale and execution were all on a massive scale. The Ent Cent’s main arena was curtained off, so the dancefloor below acted as the main floor for the night with a couple of seating areas left behind to relax on.

Upstairs to one side an extra room for electro was built with a chill out lounge below, while smokers had to duck out another side door into a courtyard for their nicotine fix. The entry foyer bar was the only one open for the night, and was handily next to the toilets.

We got there at about midnight, walking briskly from a nearby car park as it was a balmy 10°C and spitting rain! But even half a block from the Ent Cent, you could hear the muffled beats of the music inside and the whole building seemed to be shaking. We were quickly ushered in after a full metal detector check, then regrouped at the bar, which seemed to be the default meeting point.

Inside, around the corner and down a short ramp we found ourselves on the dancefloor, and under an enormous jellyfish-like lighting rig which pulsated in time to the music in a myriad of colours and styles. Behind the main stage, a giant light billboard played the role of a massive plasma TV with words such as “Flaunt It” and “Hands Up” emblazoned across it – this is exactly the scale we were expecting!

We’d come in at the perfect time to see Sandy Rivera, who’s hit “Finally” as Kings of Tomorrow took dancefloors here by storm two years ago. A sea of shirtless men were grooving and grinding under the light and throwing their hands up, shuffling their feet and stealing cheeky glances at each other. At this stage we were still standing on the edge of everything, so before we jumped in we thought it best to see what was happening elsewhere.

When we eventually found it, the side electro room was doing it quiet, and sadly it stayed that way for much of the night. Our first attempt to find it led us to the smoking courtyard, which given the weather was pretty inhospitable with the biting wind. We headed from there and rather than the electro room stumbled across the chill out space, where the beanbags were perhaps the most opulent we’d lounged in for some time.

Upstairs and through the paper mache rainbow we ended up finding the electro room, where Mark Murphy was sadly doing it tough to a sparse room. Perhaps it was the lack of signposting to it, or the fact you could only reach it via the stairs, but I’d have liked to see this room get more use.

Our vantage above the stairs gave us an amazing view over the whole main floor and really, it was quite a sight to behold. Melbourne production duo TV Rock took to the stage and almost immediately there was a rush down to the dancefloor for, you guessed it, Flaunt It, which they remixed live while crimson arc lights and strobes shone down below. What an outstanding moment!

This inaugural Super fag Tag had high ideals – a totally new venue to work with, a mix of live artists and DJ acts, the need to build most of their lighting and props, the extra room – plus the heritage of past parties to live up to. While there were teething problems, like patchy sound in some places and poor signposting, all in all they still managed to pull off quite a feat likely to only get better each year they use this venue and learn its nuances. Super Fag Tag has started a new chapter for Sydney’s gay and lesbian party set – here’s hoping they continue to expand it.