Review: Ministry of Sound – Testament 00s at The Court

Ministry of Sound – Testament 00s at The Court
Feat. Booka Shade, Sinden, Riva Starr, Crookers and many more
Sunday, July 26, 2026

It was Weekend Two of Ministry of Sound’s annual Testament tour, which sees them assemble a lineup of old-school legends to play two big throwback parties—one 90s-themed and the other 00s. Two great Sunday arvo/evenings at The Court, celebrating a couple of amazing decades for dance music, with a mixed crowd of those who were there or have more recently gotten into the old sounds of the golden era of dance music.

It was a distinctly different crowd and generation than the huge 90s party the previous weekend—a bit of a younger demographic, who were up for some heavier, more banging sounds.

Following the turn of the millennium, the electronic music scene seemed determined to push forward with new, futuristic sounds and genres, lots of beats, bass and bleeps. Towards the middle of the 2000s, trance and the French house explosion were fading a little, and the more intense, heavy sounds of electro clash, breaks, dubstep, 2-step and garage exploded out of Europe.

There was a strong Italian scene and influence, represented today by Riva Starr and Crookers, with Sinden repping the UK, and the hip-hop-influenced sound of bass music and ragga that went on to inform the rise of grime music.

The biggest draw for many was the headliner, legendary German duo Booka Shade, who had announced this was to be their last tour after over 20 years making music together and running the respected Get Physical label alongside DJ T and M.A.N.D.Y. (RIP Philipp Jung). They came out of the minimal and tech-house scene and created something new and fresh, bringing a live musicality to it. So it was a very special, intimate farewell appearance, with a separate booth set up on the raised dance floor of the main stage, so they could really be amongst the crowd.

With all the 90s and 00s DJs zig-zagging the country, coast to coast for a couple big weekends, playing huge events in Sydney and Melbourne on the Saturday nights, Perth copped the two Sunday sessions, and this was the last night of the tour. There may have been a few sickies pulled on the Monday, but with a 2pm start and early finish at 10pm, it’s daytime raving done right, and the older demographic didn’t seem to mind.

The Court hosted two separate stages/arenas—the main stage in their huge undercover outdoor courtyard and the upstairs Electro Den, in the smaller, darker bar area, with more of a nightclub feel. Having the whole venue open with access to move all the way around both levels via the two staircases gave things a real free-flowing, almost festival vibe, with many different areas to hang, explore and view from.

Some hand-picked local legends of the era were chosen for supports. A man many would remember from playing often at the Bakery and other venues around town, Troy Division started things off early on, before Death Disco got things going from 3pm as the crowd slowly filtered in, exploring the multi-level venue with many areas inside and out. The duo of brothers Andrei and Anton Maz are infamous in the Perth music scene, and they took us back to the glory days of their legendary Death Disco residency at Capitol nightclub, Saturday nights, which ran for 13 years till the end of 2019, playing electro, indie and all sorts of dance music, and hosted many big names of the era in their early days, such as Rufus, Flume, Cut Copy, Empire Of The Sun and Diplo.

Their choice selections coaxed a few dancers to bust some moves, but it’s a shame the masters of mirth had such an early slot before the crowd or vibe had really grown, as they would have no doubt gone off. Still a great early set of bangers and classic mashups that really built the foundations for what was to come.

The bouncy breaks of the Stanton Warriors’ remix of Gorillaz’ Feel Good Inc rubbed shoulders with the Stanton’s own signature tune Get Up. And they handed over to Minx with the 2001 classic anthem Toca’s Miracle by Fragma with its familiar refrain, “I need a miracle.”

Meanwhile, talented Testament competition winner Grizzly kicked things off upstairs, as people were still exploring the venue and discovering the cool upstairs Electro Den room. He played some nice selections, era-appropriate upbeat breaks and electro, like the Laidback Luke remix of MSTRKRFT’s and ended his set with a banging remix of Josh Wink’s classic acid funk workout Higher State of Consciousness.

Taking over was Perth veteran Oli, whose safe hands guided the growing crowd onto the dance floor, starting with a cool remix of the Bronski Beat classic Smalltown Boy and dropping the wicked Mousse T. Feel Love mix of Moloko’s Sing It Back, that interpolates the legendary Giorgio Moroder synth bass line from Donna Summer’s I Feel Love.

Wandering back downstairs, Minx had taken over the dance floor, and by 5pm the crowd numbers had swelled, and the atmosphere was really starting to build. The Sydney club legend, real name Rachel Phillips, has been whipping up crowds around Australia and the world for a couple decades now. Her set was a bit of a turning point of the night; she really got things fired up with her infectious energy behind the decks and blend of crowd-friendly vocal remixes.

It was a real party set, a tour de force megamix, as she tore through an array of hits—from Bob Sinclair’s whistlin’ World, Hold On, a boppy house remix of the Delerium classic Silence featuring Sarah McLachlan and Love Don’t Let Me Go by David Guetta & The Egg. Smalltown Boy made another appearance, and even a remix of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2. There was a real trend of doing dance remixes of almost anything back in the 2000s—nothing was off-limits from having a beat slapped on it, vocal looped and reworked into a dancefloor-ready club classic.

Following on from the 90s legends who DJ’d last week, Minx finished with a couple of huge tunes. First dropping Born Slippy, which Darren Emerson himself finished with last Sunday, and then Faithless’ Insomnia, which Danny Tenaglia closed on last week as well.

Minx stepped down to big cheers and handed over to Crookers. The Italian made quite an entrance using dramatic flair, with a funny intro featuring a robotic vocoder voice speaking, “Hi my name is Francesco Barbaglia, better known as Crookers. Sorry I’ve been out of sight for so long, but I had some absolutely unavoidable things to take care of in Italy, like eating pizza, listening to classical music, and falling in love with the most beautiful woman in the world.”

It was an endearing opening, but he didn’t waste too much time before launching into his first big tune, the stomping heavy electro buzzsaw beat of the Crookers’ remix of Raven by Proxy.

There was a time in the 2000s when this heavy Euro electro breaks sound was huge, and along with Crookers and Riva, the Italians had several big names, including The Bloody Beetroots.

A dash up the steps and through the balcony corridor to the Electro Den saw Benga banging out some big tunes epitomising the 00s electro vibe. He was a regular fixture on the local scene around that time. The famous Soulwax remix of Justice’s Phantom Pt II went down a treat with the moshing crowd. A huge tune from the era, coming out in 2007.

Back downstairs, things were getting more hectic and packed in the main arena. Crookers was throwing everything into his electro-dub breaks blender, cutting up AC/DC samples and mixing Spice Girls vocals over hard beats, and Moloko’s Sing It Back was heard for the second time tonight. It was quite a ride, before he ground things to a halt and then finished with the huge Crookers remix of Day ‘N’ Night by Kid Cudi.

His compatriot Riva Starr stepped up to embrace him before taking over and changing the vibe up with a more cruisey, housey, up-tempo feel. Then later moving into some of the speed garage and fidget house sounds he was famed for and was instrumental in bringing to the clubs. The Naples-born Riva is based in the UK these days, to keep his finger on the pulse, having become quite a global phenom since peaking in popularity in 2013 with his global hit with Fatboy Slim, Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat, and he nodded to his mate Norman again with The Rockafeller Skank.

Meanwhile in the Electro Den… our own local hero of the noughties, Micah was in control of the room on the wheels of steel! While he’s most known for his legendary breaks sets over the years, he does branch out into other styles, and this was quite a unique set from the man. He took the brief seriously and tailored a 00s-era vibe and set list—steel drum rhythms, filtered French house, glitchy electro breaks and even classical strings, mixed together with his usual panache, finishing with a massive mix of The Presets’ classic Aussie anthem My People. 

The end of Riva’s set downstairs was huge. He really impressed the crowd with some superb mixing and classic track selection. There was an emotional sing-along to Justice vs Simian’s We Are Your Friends, the timeless sax-house workout of Laurent Garnier’s The Man With the Red Face had the dancefloor grooving, and even Green Velvet’s La La Land lurched into the mix.

As Riva wound down, Booka Shade’s Walter and Arno took their positions in the lower booth with their custom live setup. You could feel that this was the most anticipated set of the night, and for good reason why.

For 20 years, the German duo have been coming to Australia, establishing a mutual love affair with the country. They always put on a good show, with their infectious brand of live electronic breaks, house and techno, which set a new benchmark in the mid-2000s with its original sound and performance style, and their influence has resonated throughout the decades.

But this would be their final visit and final performance for us. For such a grand occasion, it’s a shame they were only given an hour-long set, but it was an hour of power! With a wealth of great material to choose from over the years, it was an all-star, greatest hits set, focused on the classics, performed with their consistent brilliance and precision, as they packed in as much as they could in an hour.

All the big tunes were there. Kicking off with the ominous Darko, they charged through their catalogue, playing with wild enthusiasm and reckless abandon. So many great tracks, the break in Wild Life was greeted with ecstatic howls. The incredible In White Rooms was pulled out early in the set and was a real highlight as the room strobed in white light.

The elastic synths of Body Language incited cheers. Their breakout hit from 2005 sounding as unique and funky as ever. The two of them work harmoniously together behind their banks of equipment, Walter manning the keyboards and controls, and Arno off to the side drumming up a storm on his live electronic kit and cymbal.

“Good evening Perth! Thank you. We’ve been coming here for years, and it’s been so much fun. Thanks so much for coming to see us.” Arno politely said on the mic, short, sweet, direct and very German, before they played their new track Many Rivers, from their latest (and final?) album of 2024. With a typically syncopated Booka beat, it’s a reworking of the oft-covered 1969 classic by Jimmy Cliff, with the haunting vocal filtered through the mix: “Many rivers to cross, but I can’t seem to find my way over.”

A fittingly emotional tune to say goodbye with and take us to the end of the set. But we were treated to Mandarine Girl as well and appropriately, Night Falls, introduced by Arno “one last time”—they segued into the mash-up version they did with Plastic Operator’s Tom Petty-inspired Won’t Back Down, with the crowd and duo smiling and dancing, hands punching the air, connected in this magnificent moment.

Upstairs, the UK’s Sinden was belting out a heavy set that had the dark, ravey den jumpin’, complete with smoke and lasers. But it was hard to leave the last hour ever of Booka Shade for long.

To take things home for the final hour in the main room was U-GO- B aka Hugo from Flight Facilities—the Sydney duo formed at the end of the 2000s, inspired by the mishmash of sounds the decade had provided, and then quickly became a leading name in the Australian indie-dance scene.

Hugo took us home to land gently with a smoothly mixed mash-up of big-time party tunes with a cool indie electro vibe and a knowing wink to all those who were there. Big tunes flew by—Daft Punk, Digitalism and an awesome remix of Bloc Party’s Banquet. Roger Sanchez’ classic Another Chance from 2001 went down a treat, and the awesome Thin White Duke mix of Royksopp’s What Else Is There? was a heady high to take us to the end, before Basement Jaxx joyous Do Your Thing was the perfect cherry on top.

An all-round great day, with plenty of fun sets, as well as the final set of the last national tour from a generational live electronic act, to cap off another successful, well-curated Testament tour from Ministry of Sound Australia and TMRW Events, in what is becoming an anticipated annual celebration of classic dance music.

ALFRED GORMAN

Photos by Linda Dunjey