SINGAPORE — My friend and I had made a plan to spend quality time with each other in Singapore. She had recently moved here from her post in Malaysia. Deprived of a social life, she asked me to come over and keep her company over the holidays.
Upon arriving, she informed me that she had purchased tickets to ZoukOut 2009. ZoukOut is Asia’s largest outdoor dance music festival held annually on Siloso Beach at Sentosa, Singapore. Last year’s party had a record-breaking 26,000 attendees. This year’s turn out was expected to be even larger.
Not a huge fan of loud music and large crowds, I was nervous about what I would encounter. I decided that a drink or two before the event would be needed to loosen up.
A dozen drinks later and finally at the venue, I was queuing up at the festival. A woman behind me spoke in Filipino, making fun of the seemingly intoxicated “local” in front of her. I turned around and replied, “Yes, I am drunk. Is there a problem?” She was surprised that I understood Filipino. We had a good laugh and hugged it out. I was in a good mood. This had to be amicable foreshadowing.
Upon setting foot on the beach, I immediately ran into a group of friends from the Philippines. One of them was trigger happy with the blinding flash of his camera — not favorable in my current state. I walked over to the nearest bar, Bar 12.
The guests at the bar were from various cities from everywhere. Waiting in queue, I met a group of Belgian men pretending to be from Quebec, Singaporeans who thought I was a local, and four bikini-clad American women that had been unsuccessfully trying to coax the bartender to give them free drinks. Armed with a quadruple 42 Below on the rocks in hand (I didn’t want to return to the bar so soon) I sauntered my way through the different stages on the beach. Positive vibes all around with uplifting music; I felt very good despite my aversion to loud music and large crowds. There were over 27,000 partygoers at ZoukOut 2009.
Different stages across the sand delivered various sounds ranging from garage, house, techno, techno-pop and trance to drum & bass, dubstep and even hip hop. The impressive line-up of DJs headlined by Armin van Buuren included Bob Sinclair, The Martinez Brothers, Tiga, Martin Solveig, Miss Kittin & The Hacker and DJ Craze among others.
Favoring hip-hop, I settled at the DJ Craze location. The walk to the Wave House Sentosa was a visual feast. Live art installations by Singapore’s premier contemporary artists had been placed right on the beach. Fireworks and an amazing laser light show were in constant display above the waters. People dressed in outrageous costumes were scattered all over the span.
Just about to find the perfect spot to stay, I received a phone call from Paul Lim. Paul is a Singaporean friend I had met, briefly, during a dinner in Manila. He had found out through my Facebook status that I’d be at Zoukout.
I left the Hip-Hop area to meet him and his friends at Bar 6 beside Armin van Buuren’s stage. Trance isn’t usually on my playlist but I have to say Armin van Buuren’s set was euphoric. I hopped over to the bar to get another quad shot. After the lowering of inhibitions was finally brought on by my nth drink, I had the most enjoyable and unspeakable time at ZoukOut…. ‘Til next year.