Bang Music Festival

November 23, 2005 10:22 AM
by

The Saturday following Thanksgiving has always served as the “soft” opening of the legendary Miami winter season. But now it’s official: The season starts with Bang!

More than 15,000 revelers are expected to celebrate the start of the Miami winter season 2005-06, on Saturday, November 26, 2005, during this 13-hour, outdoor party-a-thon: The first-annual Bang! Music Festival, featuring Fischerspooner and the Brazilian Girls.

Media darlings of the new millennial musical wave, Fischerspooner is a fitting act to top the 50-plus roster of Bang! artists. This performance art/music duo (Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner) incorporate chart-topping pop fusion and Broadway-caliber stage theatrics in shows which receive international acclaim and audience bedazzlement. About Bang!’s headliner, Rolling Stone says simply, "They are the best thing to happen to music since electricity.”

The Brazilian Girls, quickly emerging from regional to national notoriety, makes music which incorporates bits of reggae, electronica, jazz, bossa nova, and you name it. Other top live acts include Chicks on Speed, Front 242, VHS or Beta, Dragonette, and regional favorite, the Spam Allstars.

DJs Robbie Rivera, Judge Jules, ATB, Bad Boy Bill, DJ Dan, Doc Martin, Jose Padilla (of Café del Mar), Florida favorite ICEY, Chus & Ceballos, John Acquaviva, Benny Benassi, Basti Schwarz (of Tiefschwarz), George Acosta, Peace Division, and The Scumfrog top a daunting DJ roster more than 40 strong.

The live acts and DJs will perform on five stages spread across 35 sprawling acres on Miami’s waterfront. The lush locale is Bicentennial Park, situated on Biscayne Bay, across South Beach, next to the American Airlines Arena.

More than just another mega outdoor “club” party with a singular music message, Bang! aims to be a preview — or Best Of — all that Miami promises for the season ahead. So rather than limiting itself to a purely house music format like similar Miami events which have come before, Bang! will be a celebration of the city’s nightlife diversity.

The festival will include performances which equally celebrate established and emerging stars in electronic, pop, retro, Latin, and, yes, house genres, presented on thematic stages. Underground and commercial pop culture will interplay in a festive dance.

Bang! Will also distinguish itself from outsized outdoor music events by providing a more intimate, friendly environment between artist and audience, with a maximum of stages; street-style performers playing for, and with, crowds; ample and clean restroom facilities; over-stocked food and beverage stations; and adequate bar, wait, parking and service staff.

The production of Bang! will be second to no other festival: To eliminate the familiar “sound bleed” between stages, top-tier Nexo and VDOSC audio systems will be used to direct sound at precise areas for both long- and short-range situations, delivering perfect pitch, volume and balance.

To provide a seamless blend between live acts, the Main area will be set up with parallel stages; like a DJ spinning records, live acts will end and begin as if beat mixed. LED curtain screens will display enhanced video grabs of stage antics, while laser shows float on, pierce and illuminate the air. When the Miami humidity and body heat get too hot to handle, Kryogenix cannons will blast the crowd with liquid nitrogen to cool the median temperature by 20 degrees — in five seconds.

Bang! for Relief!

The fury of hurricane season has left behind a sea of devastation, physically and financially. So Bang! announces a two-tier Relief strategy.

First, Bang! has partnered with the AMERICAN RED CROSS — $5 from the proceeds of each ticket will be donated to hurricane relief efforts.

Second, for a limited time, Bang! is offering a PRICE BREAK — tickets are now on sale for just $25! That’s 13 hours, 50 acts and DJs, five stages, 35 acres . . . for the price of a single South Beach club admission. Everyone in South Florida needs some Relief!