Overview
When anyone hits 30, they tend to look backwards — to reminisce, lament leaving their twenties behind and avoid accepting that they've just hit a big milestone birthday. Ministry of Sound marked that occasion this year, and it's also getting nostalgic. The brand that started as a London club night back in 1991 is now set to tour an orchestral show around Australia, in fact, which will be filled with three decades of dance music bangers.
If you've ever wanted to hear classical renditions of Basement Jaxx, Darude, Röyksopp, Robin, Underworld, Moby and more — played by an orchestra, and with live vocals — then this is your chance. Dubbed Ministry of Sound Classical, unsurprisingly, the 2022 tour will kick off in Melbourne, before heading to the Gold Coast and Darwin. Those shows all have dates and venues locked in, but more are set to be announced for the Hunter Valley, Sydney and Brisbane.
Dance music fans in Perth and Adelaide will also get to listen to orchestral takes on club-filling tunes, but it'll be the second time around for both cities after shows in 2021.
The vocalist and support lineup changes in each place, so Melburnians can look forward to hearing Zoë Badwi, Ben Woolner from SAFIA, 'Dreams' vocalist Reigan and Karina Chavez under a big top at Reunion Park — plus Touch Sensitive, Dirty South, Goodwill and John Course — while folks on the Gold Coast will get Miss Connie, Danny Harley from The Kite String Tangle and Reigan, as well as Sneaky Sound System, Touch Sensitive and John Course.
As for what you'll be listening to, the list of tunes getting the orchestral treatment also includes songs by Robert Miles, Cafe del Mar, Laurent Garnier, Shapeshifter, Temper Trap and Fisher.
And yes, it all sounds a lot like Synthony, which does the same thing — but who doesn't love getting multiple opportunities to hear dance-floor fillers given a classical spin?
MINISTRY OF SOUND CLASSICAL TOUR 2022:
Saturday, April 9 — Reunion Park, Melbourne
Saturday, April 30 — HOTA, Home of the Arts, Gold Coast
Saturday, June 11 — Darwin Amphitheatre
Dates TBC — the Hunter Valley, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide
The Ministry of Sound Classical tour will kick off in Melbourne in April 2022, before heading to the Gold Coast, Darwin, the Hunter Valley, Sydney and Brisbane — and doing encore shows in Perth and Adelaide. For further details — and for pre-sale tickets to the Melbourne, Gold Coast and Darwin gigs until 12pm local time on Monday, December 6, or general sales from 12pm local time on Wednesday, December 8 — head to the tour website.