Medya Gungor relives a night to remember at the Brixton Disco Festival
For those who weren’t at this year’s Brixton Disco Festival, I can assure you that from 8pm onwards at Electric Brixton, the golden age of disco was reborn.
Forget bucket hats and bumbags, think sequins and a whole lotta soul as a predominantly 90s crowd reclaimed their love of disco with acts that have propelled the scene for decades.
Opening with Like a Fool, Crazy P instantly got the crowd going as the beams from two circulating disco balls glistened across the room.
Their impassioned performance was led vocally by the wonderfully eccentric Danielle, who usually DJs live, but was instead dancing wildly across the stage in a kimono, initiating intimate moments with her fans at every opportunity.
A moving rendition of Heartbreaker with all three live guitarists was particularly special before the group ended with Eruption, a slinky track that couldn’t help but make us feel all melancholic.
The energetic Mighty Mouse turned the evening up a notch with some eclectic disco soul and his innovative mixing style.
While a remix of Prince’s Controversy played, an extravaganza of graphics were flashing video-game-like diamonds to the pumping sound of the bass.
Two dancers wearing sparkly leotards and knee-high boots swiftly joined him on stage, with moves that had the entire balcony down to all the surrounding pews grooving away to Relight My Fire.
Heading outside for a cig break wasn’t really an option when every song played was an absolute anthem, especially his iconic Midnight Mouse, a track which samples ABBA’s Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! and blew up a few years previously from a Folamour Boiler Room set.
It was a privilege to be in the presence of the festival’s next heritage act, Jocelyn Brown, who managed to take the roof off with her powerful vocals at the incredible age of 70.
Her warm smile and charisma instantly lit up the room as she walked on stage accompanied by her son, expressing her gratitude for us all being here together: “We’ve been through so much, we’ve suffered and lost a lot … But we made it!”.
After Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and Somebody Else’s Man’from Jocelyn set our spirits soaring, we were ready to welcome Dimitri from Paris to bring the vibes.
His simple stage set-up let the music do the talking, as we watched him relentlessly mixing one disco classic into another.
The roller-skating dancers twirling flashing hula hoops on stage added to the “different era” atmosphere that had been felt all evening, an era that the whole festival had managed to bring back to 2021.
