Whilst some serious rain descended and forced Sydney-siders to stay locked inside on Sunday (23 August), the keenest day-drinking partiers of us had other ideas. Sydney event hosts Heaps Gay and Rhythm of the Night had teamed up for Footwork, an all-day R&B party and celebration of Nineties/early Naughties vibes, and we didn’t let the rain stop us getting down to the best of Aaliyah, Mary J Blige, Destiny’s Child et al.

The Alexandria Hotel, sadly threatened with closure (you can find out more about the effort to ‘Save the Alex’ here), was decked out like a Nineties 21st birthday party. Think colourful video projections and bunches of purple and silver balloons in every corner, all under the roof of a white marquee.

Being a chilled Sunday, it was never going to be the busiest event of the weekend, but a constant stream of people arrived to enjoy tunes from Heaps Gay DJs, Byron Spencer, Victoria Kim, Lazer Gunne Funke and others throughout the afternoon and into the evening. It’s not hard to imagine that the rain put some people off – it would have definitely been a different story if the sun had stayed out.

When Heaps Gay launched two years ago (November 2013), they invited us to “party like gay marriage has passed and we can all be equal together” and they have been throwing awesome events ever since: their teaming up with Rhythm of the Night for retro R&B vibes was destined to feel just right. 

– Rosie Pentreath

Rosie Pentreath is a freelance arts journalist who moved from the UK to Sydney in April 2015, just to shake things up a bit. Formerly Digital Editor & Staff Writer at BBC Music Magazine, she has bylines in BBC Music Magazine, Homes & Antiques magazine and The Debrief, to name a few. When she’s not writing, she’s most happy running around with a Pentax MV1 SLR camera or discovering as much new music as she can. Rosie tweets at @RosiePentreath

Photos: Heaps Gay

Disclosure: The Plus Ones were invited guests of Heaps Gay.

Heaps Gay teams up with Goodgod Small Club for ‘HEAPS GOOD for Oxfam’ on 28 August. Click here for info

Find out about more fantastic events taking place this spring in The Plus Ones Magazine