Bang Music Festival

December 2, 2005 3:24 PM
by

The Season Starts With a Bang!

This was the slogan that producers used to describe and hype one of the largest festivals this early in the season. With a 12-13-hour, outdoor lineup of over 50 live acts and DJs on 6 stages spread across 35 acres on Miami’s Bicentennial Park, the festival was definitely not to be missed; by anyone who considers themselves a fan of electronic music regardless of genre / artist preference.
The first-annual Bang!

Music Festival, featured such live acts as Fischerspooner, Brazilian Girls (as Headliners), VHS-or-Beta; also Celeda, Chicks on Speed,and local favorites the Le Spam Allstars among others. T

he festival also featured a Host of international DJ talent such as Robbie Rivera, Judge Jules, ATB, Bad Boy Bill, DJ Dan, Doc Martin, Jose Padilla (of Café del Mar), ICEY, John Acquaviva, Benny Benassi, Basti Schwarz (of Tiefschwarz), Tom Stephan (Superchumbo), and locals such as Edgar V, Bruno, Patrick M, plus many, many more.

I was more than pleased and delighted to hear and see acts that I usually would not get the chance to at a normal outdoor festival. Most often the talent of an outdoor festival is either all Trance or all House based. This one was quite a bit different by including House, Breaks, Trance, Progressive, along side Industrial, Nu-jazz, Indy/Alt Rock.

There was a lil’ bit of something for everyone.

Aside from the obviously good performances by the headliners, I’ll try to focus on what gems most people were unaware of or perhaps just missed due to constant activity.

Pop Punk Dance trio Chicks on Speed, perhaps provided the most unusual combination of styles and sounds. From their flamboyant attire to electro clash sounds, it definitely was entertaining not to mention a breath of fresh air for your typical music festival.

Celeda, who perhaps was the biggest surprise (for those who were unaware of the versatility and vocal ability of this live act) made a host of new fans and kept the audience wanting more. Even I was amazed as I listened to an electronic symphony of sounds. Musical styles ranged from Nu-Jazz, to Reggae Dub, to Trip-Hop and more…

Celeda was definitely a personal highlight of the night w/ her seductive tri-lingual vocals over a variety of electronic & organic instruments.

Another not-to-be-missed performance was by “the godfathers of industrial & electronic dance” FRONT 242. If I’m not mistaken it was their first time in south FL in almost 10 years. Playing their all time classics along with a few re-mixes (a Talla-esque live remix of Headhunter), the Front didn’t not Front at all!

When it came to the DJ arena; Basti of Tiefshwarz, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello kept the crowd rocking. The center tent was the attraction most of the night. While Doc Martin, Benassi, & Kaskade represented the deep & techy house along with John Aquaviva who actually played around with a bit of everything in 124-130 BPM range.

A surprise vocal appearance by NY/Miami’s Alan T set a fire to Tom Stephan’s (Superchumbo) DJ set. Edgar V also represented Miami, did not disappoint! And BadBoyBill & DJ Dan threw down their usual hard dance anthems. While Jen Lasher one of the few women on the lineup, represented the female DJ’s with some Progressive and Electro Breaks.

Cool weather, clear skies w/ little to no rain, made it a perfect day & night to bang out some good tunes… and that’s exactly what happened! All in all the festival was successful from a production standpoint; I can only hope they had enough sponsors and ticket sales to do it again in the new future.