9 Best Live Acts at III Points 2024

Miami's music scene can be very DJ-centric, which is why it's so nice that we can rely on festivals like III Points to bring in a more eclectic sampling of alternative music. For example, there are bands at this festival. Yes, remember bands? Those groups of musicians that play actual instruments? III Points has got 'em. It also has Latin pop avant-gardists, massive electronic wizards, and weirdo emo rappers from Sweden.

Here are New Times' favorite live acts taking the stage at III Points 2024.

Arca

La Doña is back. Arca's last show at III Points in 2017 was a forceful show of avant-garde DJing, with the artist switching from salsa to hard techno on a dime and stomping on the decks, all set to Jesse Kanda's eerie, grotesque found-footage visuals. Since then, her act has changed significantly, with the Venezuelan artist pursuing a new course of avant-garde Latin pop on her KiCK album quadrilogy. She also confirmed her gender identity as a non-binary trans woman, becoming a major inspiration for other genderqueer and gender-nonconforming artists and fans. Oh, and she DJed Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour in Barcelona. It's hard to predict what we'll get from an Arca performance, but it's certain to be utterly unique.

Bar Italia

One of the most buzzed-about new rock bands in recent years, Bar Italia is a band that exudes cool. Formed in London in 2019, the trio signed to major indie label Matador in 2023 and released two albums that same year. The first, Tracey Denim, was one of the best rock records of last year and announced the band as a bold new voice in the genre. The moody arrangements, matter-of-fact lyricism, and dispassionate vocals from Nina Cristante and Sam Fenton recall '90s bands such as Sonic Youth and Low, as well as their colleagues in the London alternative-music scene such as Dean Blunt.

Glass Beams

They may be from Melbourne, Australia, but Glass Beams have their hearts firmly set on the Indian subcontinent. Inspired by a heady mix of Eastern and Western musicians, including George Harrison, Ananda Shankar, Muddy Waters, and Charanjit Singh, the group, who are known to perform in glamorous bejeweled masks, play a mysterious, psychedelic style of rock that proudly incorporates their Indian heritage. You'll understand the Khruangbin comparisons as soon as you hear them, but Glass Beams may be even more sensual and vibrational than their Texan counterparts.

Justice

Daft Punk may have broken up, but Justice, the other dynamic duo of French house, is back and bigger than ever. Hyperdrama, its first album in eight years, dropped earlier this year, and it's a return to the blistering, crunchy electro-house that made them famous way back in the blog-house era of the mid-2000s, balanced with plenty of nu-disco goodness. The pair's III Points set is sure to include those new jams along with their older hits like "D.A.N.C.E.," "Genesis," and "Safe and Sound." This is an unmissable performance.

Natural Wonder Beauty Concept

A collaboration between Ana Roxanne and (South Florida native) DJ Python, Natural Wonder Beauty Concept debuted last year with a self-titled debut album. Rather than channel Roxanne's dreamy new age pop or Python's "deep reggaetón," the duo went in a more experimental, surprising direction, combining gentle ambiance with bassy IDM beats, jungle breaks, and mysterious, atmospheric vocals and melodies. It's unclear how the pair plan to interpret the record live, but we expect their performance to be as idiosyncratic as their music.

Parliament-Funkadelic

Did you know George Clinton is a Floridian? A Tallahassee resident for 30 years, the legendary musician occasionally makes it down to Miami for exhibitions of his quirky art. For III Points, however, he's bringing the whole band: Parliament-Funkadelic, the sprawling collective that pioneered funk music. From the acid odyssey of "Maggot Brain" to the party vibes of "Give Up The Funk" and the hip-hop favorite "Atomic Dog," these interstellar music warriors have brought the funk to generations of music fans, influencing everyone from Dr. Dre and Tupac to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. III Points occasionally nabs performances by elder statesmen of American music — remember Herbie Hancock back in 2019? — and when they do, they're unmissable. Make sure to get a front-row spot for the P-Funk.

Snow Strippers

There's a problem with calling everything indie sleaze: How do you apply the label to a group like Snow Strippers, whose sound lies somewhere between Alice Deejay and Crystal Castles? Originally from Clearwater on Florida's west coast, the duo of Tatiana Schwaninger and Graham Perez fled the Sunshine State for the colder climes of Detroit and began making a euphoric, emotive brand of EDM pop starting in 2021. Songs like "Under Your Spell" and "Just Your Doll" reverberate with anarchic rave energy, while their videos, shot on cheap digital cameras, feel like a bunch of teens trying to make their own Harmony Korine movie. The band has since taken on New York, becoming the voice of a generation obsessed with living out their misremembered version of the Y2K era. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what time period they sound like; Snow Strippers is one of the most interesting bands of now.

Thee Sacred Souls

Sometimes, III Points can feel a bit too futuristic, so it's good that a band like Thee Sacred Souls is on the lineup. Listening to them is like taking a sonic time machine back to '60s Detroit — the soulful trio's music sounds exactly like something you heard on a Motown compilation, to the point of uncanniness. In fact, the three are pulling from plenty of distinct strains of soul music, including Chicano soul bands, such as their namesake Thee Midniters, that inspired SoCal natives Alex Garcia and Sal Samano to start the group with singer Josh Lane. So, while you may hear the smooth croon of Marvin Gaye in Lane's vocals on songs like "Lucid Girl," there's more to the picture than that.

Yung Lean and Bladee

Drain Gang is in the house. A decade on from the inexplicable debut of internet-addled Swedish rapper Yung Lean, he and his close compatriot Bladee have become two of alternative hip-hop's major names, influencing scenes such as hyperpop and indie sleaze and commanding a fierce following among fellow overly online rap kids. Both have pioneered a sound aesthetic of autotuned vocals, ethereal beats, and lyrics that fuse debauchery with soul-searching. Only a few rap acts are playing at the fest this year, but neither Rick Ross nor Raekwon offers the kind of unique artistic voice that these two bring. Let's hope they do "Miami Ultras."

III Points 2024. 3 p.m. to 4 a.m. Friday, October 18, and Saturday, October 19, at Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami; iiipoints.com. Tickets cost $199.99 to $619 via iiipoints.frontgatetickets.com.