8 Miami Music Week Events You Should’ve Been At [Event Review]

Dead. MMW was hands down the best event and best experience, ever. All of the venues are close together, along affordable and delicious food options adjacent for right when you come out and area ready to head to the next event. The city is spruced up for this special time of year with areas for attendees, beautiful and shiny. Unlike festivals that can sometimes makes you feel as though you’re stuck in a box, MMW provides the best of both worlds. World-famous scenery, aka South Beach (’nuff said), with the ability to shop for supplies and other necessities, which you can’t do while inside of a festival because of restricted items. With that said, the amazing music from some of the best artists in the world matched the atmosphere without a doubt. Check out our eight favorite Miami Music Week events in no particular order.

The Magician presents Potion Pool Party

The heavenly and prestigious Delano Beach Club hosted Potion, presented by the proclaimed producer/DJ from Belgium, The Magician.

The music perfectly matched the location; a gorgeous pool and gardens for people to relax, drink and mingle during different DJ sets.

You couldn’t have asked for any better music with this lineup. Michael Calfan was our favorite artist; he was in perfect harmony with the audience. The atmosphere and setup complimented the music, and you could feel the magic in the air. When Michael played his track “Breaking The Doors” during the end of the sunset, with everything coming together, it was truly amazing. To crown it all, The Magician closed this wonderful and unforgettable Miami Music Week event. Need more be said?

 

 

Circus X RAM

What better place is there to bring a team of bass pumping, heavy-hitters then the legendary Hangar? After Circus and RAM came through during Miami Music Week, no show has been heavier since. The lineup was able to speak for itself and left us with a party that was raging until the early morning.

From the moment you started walking up to The Hangar, you can hear the bass traveling through walls and into your chest. As you entered the venue, you were greeted with an atmosphere that matched the huge lineup. Lasers beaming everywhere and lights flashing every color. Drop after drop was paired with an amazing light show, which left an unforgettable experience.

Besides the atmosphere and venue setting the vibes right, the artists left everyone immersed in heavy bass. With a lineup that included Flux Pavilion, Doctor P, and Datsik, to name a few. Everyone couldn’t stop bouncing all night to the kick and snare of the dirtiest drops.

 

 

Oliver Heldens – Hideout Dayclub

Let us set the scene for you. Hop out of an Uber, arrive at a destination with streets covered in some of the most beautiful graffiti you could ever imagine. We could hear the buzz and feel the bass resonating from somewhere nearby. Entrance found, walk up through a break in the concrete jungle , grab a ticket, scanned, BOOM, and enter. Enter into another world, yet the same, immersed in continuing graffiti, along with a large food truck to tease your hunger. But there isn’t time for this. Keep walking and pass through a walkway created by a tractor trailor towering above you, and BAM! An elevated stage with slanted boards making a giant picture frame, all centered on the current artist, Michael Calfan, playing smooth house with a large crowd of shufflers jumping, dancing, and living life. Enter Oliver Heldens Presents. A massive lineup of 12 artists over a span of 11 hours. Lots of ground space along with and elevated platforms for people to chill and relax in one spot, but move five feet, and you’re immersed in this massive crowd of people, all holding up Oliver Heldens cardboard masks to their faces dancing, chilling, everywhere!

The lineup included headliners like Michael Calfan, Chocolate Puma, Ephwurd, Martin Solveig, Zeds Dead and of course, Oliver Heldens. Michael Calfan, Chocolate Puma, and Martin Solveig all brought the greatest mix of everything house. Sun out, beer in hand, and your afternoon was set. As the night came descended, Zeds Dead appeared to awaken the night with that perfect mix of dirty house, electro house, and bass that just makes people want to snap their necks and lose their minds; in the best possible way of course, just in time for the finale: Oliver Heldens. Not much needs to be said of his set. His party, his rules, and his time to shine. If you were lucky enough to catch it as we were, then you know what we’re saying. If not, guess it’s time to start planning for next year.

A stand out early set of the day was Ephwurd. They know how to make a party feel like a party. Big bass, heavy hitting deep house and progressive, throwing out jam after jam, with some unreleased tracks that had the crowd going wild. They brought the high energy out of everyone. Beautiful people, beautiful venue and of course beautiful music. This was the party of all parties during Miami Music Week.

Tropikult & Loud present: Poseidon’s Paradise

The Albion hotel was the perfect setting for such an event as Tropikult. Almost all of the crew was there. As you walk in you’re greeted by amazing architecture, tropical color schemes and landscapes, beautiful people and of course, the Tropikult lineup to top off why you’re there.

The weather was perfect, and the vibe was perfect. Properly placed saxophone solos were enlightening. The pool was setup right next to the stage, making the long-lived dream of chilling in a pool while mellowing out to house music a reality. One after another, some of the most famous acts born out of Tropikult and out of the tropical house / chill house movement took the stage – and hung out after, chilling with folks jamming to the sets. Things could not have gone better.

Miami was the perfect location for the event, I can only hope it will happen again, the balance between atmosphere and music was definitely on point.

Panski, N2N, and Deep Chills were some of my favorite acts to roll through, so you need to keep an eye on those guys and all the Tropikult crew for new sounds rolling out in 2016.

Above & Beyond Miami

The RC Cola Plant located in the Wynwood art district was a superb choice for the Above and Beyond Event. Surrounded by gorgeous and colorful graffiti, this venue featured copious amounts of outdoor space to accommodate the large crowd that the lineup drew. The outdoor stage reminded me immediately of Moonrise and was surrounded by drink and food tents, with the consensus being that the event overall felt like a mini festival. This festival comparison was a nice break from the usual pool and beach parties that make up Miami Music Week. You could easily join the crowd up front to be right in the mix of it all or stay back with plenty of room to dance, move around, or even chill.

The lineup included opening support by the likes of Moon Boots vs Jody Wisternoff and Yotto vs Grum. In short, it was perfect. The back and forth that each duo did playing off of each others classic deep house and house tracks was a natural fit to get the journey down the rabbit hole started.

However, the full magic of the night was held by the headliner: Above and Beyond. Equipped with their incredible lights and visuals, Above and Beyond graced us with plenty of their famous originals. Clear crowd favorites based on the excitement that ensued were “We Are All We Need”, “Walter White” and “Sun and Moon.” Later mixing it up with a mind-bending play of fellow Anjunabeats artist Jason Ross’s “Coaster.” There was no lack of magic with the feels that Above and Beyond brought during their entire set.

Arty vs Audien graced the stage after Above and Beyond. The duo took an emotional direction putting their own twists on a few of the Above and Beyond songs we had just heard as well as mixing it up with plenty of their own tracks. Sticking to classics kept the crowd in constant and positiv vibes. Arty played his Zedd “Spectrum” remix while Audien added his own twist into the mix making this one a favorite of the night. Arty had earlier told me, “It’s going to be a little more classic and more emotional while bringing in some old school kind of tracks,” and this idea was successfully portrayed for the remainder of the night.

Between the lineup, venue, and execution of the entire night this event definitely made it to the top of our favorites.

Stacked 2016

One, if the most unique, locations for an event was definitely Stacked. It felt as though you turned a corner and entered a BUKU Music Festival-esque industrial experience, with vendors and stages setup through an inner city feeling, which set the tone and had us excited of more music to come. From Party Favor, to Snails, and more, a slue of big names were taking the stage and walking amongst the crowd – a ubiquitous vibe for artists and fans together.

The shows we caught were bass heavy, womp-worthy, and turned the crowd into a insane assylum with almost every passing moment. Snails was definitely a favorite. Maybe it was just us, but he was going harder that usual, showing off what he is most known for at full blast. Loved it.

Seriously though, what else could you ask for? The music, location, size and setting made this event one of the peaks of our week. Here is a link to Stacked photos of the 2016 event which speaks for itself:

 

Big Beat Miami 2016

As one of the final events to attend during Miami Music Week, we were mentally prepared to throw down for this one. Exhausted, dehydrated, and overthinking last minute interviews and things that did or didn’t happen that week, we walked into FDR at Delano, about to see three acts that many of us had never seen before that we are huge fans of: CID, Cash Cash, and Galantis.

We arrived just before Galantis started, and thank God for that. A blend of electronic themed throwbacks, big-room/trap hybrids that were surprisingly melodic and a perfect fit for the epic progressive originals that is Galantis’ music. We couldn’t have asked for more with such a unique set. Next up was Cash Cash delivering old school rap and hip-hop, familiar drops and sounds, and of course plenty of Cash Cash originals is what filled our ears and our vibes. It was everything that people love about Cash Cash and more , with their funny side, musically passionate side, along with every song made it such an uplifting journey for their set. Sadly we left left right before CID took the stage, but we were able to catch an interview with him, so look out for that!

 

 

Dim Mak 20th Anniversary Edition

There isn’t a better pairing than Nikki Beach and Dim Mak when it comes to Miami Music Week venues. This location has a long history of holding some of the most insane parties during this stretch of music events this time of year. This beach-like venue featured an extreme party vibe. Situated under a tent, emojis that resembled Aoki himself, Netflix and Chill, Grumpy Cat and more hung from above while lounges designated for bottle service surrounded the outlying area. There was no shortage of bathing suit clad attendees dancing on any surface imaginable.

With a lineup filled with over 25 artists there was no lack of a hype atmosphere when we first arrived. As it darkened SBCR (aka The Bloody Beetroots) took the stage, ultimately preparing the crowd for a crazy remainder of the lineup with his signature Fuzz and talent of distortion. Party animal himself, 3LAU finally took the stage and did what he does best, make people dance. Entering 3LAU’s haus is entering another realm and this artist was perfect for an already dope lineup. His blend of mashups, festival favorites and original tracks made his set perfect for this venue. Later on Aoki made an appearance himself with cake in tow, not only to celebrate the 20th anniversary but to end up on someones face.

This was one event that should definitely be attended at least once in your life. Check out a ton more photos here and look out for the 2016 Dim Mak 20th Anniversary after movie that is sure to be the perfect visual recap.

Connect with Miami Music Week:
https://www.facebook.com/MiamiMusicWeek
https://twitter.com/MiamiMusicWeek
https://www.instagram.com/MiamiMusicWeek
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JWdzHJLKFGPyf_byGsHQA
https://www.miamimusicweek.com

---

Share On