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Superstar movie director James Cameron recently predicted that in 25 years, 3D movies will be the standard, and that 2D will be a thing of the past. Turn our mind to all things musical, and the decision to make Australia’s biggest annual trance event Godskitchen a 3D one, had at least a few people wondering whether this was a sign of the times, and a sign of things to come.

Come Sunday night, and with Sydneysiders having been treated to relentless rain over a 12 hour period, an indoor dance party, coupled with the increasing 3D interest, had slowly created an increasing amount of hype. As the day progressed, tickets were becoming more and more scarce, and by the time midnight struck and the first of the headliners was set to appear, the Hordern was packed, and ready to rumble.

Warm up sets from VLN and Thomas Knight were solid, and to a decent crowd, with many a punter having wandered, crawled, swum and stumbled across from the nearby Parklife earlier in the day. Given the rain, it wasn’t hard to spot the people that had been partying all day. That said, what they lacked in dry clothes they made up for with energy, and as they united with much more fresh-faced party-goers, things looked good.

Wippenberg opened with just a taste of undoubtedly his biggest tune and that which put him on the map back in 2008, Chakalaka. A taste was all it took, however, as he got the crowd nicely juiced up. Following it up with noticeable crowd favourites like his remix of Sebastian Ingrosso’s Kidsos (complete with blatant MGMT sample), a lush remix of the classic Beachball, and a remix of the Faithless tune Not Going Home, things looked well placed. With each of the headliners allocated a 90-minute slot, Wippenberg took it upon himself to give us what seemed like a taste of everything, especially in his last thirty minutes: fluffy trance, hard banging tech-trance, even what sounded like dirty electro. That said, it seemed that the crowd cared little.

The 3D tricks were up and running, and while not in the same league as Avatar, and certainly no Boombox, it did have appeal, especially from the centre of the dancefloor. More impressive was the sound, which not only seemed on the money from most spots inside, but was easily some of the best heard at the Hordern in recent times. The visuals, even when not in 3D, were plentiful and vibrant, without being ridiculous. Some bitched and moaned about the need for more lasers, but hey, seriously, there’s probably always room for more lasers.

Andy Moor took up the helm, and treated us to a softer style of trance, with a set that progressed nicely, ably assisted by a crowd that just kept on pumping. Whether you were in the thick of things in the middle of the dancefloor, taking a breather in the stands, or even socialising outside, the crowd was littered with very happy looking faces – apt, as Moor dropped his collaboration with Ashley Walbridge of the same name, Faces seemingly everywhere having a grand ol’ time.

By the time the clock struck 3am and John O’Callaghan stepped up to the decks – looking more like Marco V then Marco V himself – everything went up a notch, as the Irishman absolutely banged it out. He played a few of his own tunes and remixes, his own Never Fade Away and his remix of Big Sky raising plenty of hands in the air, but it was the placement of bigger tunes like 1998 from Binary Finary, Exploration of Space by Cosmic Gate and Burn With Desire from Armin that sent the crowd absolutely mental. He engaged with the crowd like a pro, and all up, for all those that were impressed with his GK appearance in 2008, this was probably just as good.

So much so, that when Marcel Woods took over at 4.30am, the size of the crowd had barely dropped, the energy was electrifying, the beats were banging, and the punters were having a blast. The Dutchman took the crowd in a slightly different direction, though. While many had come hoping for some banging tunes to end the night, Woods took it upon himself to adjust the pitch of the evening, and with a remix of his own Inside Me thrown in among the likes of the Cirez D tune On/Off and, wait for it, Groove Armada’s My Friend, it represented a sizeable shift in the morning’s proceedings. By that point though, few seemed to care, as so much fun had already been had, and this was just adding to it.

To some, Godskitchen has received an unfair wrap over recent years, where some have complained about the lack of big names on the billing, while others have complained about the performances of those that actually do turn up.

This time round though, either complaint wouldn’t have been justified. This party was run bloody well, and hell, even the drinks were reasonably priced. The line-up may not have been overall “epic”, but boy oh boy, did those on it deliver in spades. A solid seven hours into the show, and the crowd was still lapping it up, loving every minute of it, and enjoying some seriously good cooking being dished up in the Godskitchen.