Electric Circus

This place is crazy. I so wish I could steal it from the heart of Edinburgh and transplant it to Birmingham… Part rock pub, dive bar, cocktail bar and karaōke joint — it’s an adventure playground for grownups!
Located just next to the train station and in the heart of Hostel town, it’s dead easy to get to but might be a bit hard to find if you don’t know where you are going. Bookmark it before you set off and you should be fine!
Once you go through a incognito door and down a step, you can see why they call it a circus. Street art style decoration and neon lights lead you into a long bar and dancing area (which I can only imagine gets mental at night) and down into the Karaōke dungeon.
I call it a karaōke dungeon as it’s a small corridor, again lit up in neon, which leads to several different rooms which you can hire out for your own singing adventure. Our room was decked out with a couple of LCD screens (for lyrics) and a nifty touchscreen catalogue to choose your grooves. Drinks were ordered and bought to us in the room so we could sit and enjoy the karaōke silliness without heading back to the bar.
Our jugs of cocktails were £20 and served around 5 — 6 reasonably sized glasses with ice. They weren’t knock your head off strong, but did the job of removing the pre-​performance nerves a treat (as well as tasting pretty darn good).
If you’re in Edinburgh, head here for some karaōke fun. You’d best book beforehand though, as I imagine it gets busy at peak times!

Karaōke terrifies me. I’d vowed never to do karaōke, but when Alex S get something in his head he’s like a runaway train who can’t be stopped. So we ended up at Electric Circus at 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon booking (they even opened early for us).
The place had a pretty cool layout — a large bar area and stage, and then private booths so you didn’t have to traumatise the staff. We were shown to our booth, shown how to get the songs rolling and left to our own devices. Cocktail pitchers were delivered, and our 2 hour booking flew by.
I was impressed by the song selection — they had Flight of the Conchords, Coolio and PJ & Duncan (all the songs I wanted to sing) and it was easy enough to queue up songs. The booth was comfy and good for chilling out in, and the girl working was super friendly and helpful.
Would I do karaōke again? Probably not, actually as it still terrifies me. But Electric Circus was a whole load of fun, so thanks for being my first time!

This was my first karoke experience, so I have nothing to compare it to. And it may be a review slightly affected by the fact I was rocking out with 8 AMAZING people and I haven’t laughed so hard in months, and it was really 2 of the best hours I’ve spend with these wonderful people.
We rocked up at 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon (that’s how we roll). I think they’d just opened, and we were the only folk there. The girl was so friendly, helpful and we got great service with being set up, and pitchers of cocktails coming our way at regular intervals. She also happily took photos of us whilst we posed like loons.
The tune selection is ace, and the booth was a great size for 9 people (although it does get hot…) I recommend you go, order some pitchers of jack daniels-​containing cocktails, then rock out to «If You Wanna Be My Lover» (to be sun in a West Country accent), «Business Time», «Everybody (Back Street’s Back)» and Prince’s «Song Title To Dirty to be repeated». Oh and Kiss from a Rose, that one’s a classic.
Go with great people, don’t give two tosses about how you sound, and just laugh so much you won’t know what to do with yourself. Yey! This was previously a fear of mine and something I never wanted to do… and now I pretty much am finding an excuse to go back!

Tonight I’m gonna have myself… a real good time…
Go to Electric Circus and you most certainly will. This karaōke bar is a whole lotta fun! The décor is fantastic with dark rooms being brightened up by neon doors and funky graffiti covering the walls. It’s grungy and cool — the perfect place to sing Spice Girls at 4pm in the afternoon, right?
I came here at this early hour with a large group of 9, ready to rumble and get our Beyonce on. The thing is, when you’re sober and it’s still broad daylight outside it’s a bit unnerving coming into a dark room and standing up
My advice? Try their delicious jugs of cocktails and go with a bunch of awesome people like I did. Ultimately, it’s the crowd that’s important. When you’re standing there singing Backstreet Boys at the top of your voice, you want people there who’re going to be up there with you, rockin’ their bodies right as well.
The room was great — very comfortable and the equipment worked well throughout. The woman had put us in a ‘larger room’ which, though perfect for the occasion, was by no means massive so I’d be intrigued to see the small room! But hey! It keep things nice and cosy and personal, which makes everyone feel a bit more at home!
My other other advice, really, is to throw your hands up in the air, and wave’em around like you just don’t care, and if you wanna party let me hear you yell, ’cause we’ve got it goin’ on again.
Am I original? Yeah.

PJ and Duncan, Jazzy Jeff and the fresh prince and warren g and nate dog — 3 great double acts all totally butchered on our afternoon trip for karaōke!
Electric Circus is right in the heart of backpacker district and it looks like it’s definitely seen some serious action over the years. A place where nightclub meets fun palace — wipe down floors and a vibe and colour scheme so dark meaning there’s no need to make an effort to dress up.
All of the above is cool though and makes it what it is! There were 10 of us crammed in a little box room and we belted out some absolute bangers. The staff were cool and friendly and I was surprised with what a good range of beers they had! Very cool
I probably don’t need to do karaōke every week but it was a nice one off and a bit of fun with good friends.

Backstreet’s Back, Baby!
What’s better than hanging out with awesome people? Karaōke with awesome people!
9 of us work colleagues went to Electric Circus at 4pm on a Wednesday (I know, right!) and I’ll be honest, I and many others were dreading it! But we had an absolute blast! We rocked and ruined loads of old classics and a few new numbers as well!
The staff were pretty cool! Being 4pm on a weekday, we were obviously the only people in there. They brought our first round of drinks in for us, but had to go to the bar to order bar. Which wasn’t a problem!
My tip: just do it! If you’re in a good, fun crowd then you’ll be fine! You wont want to put the mic down once you’ve done your first song. Oh, and make sure you do a group song!

Have you ever done karaōke at 4pm on a Wednesday? It’s kind of amazing.
I was in town for training and we needed to put together a team-​offsite that was fun and quirky. I have no idea how I brought up karaōke, but there it was, and when it was there, it stuck.
There isn’t a lot of options for karaōke in Edinburgh and this one came up top of the list. First off, the staff here when setting something something up is incredible. They got back to me right away on email, we figured out what would and would not work, and then they even opened the bar just for us when 4pm was the only time we could do it. Insane.
So there we were, sober as the Dickens, about to do karaōke. The bar is one of those cooly dark spots with spray paint graffiti art and neon lights all over the walls. It’s grungy but in that way that’s on purpose and kind of fun. The karaōke booths are private and to the left, down a small black corridor.
Overall, the karaōke is OK, The microphones and sound is great and it is a blast to sing. The song choice is… OK. They have a bunch of songs but there was a ton missing as well (no «It’s The End of the World» by REM? For shame.) Also, the machine is really clunky to use. It’s awkward touch screen and never types as well as you’d like. And when you add a song, sometimes it’s on the bottom, sometime’s it in the middle for no reason. Plus, it skips songs randomly, for again, a reason I could not understand.
But screw it, who cares. It was as hilarious and amazing as karaōke should be. Best team bonding ever.

Sometimes it’s the small things that make a difference: the friendly and kind serving person that looks after the karaōke rooms waited until we had finished murdering another pop classic before coming in to take our order of drinks. I guess that’s the kind of service that a McCartney or a Gallagher is used to when crooning their way through an evening, professional roadies can be hard to find though.
The room was smaller, our group was tight, the singing was spiritual in its tremendousness and overall a find old time was had by all. I had to adjust my repertoire to fit the tunes available — the list wasn’t exhaustive. So no Kraftwerk, but a good smattering of Bowie, Stones and modern stuff that I didn’t recognise. I would definitely go back, yes ma’am, and am available to destroy your favourite tracks too (if they’re on the list).

Probably my favourite place in Edinburgh to go for a cheesy boogie with my girlfriends after a night of wine and gossip. Plus, there’s karaōke!
Lots of deals wing their way to me via email so you can get some great packages here, starting with a couple of hours karaōke and spilling into the club afterwards. There’s also a drinks service in the karaōke rooms, so you don’t even need to think about negotiating the crowds when you’re belting out a Diana Ross number and fancy a top-​up on the old vino.

Well I never thought I was a karaōke fan until I experienced this place! Was at a hen night the other weekend and ended up in one of the karaōke booths and what a laugh it was. All inhibitions disappeared quickly when I realised you only had to perform in front of your mates and not the rest of the pub! First time I felt I could belt out a solo version of ‘I will survive’ and really feel like a pop star ;-) I was in my element!

I love this place as a small music venue but please invest in a better sound system. 4 or even 5 stars if the sound system was upgraded.

A solid night out in one of their private rooms was what we wanted — and it’s what we got.
We turned up with something like 10 more people than planned and asked for a bigger room and they were happy to move us to a bigger room.
At £10 each for 2 hours of Karaōke (about 20 of us) it was well worth it and we had an absolute blast. Lots of good songs. Room service, they didn’t mind how many glasses we broke or drinks we spilt — this seemed to be expected, and frankly we were fairly rowdy!
The concierge lady was lovely, the staff in general fairly cool and the other clientelle… well some of them were rather hen-​party drunk, others were like us just there for a comedy night out. DJ till late was ok and I got chatted up by a few girls and propositioned by one. I had to train the next morning so said no thanks.
Drinks are bloomin expensive too.
So Single men — head here for a guilt free night of sin. Remember to use protection.

My friends had a trip to Electric Circus last year and hired one of the karaōke rooms… they ended up singing lots, getting stupidly drunk and dancing their (day-​glo) socks off!
Now, I wasn’t with them on that visit and, despite being too disorganised to book a karaōke room on this occasion, I was quite keen to head there for a bit of dancing post-​birthday dinner.
It was smaller than I thought it would be and the dance floor was tiny (which would put paid to any attempts at 80’s style break-​dancing moves!). The music was a mix of 80’s and 90’s and certainly had us dancing in our seats (and on the tiny dance floor!).
The décor was bright and funky, the house wine was tasty and only £12.50 a bottle and the bar staff were pleasant and prompt.
The crowd were a bit of a mixed bunch… uni students, drunk random blokes who wanted to dance, the obligatory hen do’s and us folk celebrating my 35^th birthday!
For the £4 entry fee it was definitely worth a visit and I would be happy to go back again… will maybe have a go at karaōke the next time (I promise to warn you all when that night may be!)

RIP Massa, one of the simultaneously best and worst student nights in Edinburgh. Ludicrously cheap drinks but filled with douchebags, it could be amazing or utter shite. And picking up the baton is Electric Circus, which does a surprisingly decent job at running a good club. They have tried to make it a bit fancier, which is no bad thing seeing as Massa was pretty dingy. It kind of works as well, the seating area is quite nice and the décor a bit better than before.
The only thing I’m not certain about is that the already cramped venue has been made even smaller by the rather inexplicable addition of a few private karaōke booths. These can be rented out but are often empty, which means that the dancefloor is that little bit more rammed
The drinks, whilst not being able to compete with the 50p drinks offered before because of the bollocks new alcohol laws, are still reasonable. As well as this the selection has hugely improved, with there being a wide array of different spirits, along with a good selection of beers and ciders.
Definitely not the same atmosphere as Massa, but few will really miss that, and the newer, spruced up (yeh I did just say spruced, I’m gettin my OAP on) décor makes it a nicer place to go out in. Combine that with a good range of drinks and DJs that don’t play the same old godawful Cheesy shite that we’re used to and you end up with a pretty good night out.

I had the most awful night at Electric Circus, but I’ll put it down to my universities’ law students rather than the club itself. You see it was one of those organized student evenings that ended up in a club that was much smaller than appropriate with extremely dodgy music.
I don’t know what the music is like on a normal night, but going by it’s name I reckon it’s nothing close to what I personally like. hiphop, rnb etc. I remember bright blue flickering lights, a pretty small dance floor and an equally small bar making it quite difficult to grab something to drink.
I feel a night which got quite crappy towards the end (which coincidentally was a Electric Circus) may have rubbed off on my impression of the club, so take my opinion with a pinch of salt.

For some reason or other, people have been ranting and raving to me about Electric Circus. This might be an overstatement. But people have generally been saying quite good things to me about Electric Circus. And good events seem to be taking place there (went there recently for both the Kitty, Daisy and Lewis show as well as the Fest Launch Party). But I’m still not totally impressed by the venue. Maybe because it’s small and cramped and makes me feel quite claustrophobic.
I mean, it’s not all bad. One defining feature about a venue is its choice of shows. And Electric Circus seems to put on good acts (mostly by the Edge, during the festival). And when I was there for the Fest party launch, they served amazing Thistly Cross Cidre that tastes like apple juice but is deceptively strong.

Having reinvented itself as half karaōke booths (don’t make the mistake of thinking the doorway to these is that to the toilets as you’ll have a weird few minutes wandering about) half live music venue nothing much has really changed since it was Massa and before that Buster Brown’s. There’s less seating and the acoustics are as reasonable as in the past but as yet it doesn’t appear to have made a great impact when it comes to attracting touring bands. It’s size though is in its favour so time will tell.

I was a regular here when it was ‘Massa’ — the 50p drinks and crackin tunes were my perfect night out. I was a bit hesitant when it changed hands to Electric Circus, and a bit more hesitant when I heard it would was a karaōke bar.
There were a few things that first struck me when I went into Electric Circus — the cool, bright colours, the mirrors and the fact that the vodka they served wasn’t paint-​stripper anymore! Yey! All the little rooms were really cute and the perfect size for a group of friends, taking turns to belt out the tunes. I must admit I was in my element — microphone in hand, all my friends around me, the bar behind me… what’s not to like!
They have still managed to keep the buzzing atmosphere in the main part of the club. I hate to say it… but I think I like it even better than when it was Massa!

My friend got a job here and insisted that we all come and support her. I hadn’t really heard much about this place but I thought I’d give it a bash.
Well I’m so glad I did! It really is so much fun. I had no idea somewhere like this existed in Edinburgh, but I’m glad it does and its perfect for a birthday party or just friends getting together.
Firstly, I have never done karaōke in my life. I ain’t going to lie, I’m tone deaf. I make those deluded fools on the audition rounds of the X Factor look like Celine Dion. So I have made a conscious effort throughout my life to avoid singing in public. Well once I had a few drinks in me, and as there was a few of us in this little room I thought why not. I channeled my inner Beyonce and belted out the hits (much to the annoyance of everyone else) and clearly decided that I was the next Leona Lewis. Its great fun and so addictive. Plus you don’t have to listen to that middle aged man who always gets up and sings Angels when there is karaōke, added bonus.
Aside from the karaōke this place also functions as a club. Quite a good one I might add with various themed nights. They is occasionally live music too. Electric Circus is quickly on its way to becoming one of THE places to go in Edinburgh.

Ok, I had my reservations because I detest karaōke with a passion, but I do love the Japanese ideas of sexy little rooms where you and your closet can go and hire one of the little rooms off the main bar. so you save yourself having to sing karaōke in front of a club full of strangers, even though my friends can be just as cruel. Apparently sounding like «Charlie Says» isn’t a good thing.
If you’re just wanting a drink and a dance then the main bar with their fine selection of bands was equally as pleasing on the ears and the eyes. Wasn’t really a sit-​down-​and-​chat atmosphere but after the Charlie Says comment I didn’t want to talk to my pals anyway.