Entertainment
From the crowd at Pacha ICONS to the late-night buzz at Paradiso and the quiet breakfasts at Numâ, every space at FIVE properties flowed into the next like a perfectly mixed playlist
I landed in Dubai just as the city was lighting up. From the plane window, you could already tell this place doesn’t do quiet. A Tesla and chauffeur were waiting at the airport with my name card, and the second the doors shut, I caught that mix of perfume, air-conditioning, and faint bass bleeding from someone’s Bluetooth speaker outside. The drive to FIVE LUXE JBR was a postcard on fast-forward — the Burj Khalifa flashing in the distance, Sheikh Zayed Road buzzing beneath it, and that polished chaos that Dubai has perfected.
The check-in took all of a minute. The staff were impossibly polite but casual enough to make you feel like they’d done this a thousand times that day. The suite was spotless, the kind of clean that smells faintly of linen spray and ocean air. The balcony opened to an endless stretch of sea. Downstairs, one of the hotel floors glowed with a huge screen looping Pacha ICONS visuals, which was bright, animated, and impossible to ignore.
I didn’t have the energy to go out that first night, so I ordered in and told the kitchen to surprise me. Twenty minutes later, a knock on the door. Dumplings, a wood-fired pizza, and a perfectly chilled Chardonnay. Somehow, they’d read my mind. I ate on the balcony, listening to the sound of cars below and faint music from somewhere along the beach. The jetlag, the food, and that quiet hum of the city blended into something strangely grounding.
The next evening was when the trip really started. British DJ and record producer, PAWSA, was headlining Pacha ICONS at Playa Pacha Dubai, and by 11 pm, the property had transformed. People poured in from every direction — all black outfits, slick hair, flashes of silver jewelry. The air smelled like perfume and sea salt. We were guided to the DJ booth, and from there the view stretched across a sea of iPhone 17s and raised hands. The crowd looked straight out of a campaign– polished but not stiff, and completely in sync with the music.
PAWSA came on close to midnight, and the first drop cut clean through the air. He mixed Frank Ocean’s “Nights”, The Weeknd’s “Timeless”, and Metro Boomin monologues with his own tracks — “Dirty Cash (Money Talks)” and “Too Cool To Be Careless.” I left the booth halfway through to walk among the crowd, and the sound stayed crisp no matter where I stood.
When the set ended, nobody moved toward the exit; another DJ took over and we drifted straight to Paradiso. It was packed but not messy, low-lit with an amber and red glow that made everyone look like they belonged there. The bartenders worked quietly and fast, mixing drinks like it was choreography. The crowd had taste — you could tell by what they ordered, how they spoke to staff, how they didn’t need to shout over the music.
The next morning came too soon, and with a slight headache. A Tesla shuttle was waiting to take us to FIVE Palm Jumeirah, and the city changed again the moment we crossed the bridge. If FIVE LUXE was adrenaline, FIVE Palm was exhale. White walls, calm water, palm trees everywhere. The property felt like an island of its own, more relaxed but just as polished.
We spent the afternoon by the pool, trading sunscreen for sunglasses every few hours, music rolling in from a nearby cabana. By sunset, we made our way to Bohemia Beach Club for Bohemia Presents and a set by German music producer Purple Disco Machine. The lighting faded into gold as cocktails landed on every table. The crowd was looser here — more laughter, more bare feet in the sand.
Dinner was at Cinque, the Italian fine-dining restaurant overlooking the pool. It smelled like truffle and fresh herbs the moment we walked in. The room glowed in warm light, and every course arrived exactly when it should — handmade pasta, grilled seafood, pizza with a crust that cracked just right.
My final night before flying back to Mumbai felt like the encore I didn’t know we needed. We started at Jade, where the bartenders turned cocktail-making into performance art — smoke, flame, infusions, tiny glass domes being lifted like a reveal. The energy there was playful and cinematic. Then came dinner at Maiden Shanghai, and it was unreal. Easily the best Asian food I’ve had — perfect dim sum, spicy noodles, balanced sauces. You could feel the precision in every dish.
We closed the night at The Penthouse Dubai, which sits high above everything else. The DJ played familiar songs stripped down and rebuilt with clean house beats. The skyline looked endless, and the air was cool enough to keep everyone outside till late.
The mornings at Numâ became a ritual. No matter how little I’d slept, I made it downstairs for breakfast — hummus, fresh fruit, good coffee, and conversations that always started with “did you sleep?” and ended with “see you at the pool.”
By the time I packed up to leave, my suitcase felt heavier, maybe from the sand I never shook out or just from how much the weekend had fit into so little time. I’d flown to Dubai for one show and ended up with a full weekend that reminded me why people travel for music in the first place. The set was unforgettable, sure. But the real memory was everything that happened around it — the laughter, the food, the mornings after, and that feeling that the city never really turns the volume down.