'If it all finished tomorrow I've had a good ride'

The Circus club night founder is taking people back to 'Circa 2000 ahead of the launch of his tour in Liverpool this weekend. Ahead of the launch, at the Arts Club Liverpool, ECHO Clubs Editor Emma Johnson sat down with internationally renowned Crosby-born DJ and producer Yousef and looked back on the last 25 years and more importantly to the future and what people should expect

So, Yousef. Tell us why you want to take us back to ‘Circa 2000’?

I am not one to look back. I always want to look forward but an agent said to me: ‘Surely you can look back just once to the time when things started for you... when you were breaking new names into the UK from all over the world’.

[Laughs] these are his words! We put it out to see if any clubs were interested and the response was good. So I thought, oh... ok.

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What should people expect?
The whole idea of Circa 2000 is, it is me between 2000 and 2010, when I started my residencies at Renaissance, Cream [1999-2003] and then Circus. It’s about all the new music that I broke.
At the time I was just being a DJ, inviting people to my club events and to be on my Radio 1 show. I didn’t really think anything of it. I didn’t know of the impact I was having. Particularly my (2001) Mixmag Winter Warmer CD which was massively successful.
There is a lot of love looking back. [Laughs] But it’s literally just once... I am not going to make a habit of it. We are going to do a 12-date tour and then that will be it. I will move on to the next project.

You are not a nostalgic person then?
I love the music and it was great times but I am always excited about today and tomorrow. You can never replicate those moments but you can relive them for a night. It’s going to be great to see people who supported me back in the day. And also, I think a lot of the younger people that come to Circus now will be curious about that sound.

I was the only DJ to hold a residency at Cream, Renaissance and Ministry of Sound at the same time. I was just this young kid who had been practising, practising, practising... and won a DJ competition [Muzik Magazine’s 1997 Bedroom Bedlam DJ] and then I was given all these opportunities. It was pretty nuts but it was great fun.

You’re taking us back there, so I need to know, how did you celebrate the Millennium?
I played Ministry of Sound in London. I brought the New Year in at Home nightclub, then we made our way to Ministry and it was brilliant.

Has it been a mammoth task choosing the music for the tour or has it been fun?
Both. I was going through all my tunes and have got nearly 150 I want to play, so I have got to edit those and get them sonically sound to today’s standards. But I know all the tunes. I just have to relax into them. When I was playing then it was all vinyl.

So will you be playing vinyl?

I am going to have one vinyl deck. A lot of the classics I had then, they are just not available anywhere. They are only available on the original vinyl... so I will just have to use it [laughs].

The tour begins at the Arts Club. Why does that venue hold such significance?
It’s where we first started Circus on September 14, 2002.
That room just meant so much to me. It was a very special room and it still is. The theatre in the Arts Club is one of the best rooms in clubland anywhere in the world. Circus has had some of the best nights ever in there, from Carl Cox to Laurent Garnier,to Radio 1’s 500th Essential Mix.
We have to start the tour in Circus’ spiritual home.

These days you play to thousands at Circus and tens of thousands at big outdoor shows around the world.
Are you looking forward to playing to just a few hundred in the Arts Club?
I find playing to smaller crowds harder than bigger ones. It’s more intimate. The people that are there to see you in a smaller crowd are more patient with the DJ and with the selection, so you can take more of a journey.
With the bigger crowds they want to just have it straight away and it’s less personal.
The Arts Club is very personal to me and to Circus.

When you look back to 2000, are you where you thought you would be almost 25 years later?
Yes and no. I have exceeded all my expectations. I have DJed all over the world again and again and again.
I have a really successful, legendary club night: Circus. I never saw that coming. The Circus record label is really respected...
There’s a lot more to do for me. Aspirations, places to play... but at the same time, if it all finished tomorrow I have definitely had a good ride.

And how are things with Circus?
Circus’ birthday on September 28 has sold out. It’s a major event. Never, when we started Circus with three or four hundred people, could we have imagined we would end up with a warehouse in Liverpool which is packed out all the time.
The other thing with the birthday is, it is proper house music. It is forward-thinking fresh house music.
Circus was built upon authentic house music and here we are over 20 years later selling out warehouses with exactly that.
That’s really satisfying.

And yourself... How has 2024 been? Any highlights?
Finishing my album. I have been chipping away and chipping away and it is done.
It’s a tribute to house music and what it has given to me for the past two decades. It’s really colourful... original vocals, musicians, pianists, strings. I am excited to release that.
That’s the next project, releasing that.

I have to ask. If you could go back and speak to circa 2000 Yousef, what advice would you give him?
Just continue being yourself. With ambition sometimes you overlook the journey. Even if my journey has had highs and lows, it’s been absolutely epic.
I am happy with that.
* Yousef’s Circa 2000 tour begins at the Arts Club Liverpool tomorrow. See skiddle.com for tickets