CoS at Miami’s inaugural Future Classic Fest (9/12)
The Soho Studios in Miami’s Wynwood Art District is home to numerous art galleries and local bands throughout the year. Now, whether these events are always as successful and entertaining as they want to appear is a horse of a completely different color — correction, light spectrum. Take, for example, this past Saturday’s Future Classic Festival (FCF), which promised to present to the hungry local youths what their website described as “a revolutionary event experience combining music, art, dancing, action sports, video gaming and much, much more.”
Alright, so they had music, kick-ass visual artists, they threw some chicks in leggings and phat sneakers out onto the dance floor, a seven-year-old patrolled the grounds on a skateboard, and there was an area infested with Rock Band setups. But really, does this make for a great festival? I don’t think so. Not for one millisecond. In order to make the breakdown of faults easy to digest, I’ll start chronologically, with the venue.
The first sign arrived when my associate and I had arrived at the boondocks–pardon, Wynwood District–where a pair of crackheads tried to hustle us out of our $20 by offering a primo parking spot right around the corner from the entrance gates. We politely declined their offer, but they insisted heavily. They warned us, very menacingly, that we were in a bad neighborhood, and surely we’d be robbed, shanked, and beaten by the patrons at the homeless shelter before the hour was up. That is, unless we parked in the spot they reserved for us.
20 minutes later, after finally finding a place for our car and overcoming our fear of grand theft auto, we made our way to the gates of the warehouse. We were about an hour late, so I figured we’d be let right in, but The Don King look-alike manning the entrance proved me wrong. He rudely refused us access to the inside and made us stand out on the scalding hot sidewalk for about another hour with the ten other attendees; the place was deserted. What seemed like months later, we managed to get inside and found that nothing was ready over two hours after scheduled take-off. There was nothing to do. No bands to see. No games to play. Not even a drink to buy (the ticket stands were not yet set up).
Soho is a small venue, and in less than five minutes we had seen everything that was on display. I do have to say, the visual artists, who were the only ones that were ready, were simply amazing. Dave Gonzalez, award-winning local tattoo artist and child prodigy (he’s been working for years and is only 19), was pushing his shockingly realistic works, which included a guitar painted with the face of someone who looked like the offspring of Macy Gray and Erykah Badu. Another brilliant stand was Claudia Calle’s, showcasing a number of politically-oriented photographs, and some tribal shots worthy of National Geographic. Other than the visual arts, FCF was truly lacking in talent.
Being an ardent fan of plenty local bands myself, I expected more from the Miami music scene at this festival. Headlining was Pharrell Williams’ electro-funk/hip-hop ensemble, N*E*R*D, and this was pretty much all FCF relied on to reel in the crowds. As for the rest of the lineup, I definitely won’t say there wasn’t anything good to hear, since I was the first one to exclaim my excitement at the thought of going to the festival. This doesn’t mean, however, that I wasn’t disappointed at arrival.
I thought making my appearance early on would be the smartest move, since the lineup was composed of about 10 hours of unknown local acts — this way I’d be sure to catch them all. However, the festival kicked off something like four hours late, and honestly, I have never been surrounded by so much noise and been so bored in my life. That’s a fact. For positivity purposes, though, let’s focus on those brief moments of joy that FCF did succeed in creating.
In the midst of the 15-minute DJ spots that in reality were just feedback from hell and the countless indie bands that I could never have picked out of a lineup, there was The Morning Flesh Project. By far the most original in content and instruments, this mix of My Morning Jacket and Dave Matthews Band was definitely an act to remember. Though they may still be on the hunt for a vocalist to complement their lube-slick guitar solos and progressive ambient effects, these guys can smash it up all on their own. They owned the outdoor stage at FCF with tracks like the mellow-to-psychedelic-sax-jam “The Knife”, helping us in the audience make it through the transition from smoldering, face-melting heat to light rain and sticky clothes.
Soon after, “Colombian reggae” group Bachaco put on just about the only show that got people dancing, as far as I could tell. The guys in Bachaco were able to conquer the 30 members of the audience with their blend of native Jamaican, Colombian, and Venezuelan sounds and simple, clean lyrics about dancing in the aforementioned locations. Their track “Jamaican Cumbia” featured their guitarist “Matt” throwing down some original Jamaican freestyle, and let me tell you, there is something very alluring about watching a musician truly enjoy his art. Matt was all smiles through the duration of the performance, even if he might have not understood all the lyrics, some of which were in Spanish.
Following Bachaco, there came hours of drone hip-hop acts like Lex One and Butta Verses, all following the Citizen Cope formula to a tee, and adding some Miami-style dirty lyrics about bootay. At this point, we were desperately looking for entertainment, and marveling at the fact that the venue was barely full, and the people present were 15% concertgoer, 85% press. Lots of no-shows this year at FCF.
Just when we thought we could take no more, the universe gave us a break and delivered Fusik, an electro-funk band very similar to STS9, but less experimental and, well, funkier. There’s a reason these guys are called “Florida’s funk band”. They delighted us with tracks like “Ghost”, “Higher”, and “The Grind”, in the middle of which conga player NONMS got up and performed an uplifting but strung-out version of the robot dance.
After enduring who knows how many hours of waiting in line, sweating our clothes to a mop-like state, and bearing with the million and one technical difficulties the PA system was experiencing, we were more than ready to get back out on those mean streets to find our car and drive straight home. Loud music is the cornerstone of a concert, but the infernal, screeching, shriek that the speakers were producing sporadically and sometimes while a band was performing was too much for most people to take. Little crowds would walk back and forth between the main stage and the outdoor stage trying to escape the banshee in the speakers, and hoping their eardrums would not implode.
After the Fusik show we went out and about to find another exciting musical adventure. What we found threw us over the edge.
City of God must be the epitome of bands that try to fuse hard rock with electro-hip-hop and fail miserably. Either that, or they sound absolutely awful live, which could be the case since at FCF they have zero consideration for sound equilibrium. That was all we needed to see, since we had already tasted the essence of FCF. Out of 40+ acts, it’s unacceptable that only about four of them are worthy of mentioning. Sorry Pharrell, but an hour of N*E*R*D is not enough to make me stay through 12 hours of horrible music. Maybe next year Future Classic will deliver as promised, and not a four-hour-late festival packed with mediocre local bands and a deaf man for sound technician in a grimy venue.
Harshly critizing bands in the middle of an admittedly horribly run festival? Seems like low ball tactics, especially from an out of towner who doesn’t understand how things are in Miami. I just read a really honest opinion from a local Miami source
http://www.revmiami.com/2009/09/future-classic-festival-makes-big-promises-delivers-little/
Get the real story.
I feel like people are too Judgemental in Miami and dont know how to have fun. i went with my friend because i had nothing better to do. But I did have a good time. It is possible that u did watch Fusik and City of God at the same time Maria, I walked out also and caught half of City of God’s Set…Lead singer was funny but didnt say their name enough, Took me a while to figure out their name. lol. And Jahfe was bad ass!!!!! And People…Stop being so damn mean.
All right guys I made the call to my buddy who worked the FCF. He gave me some insight. I was correct in my thoughts. No money for the sound company and they were told that all of the bands were going to provide audio techs for themselves. The PA was on the stage where it should have been the night before and the FCF made them put it on the floor(because FCF placed the VIP stage in a bad spot and the VIPS could not see the stage) after the audio company fought with them for an hour telling FCF the sound was going to suffer. N.E.R.D and ANR were the only ones that brought a A1 with them(not for sure on this, so if others brought them I am sorry). So like i said in my last post please get as many facts as you can before you say someone sucks…
ME-… you are right! yet as production company that raved to be the last coke FCF should have helped the local musicians sound decent.
as Anton said “like we’re a bunch of amateurs not worthy of having a stage set up”
same goes for the fans… as if they didnt deserve a better time.
It just sucks for the people that paid 25, 35 and more
the bands that didnt play and loyal fans who didnt see them play.
That is disrepect all the way… and for all of you conformists out there go back next year and spend your money.
It would benefit the local venues who pay the artists that you actually go there instead.
Instead of promoting FCF do your homework right! better yet refund the money.
I went to the event and dont really agree with this writer on the entering part. I walked right in around 5:30. Yeah it was late, but its a big production. Can’t really complain for the price. I had fun.
PS
You even got the wrong info for Dave! He’s 21, not 19 and the link to his page is all wrong. Did you just allow some random dude pose as the real ARTist?
LOL!
—–>>BDT: Thanks for clearing up the main stage sound issues…it makes perfect sense now…you could understand the frustration when you see the top flight sound equipment on stage but hear such deflating results..we (Fusik) were told there was no backline THE DAY BEFORE the show, thankfully we had no problem bringing our stuff(my drummer providing his own set as backline for the other bands, thank you Felix!) and if we would have known the whole stereo mix down thing, we would have prepared accordingly and brought some trusted ears to help nail the mix. I also guess we shouldn’t presume that we would get at least a slight soundcheck(since we were there at 3pm) or expect to have a sound guy communicating with us on how to run THEIR system…
N.E.R.D’s sound was SPECTACULAR b/c their mics and backline were up, soundchecked and left untouched the whole night….had nothing to do with their ability/inability to use the system, I’m sure the sound team made damn sure their sound was up to snuff..as it should be for the headlining artist.
When a promoter does not let the sound company do the right thing you get bad sound! The sound should never have been on the floor. It should have never been spread so far apart. It looked like the audio guys had the right gear. I do not know what happened for sure but I am a audio guy and mix for some big bands and know right from wrong. I have done shows like this before and know what these guys were dealing with. I did not see any of the bands audio guys using the FOH mixer, but they were behind the stage trying to mix? Lets not bash the audio guys when we do not really know what happened here. We do not know if the budget was small or they provided what was asked for, to many unanswered questions here. I do know the production company that did the main stage and they have higher end audio equipment sitting in there warehouse that I have used. From a audio stand point, that room is very hard to get great sound in unless you (the promoter)spends the money to get the proper equipment. He should have went for more speakers spread out in the room instead of going with the in your face approach, which did not really work. I could go on for hours about what went wrong, but do not have that much time. Just remember we do not know why or what happened that caused the sound guys to do what they did. My guess is the promoter screwed up in his planning stages and had to make something happen without thinking of what the outcome would be.
Just wanted to clear up that the images above of the guitar and skateboard were not created by Dave Gonzalez. He is a greatly talented ARTist and Tattoo ARTist, but those 2 pieces were created by me. I sent an email yesterday to clarify this info, but it seems it was to no avail. You can check my credentials @ http://nfromero.net
Thank you kindly.
I just want to clear up a few things that I read in this blog. If the people that are bashing the sound really knew what was going on they would not be talking as much crap as they are. Last minute changes on the promoter’s side forced the sound company to put the speakers on the floor spreading them to far apart for proper coverage (because the VIP stage was to close to the main stage). The promoter also failed to tell all of the bands what they were supposed to bring i.e. all of their own backline including mixers, mics, drum kits etc… Now with that being said once the bands got all of their equipment to the venue they were responsible for sending a mixed stereo feed to the audio guys that put it out to the main PA. The bands mixed their own bands and the audio company had no control of what they (the band) were sending them, all the audio company could do is make sure that the band did not drive the system too hard. I was there and listened to most of the bands and they did not know how to send a proper mix to the PA. When N.E.R.D came on the sound was great. This is because they were using the system the proper way.
Have to agree with Misty on this one. The Art shows (3-D and Painting) were awesome. The skateboarding and games were great too. I am officially a fan of the Nintendo WII as a result of playing it at the Future Classic.
The bands were great WITH superb stage prescence. But the Engineers that did the sound for the indoor Stage straight up sucked!!!!
JAHFE WAS CRAZY!!!! And the DJ’s provided a great break point to chill and relax.
On the downside, VIP needs to be treated more LIKE V.I.P… and I hate to sound like a broken record but the sound for the indoor stage sounded like a P.A. System.
Hoping to see some improvements for next year!!!
PLEASE MAKE SURE N.E.R.D. IS BACK AS WELL!!!!!
Its not that the bands were band. The Sound Engineers that was working the main stage SUCKED. If the music wasn’t too loud it was muddy. If there wasn’t way to much treble the bass was overwhelming. I really enjoyed hearing the bands that performed outside seeing as though I could actually hear their music and not a bunch of loud noise.
Jahfe and Bachaco KILEED IT!!! I’m sure the other artists that performed on the main stage were pretty good, but the sound engineers f’ed up their show. N*E*R*D* is my FAV band. They were aweseom even though I felt their set was a bit rushed.
The artwork was cool. I wish there was more of it to see. The gaming sections was fun too.
I’m sure this event will get bigger and better each year.From a business aspect this event lacked organization. Hell if they would even start on time next year would be a major improvement. Also they need to treat VIP guests as such when they arrive at the gate. Security just let everyone stampede into the event. And again better sound engineers on the main stage are necessary for event goers to at least give the bands a chance. Its hard to hear their artistry if it sounds like a bunch of loud noise, mud and breaking glass….
Sanchez of Fusik stopping in to drop two cents
I see a lot of passionate fans(some new, which is what every band tries to do when they perform) here sticking up for the local groups, many of which didn’t even get pay, let alone some water or food compensation for performing. Your loyalty and appreciation is really appreciated but i encourage you to not cut Maria to bits for her P.O.V. I along with my bandmates arrived at 3pm to witness the chaotic beginning of the event and the obvious disregard for the local groups, like we’re a bunch of amateurs not worthy of having a stage set up(and I would have easily swapped all those soundguys with TWO guys from SAE that would have straightened out that GOD AWFUL SOUND!!!). To slight bands like Mayday and Spam All Stars, two of South Florida’s PREMIERE groups?? Bewildering…and very disappointing. It detracted from my experience(I always enjoy supporting my local musical brethren) and it stole from the patient audience that endured weather, a late LATE start, and that WACK ticket system(I spent 20$ in 20 min on DRINKS….THREE….wow)…I’d be set to write a ripping review as well.
All that said, I really want to give props to the OUTDOOR stage crew, who had every group out there sounding VERY tight(at least from the bands I heard…Morning flesh, Ketchy Shuby,Jahfe and Locos Por Juana). Every first festival is chaotic and rough..I hope the organizers take note and make proper adjustments to next years festival, so EVERYONE gets their monies worth.
Thank you for you dedicated music/art/Miami lovers for coming out! You made it a great night for us!
Anton Sanchez
FUSIK
Maria’s got the facts all wrong…
Your relentless personal attacks demonstrate to everyone who reads them not only the weakness of your facts but the content of your character.
Whether I agree or disagree, is not relevant. We are all entitled to our own opinions, including you. I just do not understand the vile hatred you (and others) spew like venom. Surely that’s not necessary to make a point.
It’s a turn off…
“Let’s get one thing clear – you know shit about Miami’s music scene. Journalism 101: Do your research you cunt.” -Get Real on
“ummmmm yeeeaaahhh, thats not the artists for that jackass, the artists that you took of pic of their artwork is called “Nico Romero”” -Anonymous on Sep 14th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
“Ok so…I gotta agree with Kirby W….1st if you saw Fusik then you couldn’t have watched CITY OF GOD…they were playing at the same time….” -SWEET B on Sep 14th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
“Even the part you liked you got wrong because you didn’t even take time to research and talk to the artists.
The guitar and skateboard were not works of the tattoo artist.
They belong to NF Romero another artist they are friends.”-
Mari on Sep 14th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
“There are some very obvious errors in your article which make it difficult for one to take the review seriously. Fusik played a set that included none of the tracks you listed” -Anonymous on Sep 14th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
“City of God was really the only band that made me not totally regret coming at 7″ -JillS on Sep 14th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
wow!
The sound inside was bad. So bad in fact that GOOD bands sounded like sh*t,
(the nerds rang fire upon my eardrums, and I am not the only one who had to leave during that set)
But the ones who really suffer are the local talent, who should be gaining fans instead of losing them at a show like this.
Why wouldn’t good sound be the #1 priority at a concert?
Although I can not completely disagree with your article, Maria, I can not help but comment on the way you state your argument. It is hard for anyone to acknowledge your observations when you state them in such a DISRESPECTFUL manner. Talk about “hard to digest”. Next time, use a little grace and tact and maybe it will draw attention away from the fact that you are not only misinformed but far too inexperienced to be writing about the music scene in Miami.
FCF, I hope you have learned from your mistakes this year. Although I left unfulfilled and disillusioned, I haven not ruled out next years festival
woww….can i smell the hate?? city of god has a great sound…its just too bad if the sound equipment the venue provides suckssss….NERD was good as always! i love me some Pharrell
I still think Maria is right and yes thank god for ear plugs.
Hey Maria,
The first rule of going to a music show in Miami is never show up early! Everything runs on Cuban time. Rule number 2, anything interesting or worth going to is almost always in some shady part of town. Keep your wits about you and you’ll be fine.
I’m not chiming in to call you names or trash your opinion. In fact, i can’t dispute that the bathrooms were trashed or that the sound was pretty bad. I should know, i/we (ArtOfficial) were performing on the main stage, and even though we managed to keep a pretty large crowd in front of us, we could tell that the audience was having a hard time hearing us. They looked a little confused even. The Sweat Records merch booth saved my life by selling me earplugs.
Instead of trashing your opinion, i want to change it. Or at least try. I want to invite you to Jazid this Friday. I’ll make sure you don’t have to pay a cent to get in. Come by, have a drink, listen to us play and form your opinion. That’s all, simple and plain.
There are some very obvious errors in your article which make it difficult for one to take the review seriously. Fusik played a set that included none of the tracks you listed. Aside from that, you are definately entitiled to your opinions, haters be damned.
FCF was quite the CF, eh? Too bad, could have been a real positive thing for our scene…
“Dave Gonzalez, award-winning local tattoo artist and child prodigy (he’s been working for years and is only 19), was pushing his shockingly realistic works, which included a guitar painted with the face of someone who looked like the offspring of Macy Gray and Erykah Badu.”
ummmmm yeeeaaahhh, thats not the artists for that jackass, the artists that you took of pic of their artwork is called “Nico Romero”
Yep… Gotta agree with you on many issues at the event. There was some less that par talent there amongst the ones that were great. I do have to disagree tho, City of God was actually one of the best bands there. I liked them a whole lot, and thats my opinion… They did great and I bought a CD and liked it a whole lot!
I agree some stuff gotta change to do this event again though for sure. I do think the article was maybe a bit harsh tho. Especially if you are suppose to be media. This is kinda borderline unprofessional… I THINK. Again, just my opinion….
JayKetchy,
Thanks for understanding that, this being my review, it is my opinion. I wrote about my experience at Future Classic, a festival that I was more than eager to attend and rave about. But I have to be honest, and so I was.
Spam Allstars and MayDay are my favorites too, and I didn’t even get to see them. I didn’t see your band play either, nor did I say you guys were mediocre. I also didn’t say anything about the members of any band being bad people, since I commented solely on their music.
What people are calling the “Miami scene” is something that encompasses a wide array of music and art, and I say there is something for everyone. I’m a fan of plenty of local bands, but that doesn’t mean I automatically love anything that comes out of Miami.
Bottomline– this is one person’s review. There will be good ones, and there will be bad ones, and all we have to go by are our individual thoughts.
Exactly it should have been called Future Fuck Classic Fuck your ears festival… And FCF can you get out of our lives and stop posting on facebook… we already feel sorry for you… yup Maria you keep writing! Why dont you publicly apologize instead of hyping yesterday… MOVE ON! YOU SUCKED!
Soula you are right>> “And one more thing Future Classic Festival….how dare you produce a festival “highlighting” the local music scene and you cut the originators of the scene.. The Spam Allstars!Shame on you!”
This is why Miami has continued to be a decadent place for the local music scene: close minded fucks. And I’m not talking about Maria.
Just because the City of God fan club mafia decides to invade this article and claim they sounded great doesn’t make it true. And Maria doesn’t even say that they suck in general terms, but that they “[sounded] absolutely awful live” probably due to FCF having “zero consideration for sound equilibrium.” Which could be true, since I’ve been to many a venue where they just butcher the sound.
City of God could be the “most down to earth people,” as Eric R. claims. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t sound awful. That doesn’t even mean they didn’t sound great to you. That doesn’t mean someone’s wrong and someone’s right. When it comes to music, everyone has their own taste. So don’t hate on people because they don’t agree with you. If you do, just move to a place like Cuba or Iran where you can all agree to like the same shitty things.
Keep writing Maria, there’s no shame in calling it like it is. And for the rest of you, eat a carrot (it tastes better than dick).
City of God was really the only band that made me not totally regret coming at 7. I agree that the sounds quality was pretty bad all around and most of it wasn’t that great. The best parts for me were:
City of God, their energy was insane even though the crowd was kinds dead. I definitely plan on seeing them again.
Watching random bboys was great… I could watch them all day and it was a great distracting from the hours of wackness that was going on.
Finally, N.E.R.D was great, as usual… BUT i was dissapointed that they didn’t do “Anti Matter” or “Brain”, which were listed on the stage as encores. Also, I’m pretty sure a lot of the people there weren’t really into that scene but just wanted to see Pharrell. But that’s only speculation of course.
Because I’m a huge N.E.R.D fan I’d probably do it again but.. I definitely don’t WANT to do it again.
Awesome concept for the festival but will probably be more worth while next year.
Some of these comments make me happy I left Miami. Thank god.
and who the fuck was that Jorge Moreno? he scared the crowd…
I agree Maria if you are going to write and article PLEASE get your facts straight…
How could you say there were only three worthy bands if you didn’t even stay until the end?
Did you even see Suenalo,Artofficial,Locos POr Juana,ELastic Bond & JOrge Moreno?These bands are kick ass and nowhere near unknown.
The sound was terrible and in my humble opinion these guys who produced this festival should stick to porn. My body was uncomfortable being anywhere near the speakers.They broke rule number one in producing a good festival-bad sound will kill a music festival amateurs!!Despite the horrible sound these bands did their best to play through it.
Maria maybe you should go out one night in Miami and see music.On any given night there is incredible-local(and not unknown)acts playing out.Miami has been working a long time to have a music scene-and although the people to support it aren’t all there,the music is.
I’m sorry that Future Classic Festival did a horrible job of highlighting them.
Get your facts straight before you write again.
And one more thing Future Classic Festival….how dare you produce a festival “highlighting” the local music scene and you cut the originators of the scene.. The Spam Allstars!Shame on you!
Best bands at FCF for me were….
The Morning Flesh Project, Bachaco, Ketchy Shuby, Jahfe, Fusic, Elastic Bond, Artofficial, Suenalo and Volumen Cero….
I’m so pissed that Spam Allstars and Mayday did not perform.
I am a hater too… so screw City of God, N.E.R.D, Afrobeta (so glad they didn’t perform)….
and… when the hell did awesome new republic perform?
Best bands at FCF for me were….
The Morning Flesh Project, Bachaco, Ketchy Shuby, Jahfe, Fusic, Elastic Bond, Artofficial, Suenalo and Volumen Cero….
I’m fucking pissed that Spam Allstars and Mayday did not perform.
I am a hater too… so screw City of God, N.E.R.D, Afrobeta (so glad they didn’t perform)….
and… when the hell did awesome new republic perform?
Wanted to see mayday!!!!!
Hate me if u want but, city of god was the shiiiiiiiiiittttttt!!!! Yea I said it!
Hope people in miami stop being sheep cattle and stop believing in smoke and mirrors! FCF stick to porn.
Ahhhh Maria,
I’m laughing my a$$ off and shaking it at the same time. What a HATER you are. City of God was amazing. I wish I knew we had music like that here in the MIA. I will def be looking out for them.
Jahfe, City of God, n.e.r.d…. Only bands worth watching and I agree with everyone with the eating the u know what part. Lmao!!!
I loved Alissa Christines pics, Elastic Bonds Performance, Claudia Calles pictures and running into some of my local acquaintances also press or vendors. The truth of the matter is that FCF talked before the walk. The number one thing a Music festival has to take care of is their SOUND! As soon as you walked in the door I was already counting the time, there were no janitors on site, no good food but of course lots of alcohol and atms. Not to mention no free water! I left about 11ish thinking… man I’m going to miss Afrobeta and a day later I hear they didn’t play. FCF you are ungrateful! Afrobeta supported you guys on FB etc! not to mention they brought a big crowd. The worst thing was that I heard that people paid $35 at the door and then as the night went by $45…WOW! I seriously rather pay cover in all the local bars and get to listen to vendors who have their audio and to put it bluntly SHIT together! PS I didnt pay to get in had I had I would be writing to someone else so FCF could get audited.
haha. this guy obviously had an awesome time. but perception is reality ,so to the reviewer of this im sure its real as fuck to him. personally i had a great time and discovered lots of new talent and enjoyed lots of miami locals. i think this review was a bit harsh but to each his own. I think city of god is ill and butta verses and lex one are far from drone hip hop.
This girl is a complete idiot. Let’s get this out of the way, sound wasn’t great – in fact, it did even annoy me at times… drink ticket system was a stupid idea… and two of the bands I wanted to see didn’t perform without explanation. But I had a great fuckin’ time and so did everyone else I was with!
What I’d like to know is – Why would these people send a writer who’s not even IN the scene or knows anything about these bands? Some Grammy winning, some Grammy nominated, nationally and internationally touring and all with an amazing and loyal following! “FCF lacking in talent? Lineup composed of unknown local acts?” You have to be seriously kidding or seriously out of the loop. This piece of shit “publication” knows shit about local music… and I’ll rebuttal all the bullshit she just spewed with what REAL publications had to say:
“The most comprehensive and impressive assembly of every top name act and notable DJ in Miami; this is an ALLSTAR Miami Line Up” -GenArt
“Perhaps the best and most complete local music festival we’ve ever seen” -Miami New Times
“Almost every important Miami band out there (seriously!)” -Miami Herald
“Future Classic Festival is the kind of kick-ass event that only can take place in Miami!” -Sun Sentinel
Let’s get one thing clear – you know shit about Miami’s music scene. Journalism 101: Do your research you cunt.
You obviously have no idea what you are talking about.
You blog about things you don’t know.
Even the part you liked you got wrong because you didn’t even take time to research and talk to the artists.
The guitar and skateboard were not works of the tattoo artist.
They belong to NF Romero another artist they are friends.
Next time you think about opening your talentless mouth to critizise.
Do youself a favor, and do a little reasearch before you start talking shit.
Hater.
Ps. The things people are willing to say just so they can get their website/blog hits is sad.
guys dont be so mean to maria , shes just stating her opinion, even if its bitter and unsatisfying. theres never a need to name call, yes there were no shows like MAYDAY, Afrobeta, & Spam allstars ,thas cos of time issues or what ever. I was extremely bummed cos mayday and spam allstars are my fav groups.
but to call the rest of the bands “noise” and to belittle city of god like that is rude and distasteful, these miami bands came to put on a show for you whether you liked them or not, respect the art maria, and to be honest with you i met some of the people of city of god , and they re nice and genuine people.
and i personally thought theyre show was sick, dont lie and say that we are mediocre, we played after city of god, and we worked hard to put on that performance, i agree the festival was a tad disorganized and their were trials and tribulations, but this show wasnt about N*E*R*D , it was about our miami scene, and your review , were your opinions, but they were wrong… DEAD WRONG
all the best
Jay
what a hater you are! I didn’t read past the first 4 paragraphs to know that you have NO idea what you’re talking about. Have you ever experience the Miami music scene, because I’m pretty damn sure the ghetto and bums are ALL around. Go back to your high class pretentious bull shit.
Unfortunately, I have to totally agree with the writer on this one. For a festival with so much potential and promises of a local music revolution, they fell flat on their face. Being one of the performers, I experienced this first hand. Very late starte….HORRIBLE sound on the inside stage..ridiculous drink prices… just to name a few.
The Morning Flesh Project - amazing, jazz rock pscyhedelia cluster fuck.
Fusik - hard hitting funk
Bachaco - YOUNG guys with ridiculous talent and potential..
There were some I felt were left out tho
Ketchy Shuby
Suenalo
Elastic Bond
and yes… CITY OF GOD sucked dick. sorry, just being straight up. Respect to the writer for doing the same.
So are all the comments here from members of City of God then? Based on eloquence and clarity of writing alone, I would believe the person who wrote this article to be giving an accurate description of the events over than the ones who have responded to it thus far. Way to keep it smart, who is really doing the hating here?
You are so off base! You like the band that I couldn’t watch anymore cause it was so damn boring and then you bash the band that was the craziest. You have got to be kidding me-are you friends with the 1st band??? That must be it!
Ok so…I gotta agree with Kirby W….1st if you saw Fusik then you couldn’t have watched CITY OF GOD…they were playing at the same time….2nd fyi…The picture next to WHERE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THEM IS NOT CITY OF GOD…Boy I do hope you are wrong becasue CIty of God blew it up…By the looks of it your hearing and information is not on point!!!! They had one of the biggest crowds….if they sucked so bad people wouldn’t have stuck around….But like they say everyone is entitled to their own opinion…so ok…Like we say in Miami…Eat a dick again!!! HATER!!
Politics in music much Maria?!? I Interviewed City of God, some of the most down to earth people. Thanks guys. I bet this review will get a bunch of comments disagreeing. U guys were amazing!!!
Lol. Hater!!! City of God was amazing!!! I had a blast during the set, hard rock? Haha!!! And I hope u guys liked the pictures!!!
Wwwwwoooooooowwwwwww!!!!! I was there and I agree that most bands were bad. But I was there for City of God and I’m there new biggest fan, one of the bands that YOU mentioned didn’t even sing?!?! I’m confused. I left halfway during N.e.r.d. Because sound inside sucked. But all together It was a cool concept for an event. And Maria… U are one hell of a hater. Like we say in Miami…Eat a dick.