‘Full Moon Party’ – Paradise Beach, Patong.

The Farangbowl did a review feature of a Foam Boat Party earlier this year that was put on by promoters Sail Away Party and Hush Phuket. This was a wild party and if you haven’t seen it yet, do go and watch the YouTube video that supported the article. The same promoters also put on a monthly Full Moon Party, and I promised them that we would review one of those one day.

Left to right: James and Natasha from Hush Phuket.

Having already notched onto their belts several successful Full Moon Parties held in Koh Sire and Chalong in Phuket, they decided to go for biggest party of their lives and stage an event at the Paradise Beach in Patong in Phuket. This is an idyllic private beach that sits one or two bays south of Patong Beach itself. It was time see whether this event was going to be the mother of all parties!!!

“We don’t have any secrets, we just put in the hard work”.
Natasha – Owner of Hush Phuket Promotions.

The long walk from the hill to the beach.

I checked into my hotel in Patong and quickly jumped in a taxi and headed straight to Paradise Beach to rendezvous with the promoters for an interview before the anarchy began. Once south of Patong beach, the winding roads that eventually led to the bay of Paradise beach gave you a sense of adventure and being off the beaten track. In my haste, I stupidly checked in for my entry pass and took a stroll down a steep hill to the beach. I was carrying some camera equipment and didn’t realise if I’d waited at the top, a shuttle bus service would have brought me down. Stupid!

When I entered the beach bay area and saw the stage set up, lighting, sound system, security and staff, I knew that these guys had gone all in for this event, and it wall all or nothing. There was tension in the air as the weather reports didn’t look good this evening, and the dark clouds in the sky looked like they were going to put a dampener on proceedings. Some heavy monsoon showers that followed led me to believe that this might not happen, however, this is Thailand, and you never can tell what the weather will do. To all our surprise and delight the clouds went and the party was on.

I met with Hush owner/promoter Natasha behind the stage area and asked how she felt about the success of her and her colleagues’ events. Natasha said she was pleased with how well her partners Elliot and Ed worked saying that their productions have grown due to their professionalism and commitment. I put to Natasha that the two aspects of their events that stand out to me were one, all their events are really well managed, and two, they were able to bring hundreds of people to their parties no matter where they decide to stage them. I asked her what her secret was and she replied, “We don’t have any secrets, we just put in the hard work”. I thanked her for her time and got to filming the event.

DJ Annsdeepwell got the party started with some commercial house favorites that welcomed the early arrivals. It wasn’t, however, until after sunset that the hoards started to arrive. I watched as shuttle bus after shuttle bus ferried in the partygoers until the beach started to pack.

The security was very impressive here and thick set sober men were placed across the beach to include several on the beach itself to prevent anyone wondering half cut into the ocean. A comforting site none the less. Don’t think you get this in Ko Pan Ngan.

As guests arrived, they were guided past merchandise areas and offered ultraviolet face paint to get the full moon experience. Next stop was a bar area for those that wanted to dive into the deep and buy a bucket of alcohol with straws, also a full moon party tradition. To drink at the beach, tickets must be bought from just one cashier area and then they can be redeemed at any of the hut styled bars on the beach. There were also plenty of food stools and chillout seating for those that wanted to sit and eat or just rest up.

In true Full Moon tradition, a fire show was put on where various Thai performers demonstrated their skills in spinning sticks of fire and setting off fireworks, all really impressive and dazzling.

The final and headline act was DJ SZO who was accompanied by MC Dom Kande. SZO is a seasoned DJ and he knew what he was doing and played some great music. Now, I’m not a fan of MC’s as I think that they can kill a song and vibe, however, given the demographic of holiday makers in the crowd I felt Kande brought everyone together by pulling them out the madness and getting them to swing their arms together in unison. It worked this evening and people were really enjoying themselves and that’s what matters.

I let the camera’s roll and filmed the party goers until I felt the energy starting to ease and made a dash for the shuttle bus before the cues of the lost and drink ensued.