The hot weather, the intimacy of the venue and perhaps, the grimness of the world outside conspire to create an atmosphere that’s extraordinary even by Chic’s standards: everybody dances all of the time. The ecstatic mood spills into the afterparty: a recreation of legendary disco epicentre Studio 54 in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, complete with trapeze artists, drag queens, roller-skaters, original Studio 54 resident DJs Nicky Siano and John “Jellybean” Benitez, and even the notorious sculpture of the man in the moon sniffing cocaine from a spoon. Like Chic’s set, the pop-up club confirms disco’s status as the most formidable, and resilient, pleasure-delivery system ever conceived by pop music. Rodgers has every reason to celebrate himself. Forty years on, Disco Sucks is merely a grubby historical footnote but disco springs eternal.
Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian review of ‘A Night of Studio 54′, Sunday 4th Aug 2019
