Clubbing Powerhouse
In the mist-strewn mountains of Genting Highlands, the party begins at Zouk Genting, a recall of the halcyon days of clubbing. Spanning across 35,000 square feet, Zouk Genting– which opened its doors on 2019’s New Year’s Eve – is located in the nexus of the Sky Avenue shopping and entertainment complex in a dedicated area called the Zouk Atrium. This space consists of RedTail by Zouk (where you can play an XXXL version of beer pong), RedTail Karaoke and FuHu, a ‘vibe dining’ restaurant serving Asian fare with a twist. Empire by Zouk is a smaller venue used from Sundays to Thursdays while Zouk Genting’s main room opens on Fridays and Saturdays.
Joseph Ryan, the director of special projects for Zouk Genting, points out that Zouk Genting is a bridge between everything that made Zouk Singapore a top three-rated club worldwide on DJ Mag last year, and also a precursor of what the 100,000 square foot Zouk in Vegas will be. “We wanted the entire Zouk Genting experience to be a sensory surprise, designed for people who enjoy the classic kind of clubbing.”
The user experience, as Ryan calls it, begins with an impressively cool walkway into the club. Club-goers will be instinctively charged by the hyperkinetic interplay of light and dark, with a progressive pumping of bass. The credit for this throb of excitement emanating from your chest goes to the The Void speakers installed in the club, the first and only use of such advanced speaker technology in the country – and maybe even the Asian continent. “The Void speakers offer zero distortion and is allied with a trio of lighting symbology called The Mothership,” Ryan says. These lighting symbols, which also appear in Zouk Singapore, are the brainchild of LEDSCONTROL, a professional lighting outfit from Barcelona which has organised the mind-blowing use of lighting at Amnesia in Ibiza, Flash Factory in New York, Dragonfly in Jakarta as well as numerous DJ festivals such as DWP and Enter. In a similar vein, investment on Zouk Genting’s state-of-the-art tech includes CO2 canisters in the ceiling, over 1,000 LED lights and a cool flame unit which would be used in tandem with live performances and acrobatic aerialists.
Those who would wish to have their own celebrations away from a floor capacity of 1,200 people may opt for one of the two Capital Suites – named after one of the rooms from Zouk Singapore. The two private rooms accommodate up to 30 pax and 60 pax respectively, and start selling from RM15,000 and above depending on the programme and DJ in the house. The club’s monthly DJ roster offers resident DJs, two from Zouk Singapore, one to two regional DJs and one to two international DJs. Four international Top 10 DJs will also feature in the space of a year at Zouk Genting while a Zouk Live event is planned for the outdoor space next year.
While the cost of admission to Zouk Genting begins with a two beer bottle minimum, celebrations may become quite elaborate with bottle presentations featuring Zouk Mothership-shaped containers holding 24 and 48 bottles of champagne. Should one be inclined, there are also champagne packages which run the gamut of 10 to 100 bottles. Here at Zouk Genting – where the entire stock of Cristal was sold out on opening night – one finds the coveted Armand de Brignac King Midas Ace of Spades, a 30-litre large-format bottle (equivalent to 40 regular-sized bottles), handcrafted by eight artisans.
What is equally as impressive, is the planning which went into bottle service, where distribution from source to table happens within a minute. “We’ve had plenty of training from Resorts World Genting and have also implemented slip lanes for service,” Ryan says, adding that a regular client had commented it was the fastest service he had ever received, which included comparisons with Vegas.
Meanwhile, the local flavour at Zouk Genting is augmented by neon graffiti murals and street art by South East Asian artists, curated by Singaporean art consultant The Artling. “What we really want,” says Ryan, “is to introduce a new crowd to Resorts World Genting, those who can enjoy a weekend of pairing meals at Burger & Lobster and Harry Ramsden with the excitement of Zouk Genting. We’ve welcomed many regulars from Zouk Singapore who love it here – those who say, ‘I wanna see a DJ and have my senses blown to pieces.’”
