Dream Show: Circus

Newcastle trio CIRCUS channel the theatrical grit of ‘70s–‘90s rock, glam and punk into a sound built on loud guitars, driving rhythms and charged lyricism. Formed in 2021, their live shows lean into drama and spectacle, while their songwriting draws on historicism, dialectical materialism and the human condition—bringing a cerebral edge to their high-voltage alt-rock sound.

The band perform a gig at ALTR, Tynemouth on the 22nd November. Ahead of that, Circus let us know what their dream show will look like…

Our dream show… hmm. It would definitely have to be at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow. Just like the venue itself, the production would be drenched in lights, with a heavy emphasis on aesthetics, our glamorous blend of chic styling and animal prints front and centre. We’d probably get The Cult to open, and then U2, since they’d both pull a decent crowd… and we could nick some of their pyro and drive off in a Trabant afterwards.

After they’ve taken a good chunk of the set time, the changeover would drop the room into near-total darkness, with nothing but storm-soaked ambience rumbling over the PA. To open the show, an old ’60s TV set would slowly rise from beneath the stage, its screen projected onto a backdrop behind it (for obvious reasons). After a minute, the TV would flicker to life and play the Robert J. Oppenheimer clip from the ’60s NBC interview, right up to the moment he quotes the Bhagavad Gita. And as he says, “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” we’d explode into our first song with the pyro of a full-blown KISS show.

Basically, what we do now… just on a MUCH grander scale!!