ZoukOut 2012 & raving in England

Yep my second visit to that lucrative party-place Sentosa island. I was invited to this by friends, or would never have thought to go. Zouk is a nightclub in Singapore (and also Kuala Lumpur.. there may be others!) and ZoukOut equals Zouk, outside..

It was kind of a rave / festival on Siloso Beach. But in a very nice, commercially organised way! Apparently it's the biggest in Asia, with people coming from all over the region to join in, totalling an estimated 40,000 partygoers over two days. Music was all DJs, international, including celebrity ones like Calvin Harris. It was good for dancing, with some fun sideshows etc too. The party ran from 8pm-8am and by around 4am we were all a bit sandy, and ready for home. (Plus it got packed, and the music took a dive once Harris arrived!) Anyway, it was worth a visit. (Maybe just the once.)

Back in the day I went with four lads from my hometown to a rave. It was a really big, illegal one - somewhere outdoors in Southern England. To find it took some doing, and required beetling up motorways (you need a car) and finding others who were heading there; stopping at service stations to get intel from fellow ravers from all corners of the UK.. it was like a big treasure hunt! Finally we convoyed with a bunch of other souped-up, boy-racer cars and found it. It was open air, out on a deserted moor - with a huge, impressive sound-system and set-up. A £20 admission fee was required to get our car on site. Then a further surprise £20 was levied to get in through the (farm!) gates on foot. It opened at around 1am with a very impressive laser show - flashing out shapes and messages across the clouds. But.. aaahh.. the UK and cloud! Before long, down came the rain. We all got back in our cars and waited. And waited. And waited. Sound equipment and water are not good friends, and after several wet hours, the entire plastic-covered set was packed up. That was the end of our rave!

I guess the lesson here is: if you are holding an illegal rave in England, make sure it's indoors. Or, hold it in Singapore, where you are pretty much guaranteed a good, open-air climate. Of course, it can't be illegal here, though!