The Sugar Club 11th anniversary celebration takes over Soi 11 Thursday with The Players Ball bringing a dressed-up night of classic hip-hop, DJs and performers to Lower Sukhumvit’s party street twelve years after the club actually opened.
The Oct. 1 Sugar Club 11th anniversary starts at 9 p.m. at the club’s longtime home at 37 Sukhumvit Soi 11. Sugar is going full glam for the occasion, asking guests to break out the fresh fits for a night built around the music that has kept the club firmly planted in Bangkok’s hip-hop scene for more than a decade.
The Sugar Club 11th anniversary Players Ball is open to guests 20 and older. Sugar’s smart-casual dress code applies, with no flip-flops, vests or tank tops. VIP tables are limited and can be reserved through The Players Ball booking page.
Sugar Club Math
The Sugar Club 11th anniversary arithmetic requires a little faith. The Nation reported that Sugar held its grand opening on Oct. 1, 2014 – exactly 12 years before Thursday’s Players Ball – while BK Magazine also listed the grand opening as Oct. 1, 2014.
Sugar’s count originally matched the calendar: first anniversary in 2015, second in 2016, third in 2017 and fourth in 2018. After the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted Bangkok nightlife in 2020 and 2021, the club took a year off its age, now calling its 2022 party the seventh anniversary, followed by its eighth, ninth and 10th over the next three years.
Sugar Brought Hip-Hop to Soi 11
Sugar arrived on Sukhumvit Soi 11 in October 2014, when electronic dance music still dominated much of the street’s nightclub business.
Its original concept was actually broader than the all-hip-hop club people know today. Sugar opened as a live-music nightclub with a purpose-built stage, an elevated drummer and a five-meter catwalk extending into the crowd. Joey Boy, Chin Chinawut, Da Endorphine and Thaitanium were among the Thai acts booked during its opening month, with DJs taking over later in the night for hip-hop and chart hits.
That didn’t last long. Hip-hop increasingly became Sugar’s identity, eventually taking over the music policy seven nights a week. By 2018, BK Magazine described Sugar as a fixture that had been nurturing Bangkok’s hip-hop scene since 2014, years before the city saw the proliferation of hip-hop nights and clubs that followed.
Sugar also developed a habit of bringing international rappers to a room considerably smaller than the arenas and festival stages where some of them normally performed.
Tyga, Lil Yachty and Rae Sremmurd have all appeared at Sugar, along with a steady rotation of Thai rappers, Bangkok DJs, MCs and dancers. Most recently, former Migos rapper Offset packed the club for a live performance in August.
The venue itself has changed along the way. Sugar’s current incarnation is built around a large central LED stage, with the main dance floor overlooked by a mezzanine. But it remains at the same address where it opened.
And it still has company close by. Sister club Levels Club & Lounge, which celebrated its 14th anniversary in August, is just up the street on the sixth floor of Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11.
Sugar Heads South to Phuket
Seven years before the Sugar Club 11th anniversary, Sugar took its hip-hop formula south to Phuket.
A second Sugar Club began operating on Bangla Road in Patong in late 2018, putting the same name and music policy on Phuket’s busiest nightlife strip. The three-floor club stuck with the Bangkok formula of hip-hop, live performers and international bookings, only with a lot more room to work with.
Rae Sremmurd played the new Phuket club during its launch period before the official grand-opening party on Feb. 25, 2019.
Sugar went big for that one. Thaitanium, Bankk Cash, Bangkok Invaders, DJ Buddah and DJ Ono joined New York DJ FatFingaz, the club’s resident rappers, DJs and dancers for a party Sugar says drew about 2,000 people.
The international bookings continued almost immediately. Lil Yachty played Sugar Phuket on March 12, then flew north to perform at Sugar Bangkok the following night.
Sugar Phuket is still going on Bangla Road today, seven years after the Bangkok club decided one Sugar wasn’t enough.
Sugar Club 11th Anniversary Players Ball
Thursday brings the attention back home at the Sugar Club 11th anniversary
The Sugar Club 11th anniversary Players Ball is being billed as a celebration of the artists, DJs and party people who have passed through the Soi 11 club, with classic hip-hop providing the soundtrack and considerably better clothes encouraged for the night.
After 12 years, 11 anniversaries and countless late nights, Sugar is still playing hip-hop on Soi 11.
