With 1500 happy punters in attendance and presale tickets sold out a month before the event; Illuminate, New Zealand’s first paint party, was an unprecedented success.

Held at Shed 6 on the Wellington Waterfront between 9pm and 5am on Saturday the 18th of July, Illuminate saw a capacity crowd in unrepentant party mode until just before dawn, with no reported violence or substantial injuries occurring on site.

Entertainment was provided by a selection of dance DJs from around the country, as well as Auckland's number one live hard dance act High Dosage, and the headlining act, Aotearoa's favourite son - contemporary New Zealand music icon Tiki. Currently riding a wave of renewed interest thanks to the placement of his now double-platinum single ‘Always on My Mind’ in a recent BNZ advertising campaign and the release of his new remix album Flux, Tiki was on top form, performing an acoustic set on guitar and a dance set with his backing DJ Sambora.

Musical entertainment notwithstanding, the other major draw card on the night was the 500 litres of non-toxic, water soluble fluorescent paint which was released into the audience over the course of the event. With the majority of the crowd dressed in full white, the venue redecorated in fire-retardant cloth, and a bevy of strobes, UV lights and impressive visual image display screens in action, following the first deployment of paint, Illuminate quickly became quite the sight to behold. And take part in, if one should have been so inclined.

Following the event, attendee Elitsa Petkova was happy to go on record with the following statement. “To be honest it [Illuminate] was one of the ultimate and best nights of my life, and believe me it wasn’t just me with that opinion.”

Having already received expressions of interest from event promoters in Christchurch and Perth in Australia, Illuminate organiser, Floyd Morgan of Wellington, is already initiating plans for national and international Illuminate tours and can’t contain his enthusiasm for the concept. In his words, “The crowd was so receptive and if I could organise another one this weekend, I would!”

Written by: Martyn Pepperell