I still think of Sneaky Sound System as being the definitive Sydney dance-pop sensation. Before we had The Potbelleez, even before Cut Copy really, the band that grew out of a club night in King’s Cross were making waves and turning heads, both here and overseas. Since forming in 2001, the band has toured with some crazy people; from fellow camp-as-fuck performers Scissor Sisters and Lady GaGa, to Brit pop stalwarts (and arguably just as camp) such as Robbie Williams and Jamiroquai.

Minus one band member (Daimon ‘MC Double D’ Downey, an instrumental link in the band’s formation, split from the group in 2009) since their last outing, Sneaky are releasing their third studio album From Here to Anywhere next month, and played a packed (if surprisingly not sold out) show at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Saturday night.

They’ve always been known for putting on a great live show, but I was curious to see how lead vocalist Connie Mitchell would carry the performance without MC Double D alongside her on the stage. The band’s DJ, Angus ‘Black Angus’ McDonald, is confined to the mixing pulpit throughout the show, and sans Double D, I and the rest of the audience were curious to see if Mitchell could carry the show’s visual elements by herself.

That she did, and ably. In a genre which is so often dominated by pre-packaged and static phone-ins from DJs who remain chained to their decks, Mitchell breathed a much needed element of showmanship into Saturday’s show, delighting the crowd with her coquettish and flirtatious stage persona. Alternating between wide-eyed “who me?” poses and hyper-sexual badassery, Mitchell’s tongue-in-cheek performance was the driving force behind the show’s appeal, as she leapt, gyrated and thrusted her way around the stage until she (and the audience) were sweating.

We were treated to all of Sneaky’s classics ( Pictures, UFO and Kansas City, to name a few), as well as some homages to great DJ ghosts of the past, such as snippets of Black Box’s Ride On Time, and an electric cover of Eurythmics anthem Sweet Dreams. Closing with an outstanding and lung-busting rendition of UFO, the crowd’s leaping and dancing only seemed to spur Mitchell on, as she was joined on stage by a random punter who Mitchell embraced shamelessly and genuinely.

We were treated to a few new songs from the upcoming album, some of which Mitchell assured us were written from a place of “sheer heartache and pain”, but there was no doubt that this was a party atmosphere. The whole Metro was leaping and jumping like a hot jazz speakeasy in prohibition-era Chicago: all sweating, all grinning, all eating out the palm of Connie Mitchell’s very engaging, very sexy hand.