The next ZoukOut in Batam?
By Asif Ansar, TODAY | Posted: 07 December 2007 1028 hrs
When you show up at ZoukOut on Saturday, take what might be your very last look at the annual outdoor dance festival as you know it.
This sight won't be such a common sight anymore if ZoukOut moves out of Siloso Beach at Sentosa to other locations
When it comes back around next year, you could be partying in Batam. You might even be having a boogie in the sun.
As development work on Sentosa goes into overdrive, one thing is for sure: The 56,000 sq ft strip of beach at Siloso will be cut in half — literally.
“We’d like to continue to hold ZoukOut on Siloso but it really depends on the developments that are coming up there,” said Tracy Phillips, marketing manager of Zouk.
“ZoukOut will either have to scale down or find another venue. So we are keeping our options open. We have nothing concrete right now ... Some interested parties have approached Zouk to hold ZoukOut in places like Bali, the Phuket islands and Batam,” she added.
Those who already find a taxi ride to Sentosa a bother — what more a flight overseas — can keep their fingers crossed.
There are also plans to keep the dance party within our borders.
Some possible locations being scouted are the Marina South area and various beaches.
Phillips said Zouk has not ruled out the possibility of changing the concept of ZoukOut entirely, even transforming it into day and night segments in an urban setting.
Zouk — ranked No 10 in the world by DJ magazine — is hoping what may be the last ZoukOut at Siloso Beach on Saturday will be one to remember.
Leading the charge is the much-loved and respected legendary DJ Carl Cox who, for a man of his status, is surprisingly enough, spinning for the first time at what is now considered one of Asia’s premier dance music festivals.
The Englishman, 45, has played in Singapore eight times since April 1997 and was last here in December 2005.
“I am looking forward to coming back and even more so to ZoukOut because it will be my very first time doing this event. It’s definitely on the calendar of parties to go to around the world. It’s something different — it’s special,” he told TODAY.
“I don’t normally get an opportunity to play in Asia that much. And when I do have the opportunity, everyone treats it as an event — not just a normal club night ... It’s always something special when I am playing in Singapore.”
It’s only right then that Cox — who is No 7 on this year’s DJ magazine Top 100 poll — headlines ZoukOut above Dutch trance sensation Armin Van Buuren — the world’s top DJ, who will also be spinning.
Known as the “People’s DJ”, Cox, who is famous for working the crowd mostly with his driving techno grooves with a third turntable thrown into the mix, will be joined by other big hitters such as Giles Peterson, as well as a bevy of hot young talents including the eclectic duo Booka Shade and electro-punks Does It Offend You, Yeah?.
Not least among them is quirky New York outfit, LCD Soundsystem, of which main man James Murphy and bandmate Pat Mahoney will be doing a DJ set.
“We mostly play disco, but it's difficult to say what we'll play in Singapore — it depends on the crowd,” Murphy told TODAY.
“Disco” seems to be putting it mildly for a guy who fronts a band whose sound he describes as “gay stuff”, “sandwiches without too much meat and stuff on them” and “hipster nonsense”.
That you can’t get a serious answer out of Murphy is to be expected from a guy who once famously turned down an opportunity to write for the sitcom Seinfeld.
On hindsight, the 37-year-old said: “I didn’t know it would be so successful.” But it seems to have all worked out: LCD Soundsystem’s latest release, Sound of Silver, is a critics’ darling. The band even said no to working with Britney Spears.
“She was boring, so we blew it off,” he said. “I’d like to do something with Zeppelin and Timberlake. That’s my goal!”
Sounds like silver to us. Maybe the smart mouth has a suggestion for where to hold ZoukOut next year.
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