Synthony in the Domain: 'A last hoorah to summer'

They came in their glitter and beads. They came in their fluorescent resort suits and maxi dresses. They came for a last hoorah to summer, and Synthony in the Domain 2025 delivered.

The excitement was high as the 40,000 strong crowd began filtering through the gates in the mid-afternoon, even a short shower couldn’t dampen the spirits.

When asked, punters found it hard to pin down what they were most keen to see – “everything” was the most common refrain.

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And despite it being described as an event for geriatric millennials – and yes, there were plenty of those – there were also teens attending their first concert, families with young children, and folk who would definitely sneak into the boomer generation. It’s fair to say it was a very eclectic mix of people, with one attendee describing it as “a bit random and boganic”.

The embankments overlooking the stage seemed to be the first places to fill up as (generally) the more mature festival-goers grabbed possies to sit enjoy the late afternoon sun, the early acts and watching the people go by.

Sets from Dick Johnson, Ladi6 and Th’ Dudes accompanied the crowds as they found their spots and queued up for food and drinks, which was lucky as the waits were pretty long, as you’d expect at an event like this, and would only get worse as the night went on.

Wandering between the General Admission area, where the embankment is situated, passed the main stage and into GA Premium was slow going but there was no sign of impatience or aggression – which could have been due to the general upbeat vibe or could have been the very large police presence.

By the time Kora came out and the sun was going down, the dance floor – which by day is the Domain cricket pitch - was packed.

Finnish DJ Darude got everyone, even those on the embankment, on their feet so that when Synthony No.6 began at about 8pm the crowd were totally primed.

Smashing out 1995 hits like Robert Miles ‘Children’ and The Bucketheads ‘The Bomb’ from 1995 the Auckland Philharmonia and guest vocalists really nailed the nostalgia part of the brief but there were more recent offerings too, like the 2023 track ‘Baddadan’ by Chase Status.

Highlights for me were Sub Focus ‘Solar System’ accompanied by the New Zealand Youth Choir and Lewis McCallum’s saxophone accompaniment to ‘Where’s Your Head At’ foreshadowing the Basement Jaxx set to come.

Calvin Harris’ 2014 hit ‘Blame’ and David Guerra’s ‘Titanium’ got the crowd singing and the set was rounded out with an encore performance of Darude’s ‘Sandstorm’ which the DJ came back on stage for.

It was a good night of music and dancing, with a pretty spectacular laser show lighting up the skies and trees surrounding the natural amphitheatre. For me, with the prospect of writing this review, it was a more genteel affair than the nights spent when some of this music first came out. But there were plenty of attendees who left it all on the dance floor.

If there was one discordant note of the festival, it was the lack of fanfare for the headline act Basement Jaxx. After Synthony No.6 was finished, the conductor Sarah-Grace Williams, the Philharmonia and the supporting acts were brought out for a round of well-earned applause and then there was a weird musical break which seemed to signal the end of the event. At least, that’s how it appeared as the crowds began to stream out of the Domain.

To be fair, this geriatric millennial was ready to call it a night too, but I stuck around for the first part of the set and listening to Basement Jaxx, one of the soundtracks of my 20s, as I meandered out of the Domain with a good portion of the 40,000 other festival-goers was kind of the perfect way to end what was a damn fun day.