CIRQUE DU SOUL W/ HORSE MEAT DISCO
The Exchange, Bristol | March 1st
Cirque Du Soul is a fledgling, city-hopping party that has made a splash from the get go; three sold out events out of three is the way to make a statement, with Greg Wilson filling The Lacehouse in Nottingham in February and Eton Messy doing the same at Leeds’s Full Circle in January. This time it was the turn of Bristol to host the travelling circus troupe of DJs, fire-breathers, stilt walkers and dancers, with Horse Meat Disco in attendance at The Exchange.
The club filled up rapidly in anticipation of the spectacle, with fire-breathers warming up those in the queue and entertaining the throng of face-painted and fresh-faced smokers in their burlesque and circus attire. With an indie-dance set prior to Horse Meat Disco proving very popular with the young crowd – who particularly enjoyed the Magician Remix of Lykke Li’s I Follow Rivers – it was time for the disco stalwarts, going in strong with Sister Sledge’s Lost In Music. Embracing the fact that 90% of the crowd probably weren’t alive when that track was released, Horse Meat Disco spun an array of classics from the off, with Chaz Jankel’s Glad To Know You, Whitney Houston’s Love Will Save The Day, and a superb edit of Criticize by Alexander O’Neal all getting an airing. We had our fingers crossed for their recent remix of Stereogamous – Face Love Anew, but if that was played, we were regrettably elsewhere. As always, Horse Meat Disco’s set strictly contained 100% beef.
Deep down in the basement was an altogether different vibe for the evening, with two young guys smashing out UK garage classics, and DJ Will Weaver finishing off proceedings in the main room with a tear up of pure unadulterated houseparty tunes ranging from hip-hop to old rave tracks like Despina’s Sugar Daddy O, much to the crowd’s delight. We’re pretty sure Mundian to Bach Ke by Panjabi MC even got dropped. All the bases are covered at Cirque Du Soul, and with production levels as high as they were and attention to detail when it comes to vibe and fun, Cirque Du Soul are far more advanced in the clubnight game than their mere three events suggest. Be sure to look them up if the circus rolls into your town in the future.
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Words + Photos: ‘Artbeats
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