It was a balmy Saturday night and Fox Studios was buzzing with people. Besides the movie goers and late night cafe hoppers, people were hanging around the fenced off Horden, for the biggest dance party I’ve ever witnessed myself in Sydney. Through the fence we could see an elaborate fire breathing/juggling show going on and my friends were itching to get in. The 15,000 strong crowd were made up of the most diverse range of people you will ever see at a dance party, and shows that Sydney is probably now the gay capital of the world. Drag queens, drag kings, bondage types, fetish people, models, industry people, girls in more cowboy hats than a rodeo and boys dressed as firemen, which just looked silly but then again this party was called ‘2000 degrees’. The rest of the crowd was made up of people in various states of get-up or undress.
We entered the gates to hear this robotic woman’s voice (like you’d hear on a railway platform) announce that “this is a gay and lesbian event, homophobia will not be tolerated”. My friends and I found that so hilarious for some reason. We made our way into the RHI (Royal Hall of Industries) to be greeted with one of the biggest dance areas I’ve ever seen. It was overwhelming. The music in this room was regrettably, and predictably handbag trance and various versions of girlie songs, but actually, not as girlie and I had expected thank god.
Water was only two bucks a bottle!
We then stumbled into the Horden which was playing some quality breakbeat at the start of the night and moved into a bit of funky house and then progressive towards the morning, this room never failing to be quality, but just a little too big and empty to contain any atmosphere. The next and last room was the Dome, which was the smallest but played the most popular music. As soon as we walked in, the decorations reminded me of a glorified Plastic and having Paul Van Dyk pumped through the sound system was where my friends and I felt at home. It was a shame then that if we stayed any longer we thought we’d die of dehydration and sweat overload, so outside we went to meet some friends.
We watched Ultra Nate’s live show playing in the RHI from outside, and I must say it looked lame, and that’s being nice. We then got stuck in the RHI listening to an overseas DJ, playing shite music because a friend wanted to see the next show. It came on 1 hour late and it was crap. ;-) It was Tina Cousins singing one song with some mediocre dancers. Tina Cousins? Please! At least find a singer who’s not cliché and who won’t perform at any gig for two bobs worth. Okay I’m being mean, but it was very lame and I’m sure the many minds behind Mardi Gras could do better. The last show in the morning was lame too, but when you expect to see something surprising like a rumoured Sinead O’Connor and you get an average drag act by Clare DeLune, you go, is that where our money went?
Besides the crap shows it was a really fun night with great music, better this year than any other supposedly, and a great atmosphere and strong community feel. It wasn’t as sleazy as we thought it would be, but then again we weren’t stuck in the Dome which attracted the leather crowd because of the techno played there and the stories you hear…. I’ll leave up to your imagination.
Overall, whilst Sleaze wouldn’t be my main dance party of choice for the year, you can’t deny how crazy and fun it was, and with great music (for the most part), a fun and interesting crowd, and huge venue, it was a great success; though the amount of punters who actually go there for the music, I doubt is many… but no one’s complaining.
