Review: Circus 9th Birthday @ The Masque

Date: 24th September 2011

Words: Luke Maguire

With huge line-ups happening across the north-west on this weekend Circus really had to pull out all the stops for their 9th birthday.

It’s only been nine years but Circus has established itself as one of Liverpool’s best nights, and judging by the line up, tonight is no different. The Masque is entirely suited for dance music; possessing one of the best sounds systems in the city, with the quirkiness of an old theatre.

On a rainy September night in a busy Liverpool, this was completely different to the surroundings of Space in Ibiza, where Yousef and the majority of the night’s line-up were playing just a couple of nights ago. As soon as we walked in there was a buzz about the place; in the theatre James Zabiela was slowly bringing the crowd up with his unique blend of loops and synths. Competing for our attention upstairs was Lewis Boardman, who uncharacteristically played a rather lifeless set and didn’t really get the crowd going as much as we would have liked.

Back to James Zabiela then, who had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, using all of his technical abilities which ave made him one of the most exciting DJs on the scene today. Brandishing his Ipad, and throwing a couple of Breakbeat tracks in, he really set the night up for the main man Yousef to carry on the mayhem.

Back up into the aptly named Loft (the 2nd room) to see the final set of the evening. Straight from the Warehouse Project in Manchester came the new girl on the block Maya Jane Coles, who is slowly becoming one of tech's hottest properties. And she didn’t disappoint, playing her blend of deep tech into the early hours of the morning.

Happy birthday Circus. We're expecting something special for the big 10!

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