Enter the Arena
Win tickets for Circoloco & Hot Natured at The Arena, Birmingham
In Ancient Rome, a typical weekend involved watching an unlucky bugger fighting off carnivorous mammals or racing armored chariots inside an auditorium of jeering people. These days, though, thousands of years of civilization have allowed more humane forms of entertainment to come to the fore. Especially in Birmingham, where some of the city’s finest promoters are rustling up something extra special for the city this April.
But no matter how culturally refined the human race becomes, we will always have an inherent taste for debauchery. Hence why the guys behind Birmingham’s Rainbow Complex (who helped develop The Courtyard, The Warehouse, Cellar Door and various other Rainbow venues) will transform an old builder’s merchant’s yard, situated adjacent to a disused railway line running through Digbeth, into an open-air rave venue, launching on Saturday 7th April.
Dubbed The Arena, the only slaughtered people here will be on the dancefloor; the only bloodthirsty animals, those that prefer the taste of crunchy beats to the flesh of a poor bloke in a loincloth. Thankfully.
Kicking off at midday, this monolithic project will be given an extra twist of depravity by daytime wonkathon Circoloco, which, in a bid to recreate the outdoor mayhem of the terrace parties (before the roof was installed due to licensing issues) at the opening and closing of Ibiza’s DC10 each year, has roped in Jamie Jones, Kerri Chandler, Matthias Tanzmann, Dyed Soundorom, Dan Ghenacia, Cassy, The Martinez Brothers, Adam Shelton and Maceo Plex for the first leg of the rave.
“Lee (Macdonald) and I have always wanted to work on a project such as this and, a few months ago, he got me up to Birmingham to have a look at The Arena,” says Will Nustedt, one of the minds behind the project. “There was absolutely no doubt in our minds we had to do a Circoloco event there. It just feels right.”
Finishing at around 1am, there’s an after-party street party at The Rainbow Complex to follow, organized by the city’s beloved FACE team and hosted by Hot Natured, where Jamie Jones and Lee Foss will play back-to-back alongside Luca C, Ali Love, Clockwork and Richy Ahmed until 7am. Plus newest editions David Squillace, Jef K, Fur Coat, Simon Baker and three more names to be announced.
Then, those with stamina have the option of another daytime party on Sunday, from midday until 3am, at The Courtyard, featuring Visionquest, Adam Shelton and Subb-an to make sure this April Bank Holiday goes down in Brummie rave history.
WIN!
Itching to get your sweaty palms on a pairs of tickets for all three events absolutely free? Send the answer to this cranium-busting question to [email protected]...
Circoloco's real home is which Ibiza venue?
a) DC100
b) DC10
c) DC1000