Sinopoli and LaBrie met working at the Wynwood lounge Bardot in 2011. The festival's fellow cofounder, Erica Freshman, invited Sinopoli to be the venue's music director. LaBrie juggled Bardot's production while also touring as a sound engineer and the head audio engineer at the studio theater of the Adrienne Arsht Center. III Points inception is rooted in Bardot's bookings, and through interactions with various guests and artists, Sinopoli and Freshman, along with Bardot's owner, Amir Ben-Zion, soon mulled over the idea of a tiny festival in Wynwood.
The inaugural festival ushered in talents like James Murphy, Jamie xx, DJ Shadow, and XXYYXX, constructing an alternative path away from EDM's hegemony.
Years two and three came and went, but Hurricane Matthew, the Zika virus, and canceled headliners delivered what most would consider the death knell to the festival in 2016. However, the team picked itself up, and the production and acts got bigger; they added a third day to the lineup, and there was light again.
Then, the 2020 pandemic paralyzed nightlife.
Yet the III Points team persevered — bringing the festival back to two days and tweaking production. Sinopoli and LaBrie recall those crushing lows like underdogs winning the championship game at the last second.
Sinopoli and LaBrie wear many memories across their sleeves as they prepare to celebrate the festival's tenth anniversary next weekend. Any adversity is used as a learning experience and sweetens their fondest moments, from a baptism by fire to a heavenly set.
The two spoke to New Times about their ten fondest moments in no particular order as they amp up for this year's nearly sold-out edition.
Year Two (2014)
LaBrie: There was a moment with David and Erica Freshman and the original team — it was after year one wrapped. We met up with everyone and had the realization that we did something that could have a real future and have a big impact on a lot of people and just the timing and everything happening with the music world and all that. I think that moment was really cool, and I know for me, it was a big deciding factor in staying in Miami as opposed to moving on and pursuing other opportunities. I was touring a lot but made the decision to stay in Miami and give it a shot.
Jay Electronica and King Krule (2015)
Sinopoli: Krule had played already, and Jay Electronica was going to play afterward. When Jay Electronica went on, the first thing he said was, "Damn, that redhead was fucking dope." He just went on and on about Krule and then rapped for 20-30 minutes and then brought everyone on stage with him. Me and Ross were at the front of the house watching and saying to each other, "No, he's not going to do this. He's not going to bring everyone on stage." And then everyone went up. Ross looked at me and said, "Oh, shit." Ross runs, seeing a liability; I saw it as an amazing moment. Everything went fine, and after the show, we saw Jay Electronica and King Krule backstage. Krule was wearing Jay Electronica's huge gold Jesus piece. It's like they had a moment where they said, "You're the man; I'm the man."
MF Doom and GhostFace Killah (2015)
Sinopoli: Doom was supposed to come to the festival and perform with Ghost. When that didn't happen, we merged it into a livestream where Doom is from the "Other side of time." Ghost would be in Miami and bring Jay Electronica out to play never-released tracks — there's a whole album with Ghostface, Jay, and Doom that was coming out. So we had Jay as a special guest, but when the whole thing with Doom went crazy, and we got this recording back to synch up with Ghost, there was some miscommunication, and we ended up having Jay as a separate act because of the mess Doom created. But now, knowing how much we know about Doom and that he passed, just being able to work on something wacky like that with him was amazing. It's a memory that we had to be a part of Doom's creative chaos.
Nicolas Jaar (2015)
Sinopoli: That was when the AC broke in the Black Room. We used to have these huge cooling tubes that we would pump in from trucks outside. These tubes would have to go through two different rooms to get into the main room, and then one of the generators broke down, and there was a big accident on I-95, and the replacement generator wasn't going to get there for an hour and a half. Jaar had a three-hour DJ set, and the first half felt like hell. Halfway through, we got the generator connected to the tubes, and the people who stayed had this euphoric feeling of cold air hitting the place. We call it the "baptism by fire."Getting Past 2016
Sinopoli: I think 2016, and getting past the hurricane, and actually pulling it off — that was a big moment for us — and we went through a lot of stuff to make it through the other side. I think just having and being in 2016 and getting through what I thought would be our death wish gives me a lot of gratitude.Thievery Corporation (2016)
LaBrie: We went through a lot in 2016: Zika and Hurricane Matthew. Losing LCD Soundsystem was really tough. We had a bucket list of five to ten artists that we loved, and LCD was on it. When we lost that, I remember seeing David in the hallway the day before, and I remember the exact spot where I ran into him at the convention center, and I remember him being on the brink of tears. Just going through that and staying positive was one of the hardest things to do, but Thievery Corporation has been a band I always loved, and to see them on stage that next day and feel the power of their music. That was also the first year where we scaled up the size of the main stage significantly and felt the power of it and the super heavy basslines. My family came down for the first time that year, and I remember being there for them and experiencing it together. It validated all the shit we went through.The xx (2017)
LaBrie: That was another band that was on our bucket list from the beginning. They were a part of the Europe crew that we were partnered with through Molly Hawkin's label, the Young Turks, which really helped start the festival and our relationship with them. She was one of the original partners in III Points. When we locked that in, it really helped validate us. That year was a great year to grow and check off some of those boxes and to produce it and have it go well.
Erykah Badu (2019)
Sinopoli: We had Beach House on Friday. They finished, and I was saying hello to them, and I got deep into a conversation with Victoria Legrand, the lead singer, and she basically says to me, and she's very in tune with the infinite, she says, "You gotta watch for Erykah Badu. She notoriously comes late. Are you sure she will make it?" So we get a call saying that she's not on the plane that she's supposed to fly from Philly to Miami. She now has to take a connecting flight, and, dude, she's not going to take a connecting flight to Jacksonville. But we find out her best friend, who is the bass player in the band, is already in Miami setting up and rehearsing — and my friend told me that if we have the bass player, she is coming. We brought the phone to him and had him call Badu and tell her that she was coming. So he calls, and he's talking and talking, and he says, "She's going to make it. She may be late, but she's going to make it." She ends up being 45 minutes late. We push everything back, and she gets up on stage and just rocks it. Fifteen minutes before her set ends, she has everyone put their hands up in the air — palms facing out — and she says, "I can feel angels above us right now soaring from this stage, and I want us to take a second to bless them for the people we lost in our lives." It was beautiful, and everyone looked, and it was 11:11. It was one of the more spiritually "what the fuck" moments.
Herbie Hancock (2019)
LaBrie: This was really showing the versatility of the festival and exposed a lot of the younger attendees to other stuff. Herbie is just an absolute legend of the jazz world and from another era. That was so cool, being a musician myself, going to music school, and being able to present Herbie was so special for Miami and our festival.
James Blake (2022)
LaBrie: He's one of my favorite contemporary artists — without a doubt. Seeing him come to the stage, on a musical level, for me was massive. He's someone we've had back a few times, and he's always on the list of "Can we get James again this year?" It doesn't even matter what music he puts out; he's just one of those artists who is unbelievable all the time. He's a phenom of our generation.III Points 2023. Friday, October 20, and Saturday, October 21, at Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami; iiipoints.com. Tickets cost $169 to $599 iiipoints.frontgatetickets.com.
