Crowds dance the night away
An increasing number of promoters from all over Asia are heading to Macau to tap into the city's tourism market.
In the past year, the city has played host to the MIMA Rockit Festival and Macao Electronic Dance Music Festival 2010: Global Underground Asia Tour - both used spaces provided by the Cotai Expo facilities inside the Venetian Macao.
Turnouts were mixed - the MIMA Rockit Festival, seeing internationally acclaimed bands such as Japan's Electric Eel Shock, played to near-empty halls, but the dance festival was mostly packed thanks to headliners Trafik and a mix of regional DJs.
That's good news for Hong Kong promoters who in recent years have had to deal with diminishing returns thanks, they say, to lacklustre crowds, lack of venues and over-cautious government regulations.
The advent of clubs, such as Cubic, which opened a year ago, have also given international DJs - and the dance music crowd - places to play and to party.
'Before the gigs in Macau tended to be one-offs, but now there is a regular scene and everyone wants to tap in to it,' says a local promoter.
