Ricardo Maldonado
Not without its bumps and hiccups, III Points festival and its organizers were able to produce another unforgettable festival this past weekend.
In an amazing feat following Hurricane Matthew, III Points organizers were able to build and create the outdoor sets and stages all on Friday afternoon, not without scrambling to get everything together. Once inside the festival, attendees were able to navigate a mini maze of shipping containers in the outdoor area to find the stages, art installations, and even stumble into other worlds with the Vaporwave area, Sunset @ Noon, and a trip to the red planet with Mars 2030, a virtual reality experience created by NASA and Fusion media network.
Neither the weather or a late start on Friday night could stop the horde of eager fans and devoted south Florida locals from enjoying themselves and giving the artists of III Points the much deserved love and appreciation. Unfortunately, for many disappointed fans, the headlining act, LCD Soundsystem was forced to cancel due to travel complications with the hurricane. The festival organizers certainly did their best to make up for it by providing free admission on Sunday to those who has purchased tickets for Friday night. Vince Staples, Chrome Sparks, Twelve’Len, and Millionyoung, to name a few, all commanded their respected stages Friday evening, smoothing out the rocky start to the festival.
The layout of the festival consisted of four outdoor stages and two indoor stages, providing a great mix of different areas for performers and attendees. Most notable were the indoor stages, the Main Frame and the living art exhibition stage for Sunset @ Noon. The Main Frame stage was dawned with floor to ceiling LCD panels, visually memorizing fans during the artists’ sets [Flying Lotus made great use of these during his set on Sunday with amazing lighting and creepy horror movie visuals to reflect his samples of songs from movies like Psycho and Eraserhead]. But before Flying Lotus took took to the Main Frame stage on Sunday, Method Man and Redman warmed things up on Saturday night, blasting some 90s rap favorites, while having a glowing, green drone deliver weed to them on stage during their performance. III Points wasn’t kidding when they said this was a technology festival too.
With the festival in motion, Saturday proceeded much smoother as everyone settled into the good vibes at Mana Wynwood. The weather was surprisingly beautiful for south Florida with a nice breeze and lower than usual temperatures. In addition to plenty of food and drinks, the festival also featured tons of video exhibitions, vendors, art installations, makeup kiosks, and even a mediation room inside one of the shipping containers to center your chi in-between music sets. There was also an on site pop-up barbershop by American Crew, which took appointments all weekend long for attendees to receive complementary haircuts. Gotta stay fresh in Miami! With that being said, there was always something to do or explore if you had any downtime before the night fell and the music began to take over.
Saturday evening shed light on some great local acts like Deaf Poets, kicking off the festival’s second night with an earlier set of their dark, 80’s garage punk. Later on, Killmama and Plastic Pinks, both performed on the Sector 3 stage, which seemed to loaded with local acts throughout the weekend. As 1am approached, the Sector 3 stage began to fill up as people waited, mindless staring at the TV installation art playing different movies and black and white videos in front of the stage, in anticipation for the next act. Surprisingly, no one jumped off the stationary bus next to the stage when Thee Oh Sees started playing their buzzsaw guitar riffs and larger than life drum beats. Needless to say, the crowd went nuts, instantaneously turning the area into a full fledged mosh pit. What’s not to love about a band with two drummers? Junior Boys and Thievery Corporation were also some of the Saturday night favorites, playing the Mind Melt stage as seasoned veterans to the music festival circuit. Other stages like Isotropic and the Door IV stage, sponsored by the Electric Pickle, provided a little getaway from the festival to chill out and listen to some DJs spin in the secluded areas of the festival grounds.
To finish out the festival, M83 gave an awe-inspiring performance on Sunday, doing justice to the Mind Melt stage. Glowing blue and purple lights illuminated the band as they played favorites from their vast catalogue of music, with old and new tunes. Following M83, and dressed to the nines in pilot gear, the Australian duo Flight Facilities kept the crowd moving with their mix of indie and electronica, accompanied by fellow Ausie, Giselle Rosselli on vocals.
Inside, on the Main Frame stage, was nothing short of amazing hiphop and electronic music all day. A last minute cancelation of Earl Sweatshirt was quickly filled by none other than Miami’s own Trick Daddy, who played after Denzel Curry. Flying Lotus, aka Steven Ellison, took the stage to an already hyped crowd and ran with it. His DJ set was a vast mix of hiphop, electronic, and experimental tunes, which he definitely had some fun with, even bringing Curry back on stage to perform with him.
Despite some of the small problems like a lack of water fountains, crazy schedule changes, and a rough start on Friday, III Points Music, Art, and Tech festival has again, outdone themselves. Organizers were able to think quickly and find solutions to any hold up in the festival, which is not an easy feat. III Points provides Florida music fans with simulating music and art but in laid-back, carefree environment. If you missed it this year, there’s always next year. Keep your fingers crossed for LCD Soundsystem to rescheduled.
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