With DJ’s in Sydney being offered cold hard cash to play the Tonite Only remix of Pictures, it was refreshing to be presented with a Ministry of Sound ‘Classics’ party – where the older clubbing generation could return to their roots and be dished up a serving of classic house, breaks and hip hop. And what a better way to dance off that Christmas turkey and ham with a trip to Sounds on a public holiday to keep the festivities rolling as we head towards the New Year?

Arriving at about 3.45pm we were confronted with a line that had close to 150 people stretching back over the bridge into the Plaza. Usually the slow door policy of Sounds would mean such a line would take over an hour to negotiate, but much to the surprise of everyone I was lining up with we made it inside the venue in about 20 minutes. At this stage the Courtyard was buzzing along nicely as Jono Wall was pumping out some cruisy tunes. Hey Boy, Hey Girl by The Chemical Brothers and Its You, Its Me by Kaskade were two of the favourites that seemed to engage the crowd around me.

The punters were a little older than usual which shows the appeal this party had to this section of the market, and it’s a credit to Sounds on Sunday and MOS for teaming up to bring such an innovative idea to the clubbers of Sydney. I decided to float around to check the other rooms and discovered Elroy to be banging out some sweet party breaks in the Chapel, and the dancefloor picked up the longer he was behind the decks. A nice dirty breaks remix of Sweet Dreams got plenty of the punters up and shaking their asses. At this stage a drink or two was on the cards, but every bar had a ten-minute wait – the only negative I noted for the rest of the day. After purchasing the appropriate beverages I ducked out back out into the Courtyard on my way to the Side Bar and Dirty South had just come on. The place was packed – not as rammed as when Kaskade played earlier this year, but dancing space was still definitely at a premium. A highlight from the small part of the set I saw was hearing Around The World by Daft Punk.

So off into the Side Bar I went and Mr Tom Piper opened up the proceedings with an absolute bomb of a set. Old-school hip-hop and some new-school R’n’B and breaks were all thrown into what was pretty much a mashed up set featuring everything from Snoop Dogg to Fatman Scoop to Krafty Kuts & A-Skillz. He is definitely a shining light among the up and comers in the Sydney scene and he infected the dancefloor with tight mixing and scratching, which everyone around me seemed to enjoy. I’ll be watching out for him in the future, as he has a diverse record collection and certainly knows how to work a party.

With the bar queues still ridiculously long I purchased several drinks to last the night, sick to death of lining up for lengthy amounts of time. Back out into the Courtyard to catch Goodwill and the place was literally going off. Particularly when he dropped Changes by Chris Lake, successfully lifting the atmosphere of the venue up just another notch. Goodwill played a top set and got into some really tough tech-house for the last half an hour of his set, which pleased a lot of people and really showcased his flexibility as a DJ.

With the end of Goodwill came GT (Groove Terminator) to bring the night home, and he managed it very, very well. He kept the crowd going until I left about halfway through the set. He played a lot of classics from the MOS Sessions CDs and it was great to think back to when we’d heard these songs in the past, pondering on the significance they hold to us both then and now.

Both teams at MOS and Sounds on Sunday should be congratulated for serving up what was both a top and refreshing party for Sydney. The crowd came to party as they do on every Boxing Day and it was great to see the music policy of “Classics” adhered too – the sweet sounds of anthems are still ringing in my ears.