BY OYAOL NGIRAIRIKL
Journal Staff
With a dancer on a swing high above the club floor and more dancers on elevated stages lined in neon lights, ZOH Nightclub is shutting the door to 2022 and charging into the new year and was due to open on Dec. 30 and offer a New Year’s Eve dance party.
Formerly known as the Globe, the reimagined dance club with its European feel opened Dec. 30. ZOH means "life" or "living" in Greek and that’s what Baldyga Group hopes club-goers will feel when they walk into the club, said Michael Homer, promotions manager at Baldyga Group. ZOH’s target audience are millennials and GenZers. He said while the tourism market isn’t fully recovered, the group will focus on local and military markets.
ZOH’s overall look, sound and lights were designed by companies that did similar work in clubs in Singapore and London.
“We’re going to be offering a more electronic, more European vibe to our music and our theme … a lot of the outlets that we’re opening are based on European (scenes),” Homer said.
The group took advantage of the pause to reimagine a scene that would attract today’s club-goers. The space was gutted and redeveloped in the style of the world's best clubs featuring high end finishes, private booths and state of the art lighting, sound.
The club has about 30 employees, including dancers, bartenders for the three bars and waitresses. ZOHas a capacity of 679, Homer said.
It is the first venue to open as part of Baldyga Group's ongoing $15 million major renovation, which also includes the Anemos Mediterranean Restaurant, the newly renovated 600 seat SandCastle Theater and a multi-million dollar production show, Karera, opening in May 2023.
What used to be a three-story Globe with a second-floor bridge connecting the two sides is now two stories. And the bridge was cut out helping to make room for the swing.
Entry to the club is via a three-story high outdoor digital art installation and digital waterfall and an exterior staircase that starts in a piazza adjacent to the upcoming Anemos restaurant/lounge. In late 2023, a final expansion will add a Long Bar and a private wine bar.
There are 10 luxury private booths on the second floor and a dozen small private tables for exclusive table service ranging from the "grotto" that can hold a dozen friends to private mezzanine cabanas for couples.
The three bars will have 10 bartender stations and one of those bars is a specialty beer speed-bar so people can grab a beer and not have to wait in line after people ordering mixed drinks.
The music is curated by Jeremy Boon, head DJ at Zouk Singapore, one of Asia's premiere clubs.
The sound system was designed by London-based Alex Barrand using the same Martin audio system as Ministry of Sound in London. The lighting system includes 300 moving lights throughout the club including a lighting grid level four stories above the dance floor.
There are also multiple high resolution LED screens including a huge circular wall on the back of the club high above the DJ and multiple cameras for guests to see themselves projected large than life.
For more details, see Nov. 25 story “December opening planned for nightclub at SandCastle,” on
www.mbjguam.com. mbj