There aren’t too many events on the Perth dance event calendar that get peoples’ lips moving like the Ministry of Sound “Sessions” Tour. Every year the event seems to get bigger and bigger with more and more international headline DJs printed on the flier. What’s more is that the night seems to attract names to Perth whom we’d think would never visit. This year was no exception as in my humble opinion we were treated to the biggest and best MoS Sessions Tour line up by a very long chalk!

I probably wasn’t the only one who was faced with the conundrum of deciding which venue would be the centrepoint for the night’s proceedings. When the music and the DJs on offer throughout all of the respective arenas are so good and so hard to choose from, I then have to look into other factors that come into play. The next most important thing other than the music in a quality night other than the music itself is the atmosphere and truth be told, I’ve found in recent years that the vibe in the main MoS arena doesn’t quite do justice to the music being presented. So my friends and I decided that the Slinky Arena at the Old Berlin would be where we’d spend the vast majority of the night.
UK names John “00” Fleming (or J00F for short) and Anne Savage were the headlining acts for Slinky, and as ever they were joined by the cream of the crop of Perth’s local talent. A real rising star of the Perth scene at present is Ziad. His name seems to be popping up on line ups everywhere and it’s not without good reason as his mixing is of the highest quality and the track selection isn’t half bad either. I thoroughly enjoyed his set whilst nodding my head thinking of the awesome night ahead.

Weavy took control at 10:30, shifting the momentum into overdrive with a hard, driving, banging set of techno infused hard dance. Weavy is a true entertainer and his stage presence is just as energetic as the music itself. There were quite a few bodies out there on the floor going hard to the uplifting sounds with many signalling an intent on going for the jugular all night long. During Weavy’s set I lost my crew, thus discovering that the Old Berlin is a great venue except for its severe lack of lighting away from the stage. My mates were nowhere to be seen so I joined in with he crowd in moving my body to some intensely insane four to the floor action from Perth’s favourite hard dance DJ.

Jon Noonan was up next at 11:30. I couldn’t help but feel that this was rather odd if nothing else as the momentum took a sharp downward turn. The fluctuating intensity isn’t really good for the overall flow of the night but that aside Jon Noonan played an awesome set full of rich, throbbing techy trance. Throughout his set he included the passionate vocals from Gabriel & Dresden’s “Tracking Treasures Down”, this added a special and surprising element to his set. There is no doubting that Jon Noonan is a leading light in the Perth scene.

Kenny L took control of the MoS Sessions 2006 Slinky Arena massive at 12:30 and got the crowd cheering with the electrifying synth stabs and techy grooves of Marco V’s “Red Blue Purple”. The atmosphere was reaching fever pitch proportions as by this stage there weren’t many people standing still. I for one was glad to be having it large with many like minded people rather than hearing great music but sharing my space with people who frankly didn’t quite know what to do with themselves. A great night out is more than the music; the people are just as important as the records in making a night truly special.

At 1:30 John “00” Fleming stepped up to the Slinky Arena wheels of steel. J00F is undoubtedly the king of the darker side of trance as he incorporates psytrance and progressive into his sets to devastating effect. His sets are made special by all those tunes that you just wont hear on a regular night at a club with regular trance DJs. The crowd appreciated every single twisted beat. What was a bit of a pleasant surprise was that John “00” Fleming played at a faster than normal pace, perhaps this was because straight after his set would be Anne Savage, or perhaps because he was playing to the crowd. His audience certainly enjoyed what they were hearing and there were arms in the air-aplenty thanks to dark remixes of the Chemical Bros’ “Hey Boy, Hey Girl” and Ferry Corsten “Rock Your Body Rock”.

J00F’s set came and went all too quickly, which left me wanting even more. Not that I wasn’t satisfied, it was just that good! There was still plenty more in store though, as arguably the most technically gifted and musically minded hard dance DJ from the UK – Anne Savage – was up next to shake the foundations of the Old Berlin at 3:45. I honestly think that the line up should have featured the harder stuff during the peak hours rather than having a harder sound being played last as most clubbers are too tired to handle the heat later on in the proceedings.

Despite the odd set times the energy remained as high as ever for Anne Savage. Heavy dark melodies and driving beats kept the MoS Sessions Slinky Arena moving along nicely. Anne Savage is definitely one of the best in the hard dance game as every set is unique, every track is special and her mixing is straight from the top draw. Anne Savage only occasionally interacts physically with her crowd but this is with good reason as she is head down, bum up behind the decks pulling off some magical trickery to make her set that little bit more memorable. The set gradually became more uplifting and techy as it went along and there was even another remix of “Hey Boy, Hey Girl” dropped to send the crowd into sheer delirium.

Unfortunately the hands on my watch would have to face up and down for the second time during the night thus signalling what was a fantastic M.o.S. Sessions Slinky Arena show. The music was brilliant and best of the all the crowd was in love with every track that was played. To top it all off the atmosphere was intense and friendly from beginning to end. My friends and I had a ball and we eagerly await the next instalment of MoS Sessions to see what surprises lay in store!