Ministry of Sound – Testament 90s at Metro City

Ministry of Sound – Testament 90s at Metro City
Featuring Tall Paul, Inner City, Phil Hartnoll, Barbara Tucker
Friday, August 11, 2023

Take it back to the old school! It was round two of Ministry of Sound’s Testament throwback events at Metros. Following on from the previous Saturday’s 2000s themed party, this Friday was all about the 90s – that glorious musical decade when dance music exploded from the underground, and huge raves, warehouse parties and club nights were put on every weekend. While the previous weekend was great fun, this one was even better.

Ministry of Sound, the legendary London club and brand, played a big part in popularisation of dance music, and were responsible for some of the biggest parties to ever hit Perth. And for this tour, they brought a great mix of proper 90s legends –the international headliners and the Perth and east coast contingent – who all put on stellar performances that took us right back, to a time many of the huge, excited, mostly older crowd would remember well, or maybe not so well… but they were certainly having a good time! The cavernous confines of the multi-level Metros thunderdome was heaving with bodies stomping to the sounds of classic dance music.

It was a nicely curated lineup of US and UK house acts. In the 90s both countries had strong but distinctly different scenes – the deep US sound arose from Detroit techno, Chicago house and New York disco, while the UK sound coming out the rave scene and the megaclubs of London, was more upfront with European and Balearic influences. Here in Australia we got the best of both worlds, as we established our own scene.

They were magical times with a fusion of all sorts of sounds, but what really made the scene so special back then was the crowds. The vibe was always brilliant, there was a passion for the music, it still felt underground and exciting. There were no distractions, selfies, social media or smart phones. People were there to dance and have a good time. And there was a little bit of that magic in the air on Friday night.

There are several names synonymous with Ministry of Sound in Australia – DJs who were part of many tours, and compiled and mixed many of the famous MoS mix CDs. Last Saturday had Goodwill and Groove Terminator – on Friday we had Sydney legend Mark Dynamix finish the night, and Melbourne veteran John Course warming up the main room early on. He dropped heaps of familiar favs, including early Basement Jaxx single, the frenetic Flylife and the mid-90s Euro dance flavours of JX’s hit Son of a Gun, as the colourful lights, smoke and three big screens behind him lit up with the classic Ministry of Sound logo.

Right up top of the many flights of stairs was the more intimate Rave Cave. Set up in the space near the door to the outside rooftop area, it had that real small club energy, with an old skool DIY rave setup, enhanced by the fractured green laser lights and blacklight fluorescence. A great selection of locals legends held down the room all night, as the transient crowd ebbed and flowed. At times the dancefloor was sparse, at others rammed with bodies and flailing limbs. It was a fun room to run up to for a break from the Mega Mainroom madness.

Perth drum ‘n’ bass legend Sardi pumped out a great, rare set early on to a small crowd, with most people probably not having even discovered the hidden room yet. Gaining momentum and dancers, he mixed a smooth set of technical but rolling d’n’b reminding us why he used to be such a fixture on the local scene as a DJ and producer of world class tunes.

A large crowd had gathered downstairs around 10pm awaiting the arrival of Barbara Tucker, and she did not disappoint, making a grand entrance. It was her first time in Perth, and backed by her DJ, the New York City legend showed us she’s still got it, putting on a real performance. She strutted out the front of stage, looking amazing in her short metallic dress, tall glass heels and big hair and immediately commanded attention. Greeting Perth, she belted out some impressively powerful and soulful vocals.

Barbara was a fixture on the live scene, a dominant voice in American deep house music, featuring on many tracks. As the classic groove of Blaze’s Most Precious Love kicked in, with her famous vocal delivered live, the night really seemed to get underway.

She sang Free Yourself, the track she made with Birdee & Nick Reach Up. The lyrics “Free yourself and let the music take you where you wanna be” are typical of the generally wholesome messages 90s house used to have, when vocal house music songs had big budget videos and were in the charts.

Tucker preached to the crowd about how important it is to be thankful for these moments, to celebrate the fortune and freedom we have. And then led the whole crowd in singing Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody – the stomping dance remix she recorded with The Cube Guys.

Tucker worked predominantly with NYC house legends Masters At Work, who produced her classic track Beautiful People which she merged into the Little Louie Vega rework, Hardrive’s Deep Inside. Her DJ was a proper b-boy and came out from behind the decks to bust some moves, before handing over the controls to Phil Hartnoll – the bald, moustachioed geezer better known as half of legendary UK act Orbital, with his brother Paul.

Hartnoll paid his respects to Tucker as she left stage, and then set about changing the vibe up – promptly taking things into early acid house territory with Chicago pioneer Maurice Joshua’s This Is Acid, originally released in 1988!

Phil seemed to be having a great time, getting on the mic to say ‘allo, dancing around the stage, taking photos, while spinning all manner of squelchy acid breakbeat. He even dropped in some proper 80s electro with The Human League’s Things That Dreams Are Made Of.

He’d really worked up the crowd to some magnificent hands-in-the-air moments, as he mixed hard techno beats into the lush sounds of Orbital’s classic Halcyon and On and On, before taking things to a hectic conclusion with their blazing track Satan.

Up in the Rave Cave Kevin was getting stuck in with proper banging old skool rave music – a high bpm onslaught of relentless tunes with sped up vocals and synth stabs over bouncy beats.

Next up in the main arena was another Kevin – with legendary Detroit techno act Inner City featuring Kevin Saunderson, a true originator, part of the Belleville Three along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May, who established the blueprint for the evolution of techno. With his Inner City project, he gave the industrial Detroit sound a warmer vibe and added vocalist Paris Grey, and together they dominated the clubs and the charts worldwide in the 90s.

Saunderson now tours the act as a duo with his son Dantiez assisting him, and they quickly got stuck into some driving techno. Heavier, darker, tougher beats, mechanical funk with simple keyboard chord melodies that really got the crowd moving and brought the party vibe up a notch. The scheduling of the line-up to alternate between US and UK acts was a great idea, really adding contrast and variety to the night.

The odd soulful vocal added some colour to the palette as they casually worked in their own timeless classics like Big Fun and of course Good Life. The stomping beat didn't let up! A masterclass of hard-nosed Detroit techno from a true living legend of electronic dance music. Good to see he still doesn't compromise or pander. It was the perfect time of night for his set, and the crowd was here for it. Hard, but danceable as hell.

This is what was great about dance music in clubs and DJs back then – it was about establishing a vibe, a real groove the crowd can dance to and lose themselves in. Slow transitions, seamless mixing, progressive builds, but always that insistent and steady beat. In contrast, a lot of modern club music seems restless, erratic, made for short attention spans, fearful of locking into a beat for too long, insistently moving onto the next tune after another huge drop.

Tall Paul was a fine punctation for the evening – a true MoS clubbing legend, he was there in the epic peaks of Ministry’s hey day – he mixed several of their CDs, and played here numerous times. And he still brings that same energy, and took us home with a hard, late night set, dropping bangers as the dancing masses were illuminated in strobing flashes of colour and smoke.

Paul was raised in nightclubs and DJ’d from a young age, with his father owning the legendary London club, Turnmills. We were in safe hands with the veteran, as familiar melodies and classic tunes flew by, stitched together superbly. He mixed Underworld’s Cowgirl into Josh Wink’s Higher State Of Consciousness and dropped iiO’s perfect slice of dance-pop Rapture.

A massive mashup of Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction and Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation sent the crowd wild – both tracks were huge hits that bridged the divide of being popular in clubs, as well as crossing over into mainstream charts. Kernkraft 400 was famously based on the soundtrack of a 1984 Commodore 64 video game, Lazy Jones, and went on to become one of the most recognised and syndicated dance tracks of all time. While people might not know it by name, everyone knows that sample – it was used everywhere, from ads to sporting events where the crowd sings the riff.

Upstairs finishing things off in the Rave Cave, Rousa was giving up the goods for the devoted old skool ravers, with some raw hardcore, followed another Perth legend Hutcho stepping up behind the Felix the Cat emblazoned booth, backed by an MC on the mic. This era of hectic rave music can sound dated at times, but has a certain, almost vintage charm and innocence about it now, and was great to hear these local legends dusting them off for a spin.

Back downstairs Tall Paul was killing it, and the atmosphere was palpable. He dropped another timeless 90s club classic, in honour of the late great Maxi Jazz, Faithless’ Insomnia – though it was the East & Young mashup with Steve Angello’s Knas – lacking the Maxi verses. While remixes can be a good way to mix things up and keep the energy high – at a night like this, perhaps a few more original versions would have been more appreciated. The one notable exception that you knew was coming was when Paul dropped his own remix of INXS’s Precious Heart, which was a huge tune, especially in Australia.

A massive trancey remix of Everything But The Girl’s Missing brought things to a climatic peak, as Paul got on the mic to thank the crowd for a special night and hand over the decks to Mark Dynamix, but not before dropping his big hit, Let Me Show You, produced under his Camisra alias.

Another east coast legend that was a regular fixture on Ministry of Sound tours through the 90s and 2000s, Mark was given the honours to finish the night in the main room. He delivered a fun, crowd-pleasing set packed full of classics, like a huge remix of Underworld’s Born Slippy and another JX track, You Belong To Me. Even Darude’s Sandstorm made an appearance (the 1999 trance track has had an unlikely resurgence), and he finished superbly with the absolutely legendary Prodigy track, No Good (Start The Dance). 

The night wound up at the respectable time of 3am. A pretty late night these days for some of older crowd, but it seemed a contingent would have gladly danced on till 6am when the staff kicked you out at sunrise, just like all the Ministry gigs back in the day. Thanks for the memories Ministry, the old ones, and some new ones we created, it was a blast. Shouts out to the old skool rave massive for making it such a special night and still knowing how to party proper. The 90s really were the best. One Love.

ALFRED GORMAN

Photos by Linda Dunjey and Duncan Barnes