Club Review: The Circle Opening, Hackney Wick London

A Hackney industrial estate was the home of London’s latest warehouse party experience, with a twist. For their first party in the capital The Circle brought DC10 resident Clive Henry at the head of strong line-up for house heads, which also included Alex Arnout, a favourite at London Sunday rave institution FUSE, and Mihai Popoviciu. 

Our taxi pulls to a halt on an empty street, lined with shabby bricked warehouses and closed metal shutters. There was no-one to be seen. A distant thud-thud-thud crept up the dimly lit road, adding to the excitement,

For an opening night in the capital, the promoters had picked an impressive venue. Hackney Wick has been a real hotspot for parties of an industrial nature for a while now, but you sense The Circle were aiming to bridge that gap between the grimy warehouse rave and the A-list club experience. 

Playing an early set Arnout greets us with some dark and low-key house grooves in a fairly steady 90 minutes while the club is still filling up. It peaked with Loco Dice’s 'Tight Laces' (above), a twisted but not forgotten relic of the minimal heights of the late noughties. 

Henry then brought some groovy minimal funk sounds of the White Isle to a darkened room in East London. Geda’s fresh beat ‘Dance Light’ put things in gear but we never really hit full speed, as large chunk of the crowd are mesmerised by the grandeur of the second room.

Brisboys are on, dishing out slabs of deep house right up to thundering techno, much to the delight of a very mixed audience which was ranged from the Essex glam gals through to the hardened veteran ravers. 

Later on we see circus performers and scantily-clad stage dancers in this second room, all adding to that ‘premium feel’ in a shoebox setting. 

The club came with its own balconied VIP area, with drinks and table service for those discerning clubbers willing to part with a few more of their pounds. At times you had to pinch yourself, we’re on an industrial state on the far flung fringes of Zone 2 and there are some top draw underground house DJs on. 

It was then just a shame that the main attractions didn’t quite deliver the goods as we had hoped.

Both Henry and Arnout were on pretty early on in the big scheme of things, and their sets reflected that. Although the night went on till 6am, the energy levels in this great setting never really quite hit the peak that the night had the potential for. 

Let no mistake, the tunes were solid throughout. However, there wasn’t a single moment in the evening which put the crowd on it’s back.

But, we mustn’t forget that this was a first outing for a new night in a huge city. The excitement and appetite for parties of this sort is definitely there and if they are able to repeat the same level of commitment and energy The Circle’s promoters put into this party we’ll be interested to see how these guys get on. 

Tickets are no longer available for this event