The Electric Circus was a music venue in Collyhurst, Manchester, England, situated at the corner of Teignmouth Street and Collyhurst Street. [1] It was an iconic and seminal venue for punk rock in 1970s Manchester.
The venue was originally the Palace Cinema, then the Top Hat Club run by Bernard Manning and then a bingo hall. It became a heavy metal club in the 1970s until punk arrived there in 1976, [1] and Richard Boon [2] and Alan Robinson [3] started promoting nights there. However the building was in a poor state of repair and was closed in late 1977 due to objections from the fire service and Manchester City Council. [4] It re-opened briefly again in 1978 [5] as the New Electric Circus but by 1980 the building was demolished and replaced by housing. [6]
Kevin Cummins described the venue as a khazi adding "everything was painted black so you couldn't see how shitty it was". [2]
The venue hosted a wide range of bands including:
The last two nights of the Electric Circus (1 and 2 October 1977) were recorded and released by Virgin Records in January 1978 as a 10-inch compilation album Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus featuring The Fall, John Cooper Clarke, Warsaw, The Drones, Steel Pulse and Buzzcocks. [9] [15] [3]