It was a scorcher.
A 35C day in Sydney meant the bucket hats donned by most of the crowd at Synthony’s show on the steps of the Sydney Opera House were as much about function as festival fashion. But the real heat came from the stage.
As Synthony’s music director Dick Johnson told me as we boarded the Air New Zealand party flight across the ditch, the Sydney Opera House is “completely iconic, to be playing on the steps is pretty unbelievable”.
The performers’ excitement to be looking out at some 4500 revellers – as well as one of the most famous vistas in the world – was palpable.
The energy, warmed by DJ sets from Dick Johnson and then Shapeshifter’s P. Digsss, bubbled when maestra Sarah-Grace Williams cued the opening notes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The crescendo broke into the first club classic of the 90-minute set and the crowd enjoyed that first collective euphoric moment that has won Synthony legions of fans around the globe.
That herd happiness never gets old for Synthony co-founder David Elmsly, who was in the crowd front centre, a grin plastered across his face. He told me the musical format continues to be “a fully mind-blowing experience”.
“Even when you’re the organiser, and even when you’ve felt it 50 times, it doesn’t go away because the performers are so talented. You just can’t beat that.”
Backed by The Metropolitan Orchestra, the star performers, Greg Gould, Emily Williams, Cassie McIvor and host Ilan Kidron appeared to be having just as much fun as the audience – delivering hit after hit to a jolly crowd getting into the spirit of the event but also the first weekend of the festive season.
Elmsly told me this was going to be a signature Synthony set, and they delivered. The collision of electronic dance anthems, live orchestrals, vocalists and visuals was rapturous.
In the words of Kidron, “Synthony wouldn’t be Synthony without a dedication to Avicii”.
Matty O punctured the stage with jubilant blasts of his saxophone, grinning out at the crowd between brass blows.
It’s hard to not enjoy life when it’s soundtracked by the world’s biggest dance tracks, the power of a live orchestra and backed by an iconic vista, but there was much more to soak in. When the sun set on the harbour behind the venue, eyes turned to a wondrous display of lights.
It’d be easy to assume you wouldn’t need much more than those thumping reworked club classics. But the visual aspect is just as important, according to Elmsly.
“When we add in the elements of lights, lasers and like all the visuals that are happening in time with the music, that’s a crucial element to making a really good show.
“You’re conducting not only the orchestra, but you’re conducting the crowd.”
The Synthony brand is so strong that you know what you’re going to get – a reliably good time. When McIvor came to the stage for “the last track” and began singing the soulful You’ve Got The Love, we knew it wasn’t actually the last track as they hadn’t played Darude’s Sandstorm yet.
Included in the series schedule alongside musical heavyweights such as Franz Ferdinand, Jimmy Barnes and the Living End for the concert series, the night was the latest in a string of highs for the record-breaking musical brand.
As Elmsly told me: “Sydney Opera House will be our 79th show. We’ve got over 170 arrangements now and we just ticked over 80.5 million YouTube views.”
Synthony next performs in Florida in January before returning to the stage in New Zealand’s biggest one-day music festival at the Auckland Domain in March 2026. In May, it will debut a headline collaboration with Six60, topping the bill for Christchurch’s new covered stadium’s first live music event.
When I asked Johnson about the secret to Synthony’s success, he credited the ambitious plans of the producing brand Duco, but also pointed to the party’s mood-boosting qualities. “It’s just such a feel-good show and you can really take it in any direction.”
Seems like at the moment, or at least last night in Sydney, Synthony’s trajectory is up, up, up.