This Saturday marks ten years since the Salvation crew ran their first dance party in Auckland. It will also be their farewell, as the boys are moving to Sydney. To mark this, Marty Roberts reflects on his ten favourite memories. 1. Dreaming up the 1st Salvation party over a coffee with Donald Bennett and Michael Modrich, and saying “how hard can it be to run a dance party?” … 2 months of hard work later, discovering the answer for ourselves! Lol … but loving all the positive feedback from the event and having people ask us when the next one was going to be! 2. Playing my 1st Salvation DJ set at Salvation #1. There were only 2 DJs that night. I played 1st and Donald Bennett played 2nd. The crowd was going wild and the venue was amping! I finished my set and someone came up to me and said “Wow! That’s going to be a hard act to follow!” - It’s moments like these that make being a DJ unforgettable! 3. Overhearing one of our fabulous original door girls (Cath) joking with 2 particularly camp young patrons, and saying with a very straight face: “Now dear, you do realise this is a gay party don’t you …” 4. The photo shoot for the Salvation Xmas party with (door girl / face of Salvation) Cath and her hot Christmas elves. The boys were terrible and found all sorts of innovative uses for Santa hats!! 5. Our 1st party at Galatos featuring Sam Hill. This was our first multi-room event and also the birth of Salvation Angel wings!! 6. Getting asked to organise the Hero Party in 2005. This was the first time anyone had closed off Galatos Street and then run a party across both Studio and Galatos. The party sold out on the night and there was a massive queue of people lining up down K’ Rd to get in. It was awesome to see so many of our community out in force and having such a great time! Made all the work that went into the event worthwhile. 7. The 3rd Birthday Replay party was another fantastic night! The original 3rd Birthday party was shut down when a gig that was happening in the Galatos basement (at the same time as Salvation) caused the whole venue to get closed due to noise complaints. We had brought DJ Luke Leal across from Sydney especially for the party and he didn’t even get a chance to play! Fortunately Galatos assisted in subsidising a Replay party and we were able to bring Luke Leal back for what turned out to be an unforgettable birthday party! 8. Deezastar’s amazing “Emerge” show at the 1st Salvation-run Hero Party in 2005, with this huge inflatable spiky thing that inflated into the crowd as the show progressed. Sadly, after this show we were never allowed to use glitter-firing confetti cannons in Studio again :( 9. Mika’s fantastic Haka show at the 2nd Salvation-run Hero Party in 2006, along with an incredible performance from Swedish pop star Therese singing Stonebridge’s “Put ‘Em High” 10. Salvation Anthems at Galatos in 2009 featuring DJ Ruby from Sydney, and by far the best Salvation laser show ever !! Well … until Salvation Reunion this Saturday anyway! Get tickets to Salvation Reunion here Marty Roberts - 22nd May 2013