ZoukOut goes regional

The annual music festival will be held in the Philippines and Hong Kong, with plans for other places to be featured

ZoukOut 2015 held at Sentosa's Siloso Beach drew more than 45,000 people.
ZoukOut 2015 held at Sentosa's Siloso Beach drew more than 45,000 people. PHOTO: ST FILE

In a push to go regional and then global, ZoukOut - one of Asia's biggest dance music festivals - is expanding beyond Singapore's shores with a preview show in April on the island of Boracay in the Philippines.

This will be the first time that the 15-year-old annual music festival will be held outside of Singapore.

Other than Boracay, a prelude edition of the music festival will also be held in Hong Kong, with the dates yet to be revealed. There are also plans for other places to be featured in the pipeline.

The main event, ZoukOut 2016, will take place in December.

The two-day festival in Boracay, on April 30 and May 1, will feature headline acts including American DJ and ZoukOut veteran Kaskade as well as newcomer, home-grown DJ-producer MMXJ. Other confirmed acts are Canadian electronic duo DVBBS, Dutch house music brothers DubVision, Asian duo DJ Royale & Junior, American DJ Vice and Zouk resident DJ Ghetto.

Zouk expects 5,000 revellers to show up at the famous White Beach on Boracay, at the Epic and Uptown beachfront, where the festival will be held.

Pre-sale tickets, which are available at SM Tickets (https://smtickets. com), cost 2,000 peso (S$59) for a single-day pass and 3,600 peso for a two-day pass.

Mr Andrew Li, 33, Zouk's vice- president of lifestyle and food and beverage concepts, says: "ZoukOut Boracay is the first step in our overall strategy in growing the brand regionally and globally."

Zouk was acquired by conglomerate Genting Hong Kong (Genting HK) last year for an undisclosed amount.

According to Mr Li, Boracay was chosen as the first destination for ZoukOut's introduction to the international market because of its "pristine beaches, crystal-clear water as well as signature sunsets and sunrises which epitomise the spirit of ZoukOut".

Mr Li says that these prelude editions to ZoukOut in Singapore later this year is the first step in repositioning the company regionally "with a strong focus on Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines".

Genting HK owns hotels, casinos and cruise ships and is head- quartered and listed in Hong Kong, with a secondary listing in Singapore. It is an affiliate of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Group, which Genting Singapore is a part of.

The company now owns all of Zouk's major trademarks, the upcoming club in Clarke Quay, as well as the annual beach festival, ZoukOut. Zouk's Kuala Lumpur branch was left out of the acquisition.

Mr Li also revealed that there are plans to " innovate and revitalise" ZoukOut.

The main event saw more than 45,000 in attendance on Siloso Beach Sentosa last year.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 29, 2016, with the headline ZoukOut goes regional. Subscribe