Melbourne’s latest Sensation makes a stylish debut
Sensation, Europe’s leading dance party event, made its Melbourne debut with a bang on New Year’s Eve, with a night featuring spectacular laser shows, indoor fireworks and a 38,000-strong crowd of revellers dressed completely in white.
Although some purists found the somewhat sparse DJ line-up a disappointment, there was no denying the sheer spectacle of the event. Crowds poured into the massive arena to find a 20-metre Tree of Life sculpture stretching from the central stage up to the venue’s roof. State-of-the-art laser shows, said to have been worth $4 million, entertained the revellers until sunrise.
Two sniffer dogs patrolled the Bourke St pedestrian bridge entrance to the venue early in the evening, and police arrested nine people for drug possession.
Sensation founder and CEO, Duncan Stutterheim, had been forced to defend his event in the preceding weeks, following his involvement in a Festival Hall rave party at which 12 people overdosed on the party drug GHB. But following the New Year’s Eve success, Stutterheim was in a more positive mood, announcing that he had signed a five-year deal with the Telstra Dome. The all-white theme will stay too, with next year’s event centred on a music and light show called An Ocean Of White.
While other festivals have floundered this year -” Global Gathering and Nevereverland suffered poor ticket sales, and the Hot BBQ and Summadayze festivals merged -” newcomer Sensation has been the surprise success of the season, with all tickets sold out by New Year’s Eve.
Organisers said it has also provided a tourism boost for Melbourne, with 45 percent of tickets sold to interstate and overseas travellers.