Francesca Tay
To turn 20 years old is something special. Any youth would concur it’s a time where teenage dreams transcend into adult realities.
And Zouk, the it club, celebrated its 20th birthday in a very special way for four consecutive nights. Known for its colourful and rich clubbing heritage, the birthday extravaganza symbolised one man’s vision and dream of turning a world-class club in reality 20 years later. Launched in March 1991 with French Creole word for ‘party’ as it’s name, Zouk has since become one of the hottest nightspots in Asia and beyond, making Singapore the go-to destination for clubbers and revellers.
Of course, how else to kick off an intoxicating weekend at Jiak Kim Street than the original Mambo Jambo made famous by the Zouk folks themselves? With special guest Aldrin rocking it, Mambo night came to life with dancers in Afro and 80s costumes. The diverse crowd gyrated to the oldies disco style, making this particular Mambo special and together 4ever more.
The club hit a full house on the second night of the celebration with guest DJ DJ Armin van Buuren, voted number 1 in DJ Magazine‘s annual top 100 lists of the most popular DJs for 4 years in a row. The Dutch trance producer and DJ opened the night with the original mix of ‘2099’ by Marcus Schossow & Leon Bolier. As he churned out massive hits after hits such as ‘Not Giving Up on Love’ and ‘This Light Between Us’, the crowd at Zouk got delirious over the 3-hour set till 2:30am.
The act was much anticipated as many fumbled to get to the frontline of the DJ console, with the entire dance floor moshing to the beats of newer songs such as ‘Status Excessu D’. A siren sound build-up of the familiar ‘Drowning’ also got the crowd crying out.
As expected, wonder boy Armin did not disappoint as he left the crowd thirsting for more, but not without an encore of ‘Going Wrong’ in collaboration with DJ Shah, featuring Chris Jones.
The loyal Zoukettes did not fail to turn up consecutively for the third day despite the fatigue and seemed to be as fresh as before, as the Official 20th Anniversary commenced on Friday with the celebration of the club turning 20 with a giant birthday cake, performers on stilts and drummers.
The celebration was loud, riotous and quick to say the least.Members enjoyed a free flow of drinks till midnight as they partied to the tunes of resident DJs and caught a glimpse into the exciting future of their favourite club who had since provided them with memories of many Mambo Jambo nights and Zoukouts.
Alas, the 4-day party came to an end on Saturday night, Apr 16 as celebrated DJ Danny Tenaglia from New York spent a long night at Zouk with fans who were stoked to party till dawn. The 50-year-old from Brooklyn had graced big rooms in New York City including Avalon, Crobar, Pacha NYC, Roxy and Webster Hall, and was infamous for being the ‘Marathon DJ’ that spun till the daylights.
Gearing up with cans of Redbull and their dancing shoes, Tenaglia brings a whole new meaning to ‘all night long’ as his set lasted until 10 in the morning on the following Sunday afternoon, corresponding to his previous set in Singapore in 2006.He ended off the celebrations with clubbers well fed from the free breakfast courtesy of the birthday club, not forgetting their sore toes and tired smiles at the end of the marathon. . It was an apt ending to the 4-night celebration, a showcase of Zouk’s stamina, strength and longstanding legacy the club has left behind on the clubscape with many more glorious years to come.
The UrbanWire wishes Zouk a happy 20th birthday!
Photo courtesy of: Zouk Singapore