There were some massive parties around town over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, and (despite warnings from medical professionals) OUT247 got to every single one. The weekend kicked off at Market (or Marké, as the French call it) on Friday with DJ Eric Wikman – who we had the pleasure of interviewing nary two weeks ago. The Deepswing / "In the Music" DJ was slamming it on the decks for his three hour set, and the crowd was absolutely lapping it up. And who should ‘pop in for a visit’ but Miss Inaya Day, the vocalist on Mousse T’s "Horny" and her own song "Nasty Girl", who was in the neighbourhood and decided to give an impromptu performance. As you do when you’re a world famous singer. Not that we were complaining, as the songstress gave an electric performance.

After a day of recovery, I was back in fine form for Rawhide at ZOS on Sunday. It’s incredibly weird going into day party from the harsh light outside, especially meandering down Chapel in your best clubbing gear past the oh-so-trendy café dwellers and their Sunday brunch chiabattas – so full respect to the costumed many I saw at the party. How one lass got the courage to walk in off the street in two tiny pieces of leather connected by a series of chains I’ll never know, but it’s so refreshing to go to a party where people still make the effort to dress up ("just like the good old days", says the senile clubber in me). The three rooms were pumping and packed wall-to-wall with hotties until well into the evening – no doubt helped by the unreal music the DJs were thrashing. Even the toilet DJ ensured that your bladder emptying was accompanied by some phat beats.

From ZOS, it was a short walk down Commercial Road to Evolution for Locker Room – a fantastic venue for this esteemed party. Fitting name too, as the cloak room would have resembled a locker room with the amount of shirts off. The crowded dance floor was a sweaty mass of hot bodies thriving to the music when lo and behold, who should give a pole dance than sexy door boys Dan and Wayne. Wearing nowt but skimpy Aussie Bums, the boys worked it on the main bar, much to the crowds delight. Alas, I ran to find an ATM, but by the time I got back the boys had finished, so I slipped my $50s back into my wallet, rather than their undies.

The final call for the night was first-run queer party Ticket To Ride, at the Palace in St Kilda – they don’t call it an entertainment complex for nothin’, as the place is absolutely huge. The four rooms provided plenty of variety to keep the night interesting, but the real action was in the main arena: aside from stellar performances from some of Melbourne’s best DJs, two raunchy performances were given throughout the night, and yes, one was to the track "Ticket to Ride" (well, ‘spose they had to, really). There’s no word on whether or not this awesome party will return for round two, but based on the crowd reaction that night, it’d be a welcome addition to the party circuit - but just give us enough time to recover first…