PRISM presents Circus at Mint Warehouse review

Circus has grown from strength to strength in its hometown of Liverpool, a night that regularly attracts some of the biggest lineups in the North to play alongside its much loved and world-renowned resident DJ, Yousef. 

Avid clubbers travel from all around to see the event/label in action, so it made sense that to celebrate 15 years of the brand, Yousef and Circus would hit the road for its first ever worldwide tour. 15 of the finest cities in the world,  each hosting a Circus event - of course, that meant for a party in Leeds - you don’t get much finer than that. The onus was on the Mint family to represent and it was in house night PRISM set to collaborate with Circus for the knees-up at Mint Warehouse. 

The absence of set times made it difficult to establish who was playing when and where across the main room and the LED roof room two upstairs, but we could be certain Circus head honcho Yousef wouldn’t be far away. At around 1am his presence was announced with bursts of the ice cannons and he was quickly steering into a seamless mix of deep, rolling tech house. 

As he powered through remixes of crowd favourites like DJ Le Roi’s ‘I Get Deep’ and Oxia’s ‘Domino’, the artistic Circus visuals projected behind the DJ booth, trippy, dark yet colourfully defined faces staring out into the busy main room. Yousef kept the energy high throughout his two hour set.

Paco Osuna took the reigns next for a long-awaited return to Leeds, bringing with him a darker side of techno. Last time the Play Differently ambassador came to town he was crafting his set with a pair of turntables. This time however, as in more recent years, the Mindshake Records boss expressed his unique, pumping techno sound at the helm of an array of technological machines, now one of the pioneers of combining techno with new technology. 

Each sound was intricately placed as he expertly powered through an outrageous amount of build ups that had the crowd reaching for the roof throughout. That same, fast drum rhythm marked the drops, rattling through the Funktion Ones on the regular. There wasn’t a second that we weren’t lapping up those deep, dark and energetic rollers. All the while Paco himself kept his cool, a face full of concentration and of course, lollipop in position.

Tonight we had celebrated what Circus has become since it began in 2002 and how Yousef has grown his label and event into a household name, certainly in the UK. For the brand and Yousef himself, the tour has only just begun, but it did so with a bang. Watch out for the album release coming later this year, 15 tracks from 15 Circus favourites, to mark 15 years in the game.

Find tickets for Circus 15 - World Tour Glasgow