Marquee, one of S'pore's largest clubs, to reopen on July 1; tickets on sale from June 16

The spin-off of famed New York nightclub Marquee had brought in world-class entertainers and DJs such as Steve Aoki. PHOTO: MARQUEE SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE - One of Singapore's biggest nightclubs, Marquee, is reopening on July 1 after almost 2½ years as the battered nightlife scene here gets back on its feet.

After announcing its reopening date at the start of this month, the club told The Straits Times that tickets will go on sale via marqueesingapore.com on Thursday (June 16) at noon, at $30 for online ticket bookings and $40 at the door.

The 2,300 sq m club located next to the Sands Theatre at The Shoppes in Marina Bay Sands has an indoor eight-armed ferris wheel with a photo booth in each pod and a three-storey slide. It has been shut since March 2020.

From July 1, it will be open from 10pm to 6am on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays and operate at full capacity.

For its opening weekend, the club's resident DJs Fvder, Zippy and Kya will take to the decks.

Pre-pandemic, the spin-off venture of famed nightclub Marquee in New York City had brought in world-class DJs and entertainers, including Dutch DJs Tiesto and Afrojack and American rapper A$AP Rocky.

The reopening will also take place with new safe management measures in effect.

Last week, the Health Ministry announced that from Tuesday (June 14), capacity limits for nightlife establishments with dancing will be lifted, and patrons will no longer need to obtain a negative antigen rapid test (ART) result to enter such venues.

However, vaccination-differentiated measures will continue to be applied, and operators will still be required to conduct checks on patrons' vaccination status.

Patrons will also be required to be masked up on the dance floor.

Nightlife is one of the last sectors to be allowed to reopen fully, and not all establishments have survived. Some venues are choosing to cut their losses.

ST understands that popular late-night venues Bang Bang and Lulu's Lounge have returned their venues to Pan Pacific Singapore, where the clubs were located side by side.

Others are forging ahead, though many are not ready to resume operating at full capacity, citing manpower issues such as finding full-time staff.

Major nightclub player Zouk in Clarke Quay said it will ramp up its capacity limit from 500 people to 1,200 people in time for its usual mid-week opening. At full capacity, it can hold 2,000 people, but it is holding off for now, citing manpower constraints.

Similarly, Bollywood club Magic Carpet Lounge in Beach Road will continue operating at 75 per cent capacity or about 130 patrons.

Others like Club Rumours in Concorde Shopping Mall have gone back to full capacity since the rules lifted on Tuesday. They are glad they do not have to enforce ART any more. Such tests cost partygoers anything from $12 for a supervised one done remotely to $20 for an on-site supervised test at venues.

"The waiting time to enter the club was long due to the ART process, and many patrons were unhappy with the additional cost... there were instances where some just left because they did not want to go ahead with the test," said Club Rumours' director, Ms Magesvari Jeganathan.

"It was a hassle."

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