[YEAR OF THE WHAT? The mascots of the party appear to be recycling costumes from a previous year.]

MUSIC flowed from the 'hippo' and heat waves danced round the sweat-trickled faces of party goers.

It was hot (party), hot (weather), hot (music) last night at City Hall, the venue of street dance party City Alive!

With a crowd of 5,000 packed along St Andrew's Road, everybody was covered with sweat.

It seemed like party central got up from Clarke Quay, dusted itself off and took a short stroll to the Padang.

So much so that the 'Stamford Raffles'-type atmosphere of the civic district had a distinct Butter Factory feel.

That was partly due to party organisers, People's Association Youth Movement (PAYM), which brought a dance club atmosphere onto the streets by transforming the City Hall facade using coloured lights.

It also had international DJ Sassy Pandez and local DJ KoFlow spinning music on top of the open-air Hippo bus.

The party was scheduled to start at 9.40pm, but it was not until half an hour later that people were allowed on to the party grounds.

But there were no complaints from the crowd.

People were snapping away with their cameras and dancing to the music that was already playing in the background.

The moment dance group Funakamania XIV took the stage and officially opened the party, the crowd went wild with cheers.

With the loud pounding of their percussion instruments, street percussion band Voodoo charmed everyone just with its sheer size.

It was a party not to be missed.

Even those who participated in the Chingay parade held earlier on arrived at the venue still dressed in their full costume, oblivious to the heat.

Despite the heat, Mr Andy Abdullah, 22, an undergraduate along with four of his friends shouted, 'Party, party', trying their very best to be louder than the music in the background.

However, there were others like Ms Hazel Tan who attended the party alone.

'It's supposed to be the biggest street party, so I'm sure I'll find some other people to party with,' said the 30-year-old tax consultant.

With such a huge crowd, it wouldn't have been difficult.

- Stacey Chia, newsroom intern

This article was first published in The New Paper on Feb 1, 2009.