Fabric birthday’s have become a pretty legendary affair, and the 8th one tonight is no different. A smiling bouncer in police dress, topped with a flashing helmet greets. Winding down the abyss of stairs, patrons meet with floor staff pushing bins full of free beer and fancy dress. Soon everyone is in full party swing…

Mathew Johnson’s ensemble Cobblestone Jazz plays live in room 1; they bounce off each other with improvision blending percussion, piano, atmospherics and bass lines. Bodies quiver to climax against the almighty sound system. A fine start to the evening!

Across in Room 2, Black Devil Disco Club cut killer pop music with a twist; dashes of acid flavours are thrown into the groove as the green lasers swirl around this warehouse style room. Back to room 1 its Cocoon’s Tobi Neumann dropping many of his own new mixes of techno tunes, and notably dropping ‘Charlotte’ (Re Boot) to an ecstatic crowd.

Up in room 3 Pete Herbert plays warm electro funk; his own ‘Ajello’ (on Reverso) really rocks the spot. Reaching the 10am closing time, Craig Richards keeps room 1 on fire, dropping Italio disco beats. Although not quite as packed as last year, the Fabric crew have thrown a pretty unfaultable birthday do once again!

~Anna Wharton