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 Nightlife: Macau dances to a new beat
It’s funny what billions of dollars of investment can do. Macau’s evolution is being driven by much more than money, however. It takes vision and entrepreneurial sous to transform a city within a few years from a gambling haven to a global entertainment destination. Fortunately for Macau, there is plenty of that available here, too. It has become most evident in recent months from dusk to dawn, with the hosting of some fabulous parties – the kind of parties that cater to the platinum card, bubbly-and-a-stogie crowd. The kind of parties that only truly sophisticated entertainers are capable of throwing. One of these entertainers needs little introduction. Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas kingpin who opened his Wynn Macau Resort last September, has a reputation for doing nightlife right. His Tryst nightclub in Vegas sets the standard for “ultralounges” in the US’s capital of cool. So it came as little surprise when he decided, less than a month after the Wynn Macau’s opening, to completely redo the resort’s swank yet smaller club of the same name. The Tryst Ultralounge reopened in Macau on December 15, with new space, new sofas, new DJs, and a new attitude. Wynn himself flew into town for the party, bringing DJ Scotty Boy from Vegas and DJ Solomon from San Francisco to spin their favorites. The event began with a subdued gathering around the outside pool area, where Hong Kong celebrities and fellow entertainment gurus such as Lan Kwai Fong’s Allan Zeman turned up to rub shoulders and see what the New Macau was all about. The tempo picked up with the appearance of performers, including two devilishly cute Chinese contortionists, a fire-eating juggler, and the obligatory lion-dancers. Then the party moved inside, where the tempo – and the temperature – rose faster than you can say “party on”. Led by the sounds of Chris Clouse on guitar, playing in synch with DJ Solomon, the dance floor filled up, and stayed full, until the wee hours of the morning as the Dom Perignon flowed and the Davidoff cigars were tossed freely. Of course, that was a special night. Tryst is not cheap: drinks menus carry Hong Kong-like prices. But Tryst – and Wynn – are unapologetic, as they are not trying to be anything less than the top of the market in Macau. “We want people to feel that there’s something here for them, that’s got lots of sides to it,” was how Wynn understatedly described his new joint. It is only the start. From Chinese New Year onwards, Wynn will be rolling out phase two of his resort’s development, which will include a new hotel tower, known as the Wynn Diamond Suites, a casino, shops, and a theater. The following night, across the main traffic circle on the Avenida da Amizade, a party good enough to lure Catwoman was hosted on the top three floors of the AIA Tower. Joe Saree is nothing like Steve Wynn, however. In fact, if you had met Joe before, you would think he was just your average, well, Joe: friendly, down-to-earth and very laid back. Yet Joe is anything but average. His Sky21 is breathtaking. There is no venue in the Pearl River Delta, save perhaps Felix at the Peninsula in Hong Kong, that has anything like its view, ambience, and sheer cache. Joe plans to open the restaurant/bar/nightclub around Chinese New Year, and it will be well worth waiting for, judging by the bash thrown that evening, which included performers (as pictured above), live music, and great food. “The idea is to create a revolution in Macau, and we hope people will open more bars like this,” Joe says. “We’re seeing a new age of Macau, a place of different cultures. You have Macanese who studied overseas returning and people are being brought in from all over the world to work here, too. “Macau nightlife hasn’t changed much in the two years that it has grown from a little city to a big one,” he says. “People go to karaokes, a few bars and discos, but that’s all Macau has to offer. We’re creating a new concept here.” To be sure, with these two new clubs, Macau has taken huge strides in its transformation to a sophisticated, upmarket entertainment destination. More are sure to follow, as other Vegas heavyweights such as the Venetian (which has the awesome Tao club in Vegas), and the MGM Grand shop around for talent to operate their own nightclubs when they open later this year. The group behind Fashion TV, the eye-candy channel which has become ubiquitous in clubs and hotels around the region, are also reportedly looking to establish their own club in Macau. On the other side of the traffic circle from Sky21 is where the lights are starting to really dazzle. That is where Macau’s original entrepreneur – the man who established and ran its gambling monopoly for more than four decades – is testing the lights on the world’s largest integrated LED screen. When the Grand Lisboa’s first phase opens around Chinese New Year, it will undoubtedly be like nothing the world has ever seen – Las Vegas included. Under the experienced management of Australian Frank McFadden, who was previously running the Venetian’s operations in Macau, the giant dome-shaped structure, which is completely covered in LED screens, will include a casino, restaurants, a nightclub, and an open-stage performance by the dancers of the legendary Crazy Paris troupe. In the meantime, Ho’s newest casino is illuminating the attractions a short drive away, next to the ferry terminal at Fisherman’s Wharf. The Babylon Casino opened on December 23 at the same time as The Rocks hotel next door to it, and the crowds are finally starting to come into the area in greater numbers. More shops are opening, and new restaurants, such as the Afrikana, which has a live band, are filling up early. Two other restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf offer live music: Talay Thai and Al’s Diner, which has an outdoor bar called The Quay, modeled on Singapore’s Boat Quay. Both are fun places to spend the pre-midnight part of an evening. Across the road is the Sands, which has a fascinating entertainment stage where acts perform throughout the evening. Here you can see everything from ballroom to salsa dancers, and listen to everything from soppy ballads to hard rock. Drinks are significantly cheaper than at Wynn’s. Around the corner, in the Macau Cultural Center (no, really) is a nightclub for a largely young crowd, called Bex Café. The area outside the center has, by contrast, been a venue for outstanding annual International Music Festivals hosted by the Macau Government Tourist Office. One of the key highlights of 2006 was the performance by local pop duo Soler, aka Julio and Dino Acconci, the Italian-Burmese twins who were born and raised in Macau. Although they reside in Hong Kong, where they’ve made it big with their tri-lingual CDs – Double Surround Sound, Intuition and Dragon Tiger Gate – their hearts are still very much in Macau. Their songs are also popular throughout China, where they’ve been doing a lot of touring recently, and are also working on a new album to be released in March. Julio, a tireless promoter of his home town abroad, sees Macau’s potential for live music concerts. “I think Macau can be a center for major concerts from around the world,” he says. “This is a party town – people would love to come over here from Hong Kong for a concert and a night out.” Indeed, once the Venetian opens later this year, it will be interesting to see how Macau’s live music industry grows. The Vegas group is building a 15,000-seat indoor arena that will be a great venue for large-scale pop concerts. To be sure, the promotional video for One Central, a top-end residential development being built next to the MGM Grand, is soon going to be seen as less of a fantasy of the future than a picture of the present. One Central’s first phase sold out within a few weeks of the video’s debut on TV screens in Hong Kong and Macau. By the time those units are finished, two years from now, Macau will be a very different place – Asia’s entertainment capital in the making.
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Destination Macau is published by the Red Ant Media Group, a Hong-Kong based network of media professionals, which also publishes Destination China, a quarterly magazine.
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