Norman Cook was a happy man on Saturday night, playing to a packed Brighton Dome mere hours after his beloved Seagulls won promotion.

He was making one of his increasingly rare live DJ appearances to help celebrate the Boutique's sixth birthday on the second night of what was billed as "A Seaside Dirty Disko Weekender of Smoke Machines and Big Speakers".

Things kicked off in spectacular fashion on Friday at Concorde 2 with a night of acid house courtesy of dance-music darlings X-Press 2, whose big hit Lazy is storming the charts.

Following a mind-blowing set by DJ duo Mutiny, the X-Press 2 six-turntable groove machine of Ashley Beedle, Diesel and Rocky turned dirty beats into a floor-filling four-mix that captured the simple joys - "good mates, good music, good life".

It was, quite simply, one of the best nights I can remember in Brighton. Ever.

Saturday's event had a very different vibe courtesy of the 3,000 clubbers and 70k sound system shaking the foundations of the Dome's distinctly non-club surroundings.

Although the event featured several DJs, Timo Maas and Fatboy Slim were the main attractions in the auditorium while Midfield General conducted his campaign in the Corn Exchange.

Maas, one of the world's top progressive-house DJs, deserves a special mention, after weaving a tapestry of top tunes before Cook hit the stage with an eclectic mix of pounding drums and Barry Manilow samples (no, I'm not kidding).

It is because of some amazing DJ performances the audience's smiles survived what was, at times, pretty poor planning.

The auditorium held 1,800 clubbers and 3,000 tickets had been sold for the event, such was the demand to give the former Big Beat Boutique the bumps.

This ensured a not-so-happy throng of clubbers of variable size waiting outside the auditorium doors, most of whom had paid £25 for the pleasure of seeing their heroes.

Although there was lots of space in the Corn Exchange, many punters felt aggrieved about paying out for "second best" and rightly so.

Once inside the main room, the atmosphere was electric but a new problem became apparent - there were no bars and no toilets in the auditorium.

This meant you had to leave your friends and loved ones to take a pit-stop and then, yes, you might have already guessed, queue to be reunited.

This is not what clubbers expect for £25. The bar service was good so you didn't have to wait too long before rejoining the clubbers-in-waiting and at least the men's toilet wasn't flooded, unlike the women's.

Overall, the weekend's events were a success but I'm hoping some lessons will be learned before next year's lucky-seven celebrations.

The Boutique is a special event in UK club culture and deserves the best - so do the clubbers.