If you’d taken the ITM roll-call late last week as gospel, the Melbourne instalment of the Ministry of Sounds Sessions tour was going to be a relatively poorly attended event. As I waltzed in just before Friday became Saturday, that proved to be anything but the case. Many in the crowd had obviously taken their dose of the happy pills, or were just thanking God it was Friday. Either way, a good vibe resonated throughout, and fluoro continued to reign supreme in some quarters.

New sensation and recent OneLove recruit Andy Murphy had the crowd nice and pumped, showing off the signature sound that has developed him a quasi-cult following. While it was technically a warm-up set, in practice, it could’ve easily stood on its own. Next up was the man himself – one of Australia’s leading DJs – John Course. A local favourite, he bopped away with his customary swagger behind the decks, but importantly, kept the tunes pumping, and with loads of crowd pleasers. Not surprisingly, there was a few tracks lifted straight off the Sessions Four release, including Standing in the Way of Control from Gossip – as well as the Hook’n’Sling remix of Toby Neal’s Do You Really Want My Love? – and a stack of others that got the crowd well and truly wired, commercial or not. He mixed it up with a trip down memory lane with a nice retooling of the Armand Van Helden classic You Don’t Even Know Me – and when he wrapped it all up with Destination Calabria from the Alex Gaudino stable, the vocals of Crystal Waters resonated throughout, and life was good.

Step up to the plate, Dirty South. The sheer mention of his name got the crowd quite excited, and the sight of people literally flocking to the dance-floor was something else. South picked up exactly where Course had left off, keeping the tempo at a solid output, and launching into an array of his own material, including his remix of Kaskade’s Sorry – as well as his collaboration with Paul Harris in Better Day. South was playing some seriously chunky beats with some heavy bass-lines, and all up, yours truly couldn’t help but think of the old line ‘the naughty north and the sexy south’. There was a nice (albeit brief) whacked up overlay of the Basement Jaxx hit, Where’s Your Head At? as was the clever flanking of UFO by Sneaky Sound System and the (wait for it…) Nirvana classic, Smells Like Teen Spirit – with the repeated use of the word ‘hello’ from both tracks used quite cleverly, and to great effect.

All through, the lighting effects at Room were great, and the venue as always catered for a solid and pumping crowd. Why the ceiling was covered with open umbrellas, I’m not too sure (maybe they thought we were at Sydney’s Home?), but the black and white scheme throughout the venue in line with the MOS logos was a nice touch. A little disappointing was the incessant looping of the MOS promo on the big screen behind the main decks – which did get just a touch repetitive. That said, if it was the music that the folks came for, and one can only hope that was the case, in that regard, they got a serious dose of it.