What. A. Night. The Auditree crew really went to town with this one. There were sharp visuals, a graf artist doing his stuff in the courtyard, a wicked vibe and smiles galore, all sound-tracked to some truly brilliant deep and tech house.

In short, Soma presented Brisbane ‘heads with a night to remember, or at least try to remember, judging by the brisk trade at the bar.

Front and centre was none other than Buzzin’ Fly boss Ben Watt, in what was his third and final Down Under appearance after his Australia Day Sydney Harbour boat party alongside Innervisions’ Dixon and his set at Melbourne’s Brown Alley on Friday night.

I’ve been fortunate both to interview Ben – and catch him DJ – several times over the years; extended sets at his Buzzin’ Fly London residency at east-end sweat box Plastic People and at Good Vibrations a few years ago stick in my mind, and while he’s quietly-spoken and never been one to get too animated behind the decks, his tight-mixing and track selection have never failed to get bodies on the dancefloor.

Saturday night at Bar Soma was no different; he rarely looked up or interacted with the crowd during his set but, judging from the heaving mass on the floor no one seemed to mind.

Arriving around midnight, Mag00 & Scott Walker were warming the crowd up nicely and a healthy crowd was building in anticipation of the main event. When Watt came on at 1:30am, it was the start of two and a half hours of some of the best forward-facing house out there.

Let’s take a brief walk down memory lane. We’re talking about the same man who released the classic North Marine Drive on Cherry Red in the early 1980s and then enjoyed 20-plus years of success alongside recording and life partner Tracey Thorn as Everything But The Girl.

The last ten years have seen Watt dive head-first into the electronic music scene, first through his Lazy Dog events in London alongside Jay Hannan and, more recently, through heading up his revered Buzzin’ Fly label.

Since winning the ‘Breakthrough Label’ award at the 2005 House Music Awards, the imprint has cemented itself as one of the most innovative purveyors of house on the global scene.

Singles by the likes of Rodamaal, Justin Martin, Manoo, Jimpster, DarkMountainGroup, Rocco and Watt himself have stood out among an ever-increasing sea of House music mediocrity, earning A&R head Watt all kinds of plaudits.

And so it went down at Soma on Saturday. Watt’s track selection was bang on point. Some stand outs during a driving set included German Tony Lionni’s brilliant ‘Found A Place’, Oxia’s ‘Whole Life’ and Buzzin’ Fly’s brand new single, Santos and Chris Woodward’s ‘Village Vanguard’ which, with its blissed out jazz breakdown, had hands in the air.

Also featuring early in his set was Buzzin Fly’s as-yet unreleased 50th single, a collaboration between Watt, label artist Stimming and vocalist Julia Biel, who featured on Watt’s 2008 single ‘Guinea Pig’. ‘Bright Star’ is its name and it went down a treat.

Garnering biggest cheers, however, was Ben’s Lazy Dog Bootleg Mix of EBTG’s ‘Wrong’, called ‘Tracey In My Room’. For this punter though, Watt dropping his Lazy Dog remix of Meshell N’Degeocello’s ‘Earth’ was a true moment and the night was complete.

All up this was a proper house party featuring a fantastic mix of great upfront and classic tunes and friendly house music lovers (including a contingent of Brisbane’s own DJs including Chris Wilson, Jimmy Ellis and Paul Farris).

The rain pissing down on the way home no doubt did little to dampen the spirits of those in attendance and, with James Lavelle and Brazilian Gui Boratto confirmed to play at Soma in coming weeks, it’s only going to continue. Big love to the Auditree and Soma crew for bringing a true legend to Brisbane!