In December 2012, 40,000 people crossed to Sentosa’s Siloso Beach over two nights for ZoukOut. That made it the biggest crowd in the history of the festival, which Zouk had started 12 years earlier with 11,000 people at its first edition in 2000.
Regular festivalgoers and first-timers were asked about the festival that month, and they gave it the thumbs up. They said it could still book major international DJs and still had a lively, friendly feel.
A club’s beach party grows up
Zouk opened in 1991 and launched ZoukOut in 2000 as an all-night dance music festival. When it began, it was Singapore’s first outdoor dance music festival. By 2012 it had been held both on Sentosa and at the Marina Bay Waterfront.
Earlier editions had brought in Dutch DJ and producer Tiësto, British DJ Dave Seaman and French DJ David Guetta. Most years the festival lasted one night, with partygoers dancing from dusk until dawn. In 2012 it ran over two nights for the first time since 2003. Zouk said the extra night was meant to give more value to both tourists and locals.
The 2012 festival, through the crowd
More than 20 acts played on Siloso Beach that weekend. They included Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, German trance DJ Paul van Dyk, dancehall-electro act Major Lazer, American dubstep and house DJ Kaskade, and trance group Above & Beyond. Most of the crowd were clubgoers in their 20s and 30s.
One show producer in his mid-30s had been to every ZoukOut since 2000. He said the organisers kept up with the times by booking whoever was in demand. He liked having newer names such as Russian techno and minimal house DJ Nina Kraviz alongside veterans such as Van Dyk, a Grammy-nominated trance DJ whom DJ Mag readers had twice voted world number one.
A lawyer who had been to seven editions saw the strong demand in the ticket prices. Tickets once cost S$38, or S$45 at the door. In 2012 they cost S$98, or S$108 at the door, and the festival still filled two nights.
First-timers liked it too. One 20-year-old air force national serviceman said it was fun and worth the money. He met new people there and liked that the stages were split, so two or three acts played at once. He added that whether he came back would depend on the headliners.
A 23-year-old Malaysian swimming coach went to ZoukOut on the Friday. The next day he went to the Heineken Thirst festival at Sepang International Circuit in Selangor. He said he had much more fun on the beach in Singapore and found the crowd’s mood better. A 20-year-old exchange student from Scotland at Nanyang Technological University found the drinks dearer than at festivals back home. Still, he rated the event among the best organised he had been to, with bars, toilets, the entrance and the exit all easy to reach.
The grumbles that came with it
Some old complaints were still there. Getting on and off Sentosa, and queuing for toilets, food and drinks, were the biggest gripes. One final-year university student went on both nights and enjoyed the line-up. She said she left earlier than she wanted to so she could avoid the rush off the island.
One National University of Singapore undergraduate had been to every ZoukOut since 2008 and to festivals in Amsterdam and Berlin. He preferred the one-night format. In his view, a bigger crowd on a single night made up for the lack of dancing space, because the atmosphere was wilder.
ZoukOut since then
The two-night format stayed for many of the years that followed. The 17th edition took place on Siloso Beach on 8 and 9 December 2017, with hip-hop, techno, house, commercial EDM and trance acts. The festival then took a break from 2019 to 2021.
ZoukOut returned in 2022 as a two-day festival on Siloso Beach, and CNA reported a line-up that included Tiësto, Armin van Buuren and Zedd. In 2023 the festival marked its 20th edition on 2 and 3 December at Siloso Beach, presented by OCBC.
The festival is still held on Siloso Beach, usually in December and running from sunset to sunrise. Zouk Group’s official ZoukOut channels publish the dates, line-up and ticket details for each new edition.