Quiksilver Revolution 2.0

40,000 fans turn out for Surf, Skate and Music extravaganza!

A sudden tropical downpour was not enough to dampen the spirits of thousands of local fans or the elite surfers and skateboarders who took to the skies above the world’s largest man-made wave pool and a specially imported ‘half-pipe’ vert ramp during the Quiksilver Revolution 2.0 surf, skate and musical extravaganza held at Sunway Lagoon theme park, in Kuala Lumpur, on the weekend.

Two-time World Aerial Champion Josh Kerr (Snapper Rocks, Queensland, AUS) a professional surfer renowned globally for his aerial repertoire, landed a dozen massive aerials as he championed the visiting all-star cast who performed their tricks in front of nearly 40,000 people who turned out at the land-locked surf beach for the one day event, while thousands more clicked through to quiksilver.com to watch the Revolution 2.0 webcast live on the internet.

Though Kerr’s technical wizardry was lost on many of the spectators, most who had never before witnessed surfing first-hand, every attempt was greeted with cheers as people of all ages and nationalities surged forward in the Sunway Pool to get a closer look, or watched from surrounding vantage points, including directly above from the 428m suspension bridge, the world’s longest, that spans the park.

Fellow World Aerial surfing Champion Ry Craike (Kalbarri, Western Australia, AUS) was also a big crowd favorite, as he rocketed and looped his way through the skies in front of the Sunway Lagoon volcano. Professional Troy Brooks (Bells Beach, Victoria, AUS) was the only surfer to land his ‘Superman’ style airs, a move borrowed from the moto-x riders who grab on to the seat of their bike during huge jumps.

Indonesian Wayan “Betet” Merta (Bali) and Peurto Rico’s Dylan Graves also flew high from the artificial waves, assisted by the speed of a jet-ski which was used to whip all the surfers, water-ski style, on their boards across the chlorinated water and into the breaking waves.

“The wave is the same every time so I just tried to work out where the best take-off spot was and go as high and as far through the air as I could, the crowd loved it!” explained Kerr.

“A couple of times I could hear people calling out my name, or Craikey’s name, before the jet-ski got going … it was like a full-on stadium atmosphere … the lights, the replays on the big screen, the DJ’s rockin’ out, I didn’t expect to see so many people turn out, it was pretty special. It was bigger than some of the events we have on the (Association of Surfing Professionals) world tour.”

A violent tropical storm cut short the final skateboarding demonstration which was scheduled to take place under lights, but the truly international skateboarding line-up consisting of Germany’s two-time vert champion Sascha Muller (Münster, Germany), Sweden’s Jocke Olsson (Malmo), the UK’s Pete King (London), and Aussies Renton Millar (Melbourne, Victoria, AUS) and Trevor Ward (Moama, NSW, AUS) performed for two hours in the rampant afternoon humidity; pulling 540 degree spins, stale, lien and method airs, grinds and other super impressive tricks.

“It was really full-on, the crowds were getting right into it, which amps you up and makes all the boys go bigger,” explained Ward, who spent all his down time posing for photographs and signing autographs with the other skaters and enthusiastic fans.

“We had the music going … it was awesome. Renton, the technical wizard was as good as always, Jocke was going big as he always does, Pete was killing it and Sascha was just being the mad German, attacking it in the heat. It was tough work but a pretty surreal set-up with the beach and palm trees right there.”

At around 8pm, the unexpected occurred, as lightening lit up the sky and thunder boomed for nearly 40 minutes, forcing fans, athletes and ground staff to find cover where they could, while technicians cut sound momentarily as a safety precaution. Then almost as quickly as it arrived, the storm passed and people got on with the party, dancing in their swimsuits under the stars and rocking out to headline music act from Bangkok, Futon.

The site of thousands of fans dancing and splashing water into the night air as the beats pumped from the huge soundstage, was awesome.

“The change in the weather certainly did not dampen the whole party,” said Sunway Lagoon’s Senior Executive of Public Relations, Loke Kah Peng. “Sunny is good, but with the rain around, the hot night … everyone enjoyed it so much more.”

It is the second time the Quiksilver Revolution 2.0 has been held at the Sunway Lagoon venue, with the day/night surf, skate and music extravaganze being hailed as a huge success.

‘We’re over the moon, it was a big day, we had some unexpected weather, but in the end that just made it better. All the skateboarders and surfers went off, the music lineup was just sensational and the crowd support was fantastic,” said Quiksilver’s South East Asia marketing manager, Brad Cunningham.

It is estimated in excess of 50,000 web users logged into the live webcast via www.quiksilver.com with hundreds sending in messages and email ‘shout outs’, some of which were read out live at Sunway Lagoon by hosts John Shimooka (Oahu, HAW, USA) and Matt Hoy (Newcastle, NSW, AUS), both former world-ranked surfers, hosts of the seven hour show.

Musical support acts included: the super energetic Pop Shuvit now touted as Asia’s leading Hip Hop Rock band; the innovative combination of three world class scratch DJ's Fuzz, Cza, and Uno who together are The STYLUSTIKS; hip-hop artist Joe Flizzow and the group One Buck Short, who all helped rock the Sunway Lagoon venue and get crowds jumpin’.

“Our target market is the same as Quiksilver, it includes the youth who enjoy music and participate in the extreme sports field. The Quiksilver “lifestyle” matches our concept - we have brought the beach to the city, people do not have to travel if you want to go surfing. Yesterday’s event was a definite success, thanks to Quiksilver for choosing Sunway Lagoon, the turnout was tremendously successful,” added Mr Loke Kah Peng.