Friday, December 16, 2005

I went to the Ministry of Sound pre-opening party on Wednesday night. There wasn't much of a crowd, much to my relief, and I got to take a good look at the massive complex that is the largest MoS outlet in the world.

As my friend and I queued up, the first thing that caught our attention was that the bouncers were wearing bright pink shirts with the MoS logo emblazoned on them. "Yes," the bouncer said when he noticed us looking at him, "I only found out the colour of the shirt today." "Would that have stopped you from taking this job?" I asked. "No, it's a great company. But yeah, it is a bit..." "Gay?!" I said. M. (a guy) interjected, "No, I like it. It's a salmon-y kind of pink." "I'm a girl, and I'm scared of it!" I responded. Next thing, the bouncer said (probably to get rid of me), "okay, mam, you may go in now." Heh.










The main room was awesome. I like that it wasn't too dark, and that no one stopped me from taking photos as I wandered through the whole complex. There're six rooms: the R&B room and the main room on the first floor and the members' lounge (Pure) and retro room (54) and some VIP rooms on the second floor. The three photos above are (obviously) of the main room. On one side, there's an awesome water curtain where they broadcast images every once in a while. On the third photo on the right, you can just make out the water fountain in front of all the people, as well as the image of a lady in red on the water screen. The sound system was great as well, sounding better than the revamped system they have in Zouk. As with all the new clubs I've gone to, the bass is still a little too strong for me, but I've gathered that that will change with time.













54 was incredibly cute and kitschy. It reminded me so strongly of Austin Powers and Saturday Night Fever to the point that I almost bolted out the door because I'm not a fan of disco. Nevertheless, the numerous disco balls, the colourful disco-lit floor and the psychedelic wheels adorning the place do make it very attractive.










The R&B room looked really ghetto, and I mean that in a nice way. It looked rather authentic, with the wire fences, the graffiti on the DJ booth and its overall gritty feel. To my surprise, there weren't that many people inside, and no one on the dance floor at all. I started to have some fun with the wire cage, doing an impromptu exotic dance against the wall, amusing and surprising the heck out of the friend who accompanied me. I see great potential for this room... now if only the braces-wearing people looking far too young to be drinking weren't there, it'd be more happening.

Overall, I enjoyed my first visit ever to an MoS outlet. I still haven't been to the one at Elephant & Castle, seeing it as a club only tourists go to, but who knows? This just might have changed my mind. I think it could be a serious competitor for Zouk. In fact, I hope so. MoS is huge and its fixed costs must be incredibly high, so I really hope they can survive. And surely the dance music capital of Asia is big enough to sustain more than one big club?

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