In case anyone is interested, my $0.02, a few highlights from the long weekend:
Overall this was just a so-so fest for me. A few standouts here and there but I wasn't blown away by the majority of the acts, but definitely plenty of fun moments throughout. As usual the afterparties were generally more entertaining than anything going on at the festival proper. Festival - Mark Ernestus was great, but I could still hear sound bleeding from the stage behind the amphitheater, which was a bit distracting. Enjoyed the reggae but as usual no one around to hear it at that time of day. It's unfortunate with paxahau banishing all the locals underground to the land of terrible sound quality, but caught a few sets that were quite good (Shakir, R. Hood, etc). Larry Heard was a lot of fun and was great to hear something more mellow for a Sunday afternoon. Inner City was fun, probably the best way for me to describe it. Beatport Stage - Pardon my hatoraide but I couldn't listen to more than about 30 seconds of that nonsense at any point over three days. Thought the music was 90% junk. A lot of people on that stage thought they were -very- cool, though. One of the only stages that each performer needed to bring a 30 person entourage along with them to populate the performance area. Lame. Redbull Stage - As I've found over last few years there's always something entertaining going on in that direction, even if I'm not a fan of the music it seems like everyone is having a pretty good time over there. Afterparties - Center Street Social - Got shut down around 4-ish before I really got into it. I never did get the whole story with all the other drama associated with that party, and along with the whole police thing made Saturday was a miss for me all around. Sunday - Interdimensional Transmission Party - Great venue, and an awesome crew. They've thrown some of my favorite demf-related parties (Cannonball Run) and I had an amazing time. The main room was a sweatbox though, but aside from that quite fun music and a great atmosphere. Metroplex - Didn't catch it, and none of my friends did, have yet to hear how it went. Old Miami - Apparently the place to be now? I went to it a few years ago for the early morning party and had an amazing time. Was a lot of fun, good food, and very reasonably populated (room to hang out, dance, and have conversations). By the time I got there this year there were like 500 people wall-to-wall, and a line around the block. Thankfully with the onset of rain and the threat of the fire-dept people the majority cleared out as the music was turned off. I stuck it out with my friends and soon things were back in action. Some dancing in the rain followed. Great times. Monday Night - Poker at the casino (haha). So all in all I had fun, but I feel decidedly different from years past where I felt I had to make difficult decisions all day long, choosing between pairs or three artists at a time that I felt I needed to see. I hope everyone that went had a blast thought! -Art
