Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Capacity: 5,000
Since launching in 2004 as the sister club to one of Asia’s original superclubs — Zouk in Singapore — Zouk KL has become one of the leading lights in dance music’s continuing global expansion.
At the heart of the club’s success lies a burning passion to be the biggest and best club in the region. To achieve its aims, Zouk KL moved into custom-built premises in 2015 and spent eye-watering sums on fitting out its cavalcade of rooms with state-of-the-art Funktion-One soundsystems, luxurious décor and an astonishing number of LED light bulbs (there are a million alone in Zouk’s Mainroom, the EDM, trance and hard dance-focused space that hosts the biggest guest DJs and regular events).
As the club’s staff are keen to point out, Zouk KL is now the biggest superclub in Asia, though its 5,000 capacity includes numerous interlinked club spaces — Velvet Underground, Phuture, Ace and the super-exclusive, VIP-focused Imperial — and bars, plus a unique members’ area accessed via a slide from the floor above. Such variety allows the venue to run a plethora of events on the same night, with DJs and live acts booked to match carefully thought-out musical themes.
2018 was another hugely successful year for the Malaysian superclub, with high profile headliners including Hardwell, hardstyle stars Coone and Atmozfears, and Kearnage Recordings’ main man (and fast-rising trance superstar) Bryan Kearney. There was also the small matter of the club’s annual ZoukIN festival, an indoor answer to Singapore’s ZoukOUT festival that’s quickly become the highlight of the Malaysian clubbing calendar.