Club review: Circus @ Egg London

Egg London, perched in the Northern reaches of London’s King’s Cross, was packed to the rafters for the stellar line-up of house and techno. It kicked off the first half of the Circus Weekender, with Darius Syrossian and Noir joining Yousef on the line-up the following day on Saturday. Skiddle caught up with the Liverpudlian and Circus head honcho before he took to the decks on the Friday as the pillared Terrace room of Egg was filling up not too long after midnight.

He’s playing the early set on the Friday, and then he’s last on for Saturday, he tells us. “It’ll be an absolute road block tonight, the last one I hadn’t seen a crowd like it,” he says, brimming with enthusiasm. “Probably just going to let rip with some random records tonight!”

Fifteen minutes later, draped in a t-shirt adorning the words ‘Believe in Love’ the stubbled-Scouser is at the controls, and he is animated throughout his entire two-hour set. The likes of Alex Tepper’s 'Ids Ate my Ego' and the brilliant new Richy Ahmed remix of Phil Kieran’s 'Going There' (above), out on Scuba’s Hotflush imprint, energised the growing crowd with an exciting mix of house-singed techno. Not bad at all for an early set. 

Steve Lawler, another legend in his own right, stepped up and he was pulling out some absolute beasts, straight from the top draw - like Marc Molina’s 'And So Smile The Far' for instance. However, amidst the driving club techno and pumping tech house you wanted it to be just that little bit louder - and despite the high quality tunes, the atmosphere felt a little stretched at points. 

We pull ourselves away from the Terrace for a quick assessment of the rest of the club - but things are painfully average. The distinct scent of fresh paint hung still hung in the air, with the legendary London venue re-vamping new upstairs room ‘The Loft’ - an upstairs bar and dance floor plastered with wooden floors and glass windows.

It was the gateway to a superb outdoor rooftop smoking area, but as for the rest of the club, that was about it on the plus points. Poorly programmed, it was a like a big sandwich of rave built with stale bread on top and bottom. It was a shame, because that middle floor was bloody delicious. You would struggle to find stronger line-ups in that one room in other venues across the country on that night, so we descended back there for the finale.

It was 5am before Laurent Garnier began his set, and the ceiling of the club was pouring with sweat. He took the club to a slightly deeper groove than Lawler before. But then he pulled a stunner out of the bag when the distinct mirror-reverse slightly of A Guy Called Gerald’s 'Voodoo Ray' showered down on the unsuspecting audience before the jacking beat of the acid house classic ripped through the audience. It was a definite highlight. 

Garnier moved from the deep and melodic, to the dark and heavy - the music constantly moving through the spectrum of house and techno. Brushing aside the slightly lower noise levels, and the loose programming elsewhere in the club this was a really solid night from Egg. Three hours later we fling open the doors and it’s Saturday morning. A steady stream of hardy ravers are making their way home or to an after-party, duly satisfied.