Alright, I promise this will be the last Miami Music Festival post for a while. But in case you wanted to see what you missed -- because you missed it, didn't you? -- check out these YouTube clips of a few choice performances.
First, I'll post a few from Saturday because that's the day I actually attended. I missed the set by Saints on Fire, upstairs at Tobacco Road, to check out the tents. Also, I had been vastly turned off by the disastrous start to the set there by the New York band Autodrone. They're a shoegazy, 4AD-style band that relies heavily on reverb and effects, and the "technical difficulties" that plagued this otherwise good band argued for why sound checks were so badly needed.
Anyways, though, here is a new excellent Miami rock and roll band. Who'da thunk. They're clearly going for an Iggy kind of deal, which has been done, but so what? Not enough people are doing it in the land of laptop music.
These guys are definitely not spring chickens. Drummer Bobby MacIntyre is a legend on the Miami scene since forever, and played for a while nationally with the Afghan Whigs offshoot the Twilight Singers. Singer Gil Bitton was in the local almost-made-its of nu metal, Endo, as is Saints on Fire's bassist, Zelick, who apparently just toured with Scott Stapp. That last sin especially would be pretty unforgivable, if this new act didn't seem promising. It would be nice if Bitton had some more hair to whip around, but oh well. Here's a video from YouTube user QueenoftheScene305, who's also the promoter of the same name, obvs.
Most telling from Queen of the Scene's videos from the festival, though, is this one 11-second bit as she walks through the ghost land that was the tent area.
Alright, how about some good stuff. In my recap of the festival I mentioned bilingual girl rocker Alih Jey. Here she is with a big dose of sunshine, in a video uploaded by YouTube user jorgesgorges. Note that she has one of the most hyper-energetic guitarists ever.
Here's a clip of Music is a Weapon playing the outside patio of Tobacco Road. Nobody could ever accuse them of being boring onstage. Unfortunately this video, which comes from YouTube user IowaPrimetime, was taken after singer Kala shed his original outfit, a pointy-shouldered coat and long black skirt.
And finally, here's a recap video of the Florida Entertainment Summit tent, from YouTube user DREvideos. The performers and crowds in the local street-rap tents were having way more fun than anybody else. The groups also had an advantage in sheer size -- I saw one with 11 people rapping onstage. If each one brings one friend, well, that's a pretty healthy built-in audience. Rock bands, take note and expand.
