I turned a year older in the company of a good looking, successful and incredibly musically talented young man who clearly enjoys what he's doing. Then his set ended and I decided to go home.

Zabs is as good looking as ever, and still as energetic and fresh as he was when he first started out back when I graduated from university. In my mind, he is the most innovative and technically gifted of all the DJs I've seen. Yes, some view his scratching as just a gimmick, but if you listen carefully to his sets, it enables him to go from one incredibly different sound to another in the span of five seconds, without it sounding at all odd or out of place. 

I guess that's why Positronic, as yesterday's night was called, worked even though it started out with Way Out West in all their progressive goodness going through their expansive catalogue(Mindcircus was played, and so was The Gift, if memory serves). I couldn't quite work out how Zabs was going to fit into the overall tone of the night, but, as it turns out, that was a no-brainer.

I mean, yes, both acts did employ the "stop all tunes playing and play their own tune" method of transitioning, but Zabs just started out with hard and aggressive breaks, a complete change from some of the more mellow tunes Way Out West had just played, and it just somehow worked.

I can't name a single tune Zabs played; my trainspotter days - if I was ever one, which I doubt - are far behind me now, given how rarely I go clubbing these days. All I can say is that it was typical Zabiela and it was awesome. If I had to spend my birthday alone, I couldn't think of a better DJ I'd rather see.

And yes, it was worth the complete sleep deprivation I am now feeling just to hear the Daleks ("thank you") and see Zabs' signature "Thank you :)" on his laptop and show it to the clubbers (his trademark end). It as even cuter when he then typed in "Meaty" to introduce the next DJ, Meat Katie, a DJ I might have stayed to see given how well the Meat Katie vs. James Zabiela DJ Face Off worked out were it not for the fact that I had to meet a friend for lunch the next day.

So, all in all, another fun night at Matter. This time around, I didn't even have to wait in the queue. Awesome.