Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Monkey Tennis turned 5 last Saturday night and Candy’s Apartment put on the party to celebrate. Renowned for being one of the last sources of quality deep and jackin’ house left in Sydney, Monkey Tennis has been a notable monthly event for party people all over the city.

Rolling through the door at midnight, I wasn’t surprised to see the place already packed out with more punters rolling in. Oversized tennis racquets, balloons, army nets and chiffon hung from the ceiling and added nicely to the party atmosphere. I headed straight for the bar and bought myself a birthday cocktail to celebrate. I had been stomping the floorboards for more than 5 years myself and felt I deserved a drink!

Simon Ramsey and Lummy were finishing off their thing and the crowd was warming up their feet for the dance off that was about to ensue. Jools and Gary Broadband were up next, and didn’t they get the crowd moving! I danced up a storm and sweated my ass off, but I was having a ball and didn’t care how messy I got. Neither did anyone else by the looks of it and all hands went in the air for a ‘woo hoo’ and a cheer when John Devincchis and Synik took over the decks.

Starting out lightly, the guys really took us on a journey and a half. The crowd moved to the deep tunes and funky sounds as the two DJs delivered a tight back-to-back set, with the loyal Monkey Tennis punters enjoying every minute. I moved to the back room quickly to check out Pete Dot, Danny Bass and Steve Corefield, who had their modest crowd moving and enjoying themselves. After a boogie and a laugh with some dance floor jokers, it was a whooping from the main room that caught my attention. International guest Bryan Jones had been introduced to the crowd. With their feet firmly planted on the dance floor nobody was willing to give up their spot, but I pushed my way to the very front as I wasn’t going to miss this set for anything.

‘Chicago Jack’ began thumped through the speakers and I was off. For the next two and half hours Candy’s was a steam bath of happy punters, and we all got treated to a magic carpet ride courtesy of Mr Jones. I always appreciate a DJ that pays attention to the crowd and doesn’t go off on a directionless tangent, and the special guest delivered in this respect. I enjoyed the funky ass sounds along with the stuff that really makes you move, the tunes that let you catch your breath as well as the rise and fall of a song that really takes you along with it. Bryan chose his tunes well and I wanted to kiss him when he eventually left the stage.

Heading for the back room to catch the last fifteen minutes of Mo’Funk, it was a shame most of the punters were stuck out in the main room as his tunes were fab as usual. Exiting Candy’s a tired and sweaty mess, I knew I had just been to one of the best birthday celebrations seen in Sydney in a long time. Happy birthday Monkey Tennis, happy birthday to you!