Always one of the most hyped events of the opening parties calendar, Circo Loco The Next Level caused a frenzy before it had even started as clubbers desperately tried to get their hands on the scarce tickets. Kicking off at 12pm a heavy downpour of rain threatened to ruin the Garden Terrace dance area, which is traditionally only set up for the closing party. Waiting for the weather to clear before heading down, unfortunately for me and anyone else who wasn’t there early enough, Circo Loco resident and legend Clive Henry was first to play. By 4pm Kerri Chandler was looking out to a packed garden and a blue sky appeared as he blared out Larry Heard ‘The Sun Can’t Compare’. Listen:
By the time Dan Ghenacia and Dyed Soundorom took the reins it had become hard to fight your way through the bouncing crowd to the rooms inside.
Stepping away from the daylight into the darkness, Cirillo was pounding out the eerie sounds of Alex Jones ‘Yo Yo’. Trying to squeeze into the Terrace took some pushing and shoving but was more than worth it to catch Dan and Dyed again inside, playing from a heaving DJ booth. The only dilemma was at what stage to switch back to the Garden so as not to miss Tania. When Matthias Tanzmann and Davide Squillace took over the atmosphere in the Terrace became more intense. Playing back to back they kept the energy high into the early hours of the morning. For a perfectly more chilled ending to the extravaganza, Damian Lazarus provided some soulful vocals and a disco edge over techno basslines. Rounding up with tracks like Hot Natured ft. Ali Love’s ‘Forward Motion’, he earned a round of applause as the lights came up.
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