Zoukout Nokia Remix @ Marina Bay Waterfront Part 3

Part Three: Mambo and Day One

In terms of numbers, the Mambo Jambo arena came in a close second, which is unsurprising considering Zouk's most popular night since its inception has been Mambo Jambo on Wednesdays. It was humbling to watch Zouk resident Aldrin, christened Danny Tenaglia's favourite DJ, gamely mix the top 40 tunes and 80s retro hits that are the unmistakable sound of Mambo.

Wednesday night anthems like 'Square Rooms', 'Pretty Fly For A White Guy' and 'Bizarre Love Triangle' ensured that Mambo diehards kept their feet moving and arms occupied with their trademark synchronised hand gestures. The latter was so well-performed by a trio of droopy-haired guys on the podium that they almost appeared to be telepathically coordinating their hand movements. Kudos to the Mambo crowd and DJs for keeping the vibe happy and their bodies in motion - the essence of a good night out.

True to form, the Regional arena suffered from the lowest turnout. What was supposed to be a showcase of Asia's DJ talent looked more like a museum exhibit, so small was the audience. Nevertheless, Gabriel, representing Malaysia, managed to draw in a small but dedicated crowd of fervent supporters and travelling Malaysians with a tight set of muscular, funk-laced techno. The Phillipines' Manolet served up a slightly sluggish progressive set and Indonesia's Riri wound up the night with some pitched-down tribal house. Frontal's Gerald also put in an appearance with a clean techno set that was tighter than a steel coil.

Day one was almost a warm-up for the 12-hour dancefest to follow, with Gus Gus, Dirty Vegas and Stereo MCs playing live for a relatively small crowd - if you can call 4,000 people small. Our partners, Frontal, reported that Iceland's Gus Gus played a funkin' set and tried to pump up the crowd with some light-hearted banter (ed: We missed this unfortunately, because we were still on a bus somewhere in Johor).

Dirty Vegas, arguably one of the biggest acts in dance music right now, took over at peaktime, giving the crowd a good dose of their languid vocals, bottom-heavy house beats and some killer live guitar riffs courtesy of self-styled guitar hero Ben Harris.

The trio behind the chart-busting hit 'Days Go By' ended their set on a high and made way for Stereo MCs. The MCs, a misnomer if there ever was one as there is only one MC, managed to keep up the energy levels through MC Rob Birch's wild gyrations and constant prancing, but things soon began to wind down as the crowd couldn't get into their less accessible tunes.

Zoukout had all the ingredients for a fantastic festival experience, right down to the unglamourous logistics of ensuring enough porta-loos and setting up an efficient shuttle bus schedule. It was, quite emphatically, another feather in Zouk's already crowded cap.

Go back to part 1 : The Venue
Go back to part 2 : Velvet & Beyond
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