It was a cold and wintry start to a day that many had been anticipating for months. The wizard himself, James Zabiela was coming to play, and not even the darkest clouds could dampen the excitement for this one. Hot on the heels of his latest contribution to the BBC Essential Mix back-catalogue, and with no less than three hours allocated to him, were we excited about what would transpire? You would say so, yes.

Opening duties were handed to the underrated local lad Andrew Wowk, and he carried it off with aplomb. The weather was always going to make warming up duties a challenge, but those that turned up early were presented to some afternoon delights by Wowk, and as the sausages began to sizzle, the rain threatened, Chinese Laundry regular Mattt came on and built on the foundation that Wowk had laid out. It was fun times, and while the clouds would always threaten to open in a big and nasty way, for the most part, the rain stayed away.

Two hours in, and with the opening duo proving again that there is indeed plenty of talent locally, Tom Budden stepped up to the decks with things looking pretty damn good. Cheap drink offers had sweetened the deal for the early arrivals; not surprisingly, most appeared in good spirits. Budden threw down a two-hour set that took us to a few places, with some prog, some house, and even techno: although the latter may have rolled on a bit too much and to some, maybe just a touch out of place for a garden party. Either that, or the masses were just too keen on the arrival of the headline act. And when said act arrived, he failed few.

Opening with an excerpt from the 2009 film Moon (as he did in the aforementioned Essential Mix), he soon followed it up with Gyromancer from PMT, sending chin-stroker and average punter alike into a state of frenzy. The crowd heaved as one, although given the massive numbers, there were few other options; with little room to move, the only option was to do it in time with the music – and everyone else.

Zabs used his three hours to explore lush prog, deep house, kicking techno and even a smattering of DnB: on this night, everyone’s musical palette seemingly was getting a nice little workout. Up the front, shit was well and truly getting hectic. Not even the robots that were perched high up on either side of the decks stood much of a chance, as one was pulled down and then apart; the scraps shared among the crowd, the ‘limbs’ proving to be an interesting choice of headwear for some.

On the topic of the crowd, putting aside the fact that some still have no idea how to act with decency, the more disappointing aspect was that given that this was not the first such garden party, it was a shame that the numbers still exceeded what could otherwise have been much more comfortable. Getting from one place to another was truly a mission, and spending more than 10 minutes in line to get a drink is something one would associate more with a festival than a club gig. On a similar note, while the sound set up was generally well orchestrated, some spots could have done with a bit more of a touch up.

Nevertheless, the positives far outweighed these slight hitches. Zabiela was relentless, playing a string of massive tunes from today: the Christian Smith remix of At-Les from Carl Craig [one of the tunes of 2010] and Scribble from Underworld rubbing the crowd entirely the right way, while remixes of tunes from yesteryear like the classic Prodigy tune Omen and Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode almost moved some to tears.

Tears, I hear you say? Yes. It was that kind of night. Lots of emotion, lots of arms being raised, lots of hugs, and lots of fists pumping the cool autumn air. And once again, Zabiela, blowing the proverbial roof off, more than comfortably lived up to the hype.