Thursday night’s Full Moon party was the perfect way to celebrate both a rare astrological phenoma (August had not one but two full moons) and the last days of summer with a one night music festival at the Beekman Beach Club at South Street Seaport. The event, hosted by Matte Productions, started with a pre-party at the Yard at the Soho Grand where I took extreme advantage of the Sailor Jerry open bar. Open bars are my best friend and worst enemy; I was pretty fucking tipsy (read: druuunk) by 7 nd the main event didn’t even start til 9. Thanks, alcohol!

After a somewhat confusing journey to find the venue (btw, the RANDOMEST people are at South Street Seaport on a Thursday night) we arrived as the dock was starting to fill up. The crowd was a mix of New York’s most cultured and connected and music enthusiasts who had come to see their favorite bands. The crowd grew denser and denser, both in the general area and in the VIP section (which had some very harried bartenders, they were pretty rude, bummer).

Tesla Boy was the band I’d been the most excited to see and they did not disappoint. The Russian synth pop band were the first performers of the night and set the tone for the evening, getting the crowd dancing madly with a miasma of electric sound. Frontman Anton Sevidov has an enigmatic stage presence and is so super dreamy. They played hits from their debut, including “Spirit of the Night, “Rebecca” and “Thinking of You”, which I was able to get some video of:

The best performance fo the night, hands down, was YACHT. The alt rock/electropop band had tremendous, infectious energy and big, shit eating grins on their faces and they blasted through a high octane set of their wildly eclectic tunes, which included infectious dance jam “One Step”, sing-a-long “Psychic City” and Brigitte Fontaine cover “Le Goudron”. Their performance, energy and look hearkened back to the days of crazy 90s club culture and it was fantastic.

YACHT are remarkable for the fact that their members switch their instruments from song to song, each member playing almost every instrument and taking a turn at the mic. Claire Evans, who sings lead on most of the songs, was fucking incredible. I became instantly obsessed with her sick dance moves, sly grin and amazing ying-yang hot pants. She was giving me early No Doubt Gwen Stefani meets Karen O meets Debbie Harry. That is a good fucking combination.

Make sure to check out our full photo gallery and relive what was a fantastic night full of great music. And check back for our exclusive interview with Tesla Boy’s Anton Sevidov.

-MARK DOMMU

-PHOTOS BY LIZ DELEO