The inaugural festival in 2013 featured talent like James Murphy, Jamie xx, DJ Shadow, and XXYYXX. Although the next two years passed, the festival faced significant challenges<\/a> in 2016 due to Hurricane Matthew\u2019s 100 mph winds, the Zika virus, and the cancellation of headliners, all of which threatened its viability.<\/p>\n The team still bounced back, increasing the scale of production and performances. They added a third day to the lineup, bringing new hope. COVID-19 then disrupted the festival, but the team again persevered by returning to a two-day format and making adjustments.<\/p>\n Undoubtedly, III Points would simply not exist without fate bringing these three people together. But there is a critical mass of staff members behind III Points that continue to push the boundaries of an avant-garde festival that grows bigger every year.<\/p>\n These are the people who have slept on the festival grounds the week prior, taking calls and answering emails at any time during the months leading up, maneuvering around last-minute emergencies, dismantling trucks and trucks carrying production, and not clocking out well past III Point\u2019s 4 a.m. closing time. New Times spoke to three of the 1700 faceless employees behind making III Points 2025.<\/p>\n Photo by Adinayev for III Points<\/p>\n Step I: The Bookings<\/p>\n Michelle Granado, III Points booking and artist operations director, has been a part of the festival when it was still a nebulous concept. Her career began with a first footprint at Florida International University\u2019s radio station in 2012. \u201cI just remember being in that office, and one of us saw a listing for artist relations interns at Bardot,\u201d Granado recalls while speaking to New Times.<\/p>\n She began interning for the club, which included booking hotels and picking up artists from the airport. Sinopoli kept Granado on past her school internship and was asked to help blueprint the new festival. \u201cI got on board right in the beginning when they were figuring out the concept, name, and logo. I was David\u2019s booking assistant and handled artists\u2019 relations and hospitality, and just general logistics since the team was so small.\u201d<\/p>\n Granado continued working at Bardot until 2015, when she transitioned to strictly III Points to manage the numerous responsibilities of an emerging festival. After COVID-19, Granado left the festival, but Sinopoli and the team faced challenges in finding a suitable replacement. She returned with a more managerial title and duties for at least six months. She has remained with the festival since and currently holds the position of overseeing booking operations.<\/p>\n She is ultimately faced with the challenge of how talent defines the year. For instance, 2019 could be considered the \u201chip-hop edition\u201d featuring top talent such as Tyler, the Creator, and A$AP Rocky. Alternatively, last year was marked by its massive electronic influence, with Justice and DJs closing out the Mind Melt main stage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look at what is relevant and what Miami, our community, is pivoting towards,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe look at what is current and start with which headliners are available this year.\u201d This year does not have a patented headliner like Justice or Gorillaz, which makes putting a \u201cmark\u201d on what the festival is all the more challenging.<\/p>\n Granado enjoys live music and wants to book more live talent, despite the logistical challenges bands face coming all the way down south. \u201cIt\u2019s really the only opportunity to showcase live music. I\u2019d say Turnstile is still a headliner, so we decided to book more rock than the previous year. The lineup became more electronic once we started involving Club Space more [Sinopoli is co-owner of the venue] and started doing more at Mind Melt and the \u2018after hours\u2019 at Mind Melt,\u201d which is having DJs play after the last Mind Melt live act.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a common thread that connects all the talent bookings. It\u2019s not just about finding popular artists or stacking predictable openers with closers. Instead, the goal is to create cohesion throughout the festival grounds. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the things I love doing, the programming on it, like the progression of each state and making sure it all flows well and not being too predictable. It\u2019s trying to have a more unique progression that still makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Like any nightlife veteran, Granado shares a bit of scar tissue from past III Points years. \u201cI remember Hurricane Matthew in 2016. People\u2019s flights were being canceled and stopped at their layover. So we had to book a private jet for Vince Staples from Atlanta. We spoke to a friend\u2019s neighbor, a friend of a friend who happened to own a jet. The things we were most excited for that (edition) ended up being canceled.\u201d<\/p>\n LCD Soundsystem\u2019s cancellation is still a chronic pain. \u201cWe were doing the \u2018Road to III Points\u2019 tour, and I remember being in the car and David calling me that LCD confirmed. We were crying, and when they canceled, it was all heartbreaking, but it was fine because we eventually got them back<\/a>.\u201d The bad times are still balanced out by the great moments for Granado, such as booking Yves Tumor at Mind Melt in 2021 and The xx in 2017. \u201cThe entire disco ball above us lit up,\u201d she remembers from The XX set.<\/p>\n Every year is a new challenge, and no matter how big the bookings are, there is always a white whale that evades the lineup each year, making the thrill live on. \u201cWe try every year for Aphex Twin.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo by Adinayev for III Points<\/p>\n Stage II: The Logistics<\/p>\n Michelle Concilio is a festival producer for Insomniac Holdings, an international music production company that is a partner behind the festival. \u201cI receive shows nationally and internationally, everything from the cruise shows, smaller festivals, and our partnership shows, including III Points.\u201d Concilio, a Florida native residing in Las Vegas, cut her teeth in the industry, like Granado, through internships.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to Broward College and FIU and needed internship credits, which were partially covered by my internship at the Coconut Creek Casino.\u201d She still needed groundwork experience, and there was an opening for an internship with the Groove Cruise music festival. The company hired her as an event coordinator six months after her internship.<\/p>\n She worked that circuit, eventually leaving to start her own company, and then found her new home with Insomniac in 2017. Her first time working with III Points came three years ago, as an Insomniac producer.<\/p>\n \u201cI make sure that for every III Points member there is an Insomniac counterpart, so that we have an understanding of what each brings to the table.\u201d Concilio helps with the production side and oversees budgeting, safety, site layout, and \u201cmaking sure everything gets mapped out and built accordingly and delivering the best product possible.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, Concilio remarks that it has been the earliest the team has discussed the show, beginning in March 2025. She also spoke about new layouts that the festival-goers will experience.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a few changes in terms of the layout. We\u2019re getting our old Main Frame stage area back. It\u2019s not going to be a stage, but it\u2019s going to be the covered area that used to be the Main Frame stage; it\u2019s now going to be a pass-through area, and I think that part of the venue is going to be super cool. We are going to activate it and include a \u2018vendor village\u2019 and a lot of people from the Miami community will be selling their products.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite friction between the two companies<\/a>, Concilio believes the two can exist in harmony to deliver the best product for its fans. \u201cThere\u2019s no tension. Everyone is looking forward, and everyone is treating each other just the same.\u201d One usually dreads the early-morning meetings, but Concilio looks forward to talking to her East Coast neighbors about planning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most memorable thing is that it is such a family vibe. No production is ever ordinary; everyone comes in and has a different energy and has something to show. It makes it more like a human interaction. Everybody cares about the product and has their heart and soul in it.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo by Adinayev for III Points<\/p>\n Step III: The Production<\/p>\n You might as well pack it up if the production isn\u2019t good. It simply does not matter how big the headliner is if it does not sound or look good. Luca Sabatini has been III Points\u2019 Technical Manager since 2015. \u201cWhat I do is all of the artist advancing, stage design, of course, and working with the core team. It\u2019s a collaborative process in terms of the designing, but I\u2019m the one commissioning those designs through and getting them built.\u201d<\/p>\n By \u201cartist advancing,\u201d Sabatini refers to maintaining contact with the artists and designing the stage to meet their needs. Additionally, Sabatini serves as Mind Melt\u2019s stage manager, ensuring the stage operates flawlessly from set to set. He leads a team of roughly four to five people year-round, with an honorable mention to his colleague, Will Cormier, and a production team that gets close to sixty to seventy people in the weeks leading up.<\/p>\n Sabatini is an Italian native. He spent his teenage years in the nightlife scene and, at one point, founded a music festival while living in Italy.\u00a0He studied liberal arts at the University of Miami and co-founded the sound company, Unreal Sound, with\u00a0LaBrie.<\/p>\n Sabatini connected with Sinopli in the early days of III Points through Art Basel events. His current role never allows him to detract; each year should be an opportunity to outpace the previous. \u201cThis year, I would have had the chance to make the Mind Melt stage smaller with the lineup, but we don\u2019t take steps back. We\u2019re not downgrading it. Ever.\u201d<\/p>\n He remembers setting the stage for heavyweight talent, just as a fighter might recall a prized match. \u201cGoralliaz was ten trucks on day one. The XX was seven trucks on day three,\u201d which was put back-to-back between Gorillaz, Nicolas Jaar, and The XX. \u201cIt was momentous to me. I remember it with a child-like sense of excitement and wonder. I remember weeping at the start of The XX. \u2018We put it on stage. It\u2019s over. We did it.’\u201d<\/p>\n Recently, the idea of adding big-name DJs to close out Mind Melt, while giving a crowd an open-air dance floor, added another feat that Sabatini has to maneuver. \u201cIt\u2019s important to take advantage of the site and transform Mind Melt into this huge dancefloor, and there are good reasons for doing it. But the stage now has no break, and I would use that overnight time to reset and configure for the following day and load in touring production.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This year\u2019s edition is smaller, but \u201cTurnstile is still three trucks and I need to load all this stuff out before the DJs close out.\u201d Sabatini believes this is the only main stage that not only doesn\u2019t end first, but also transforms into a rave. \u201cBut I now have good plans and measures to make it happen. Mind Melt is a piece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n He also posits that III Points is a bona fide festival, rather than two days of mini-concerts or a big party. According to his canons of construction, a festival must provide \u201ca very curated approach and intention behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sure, III Points offers entertainment, but it\u2019s done to a higher calling of discovery, exploration, and enrichment, which he compares only to Sonar in Barcelona or Labyrinth in Japan. Sabatini doesn\u2019t mean to criticize other festivals. Still, he believes III Points offers something different, even if it may be intangible.<\/p>\n The attendee spends about twenty hours out of the year at III Points, makes unforgettable memories, hits up a satellite party<\/a>, and carries on until this time next year. There are now loyal III Points goers who buy tickets before the lineup comes out, but few forces are as powerful as a III Points staff member\u2019s dedication to their sonic cause.<\/p>\n \u201cThe III Points nation is the most important thing to us,\u201d says Sabatini. \u201cFor all of us who work at III Points, it\u2019s a matter of life and death. There is nothing we give more importance and attention to and look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n III Points. Friday, October 17, and Saturday, October 18, at Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami; iiipoints.com<\/a>. Tickets cost $139 to $309 via iiipoints.frontgatetickets.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A music festival can make an attendee feel as if all the stages, booths, art, and production sprang…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[7108,1943,225,227,226,2311],"class_list":{"0":"post-6488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hialeah","8":"tag-concert-previews","9":"tag-festivals","10":"tag-hialeah","11":"tag-hialeah-headlines","12":"tag-hialeah-news","13":"tag-local-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/caribou_iii_points.webp\")
Caribou delivered a synthpop-laden set at III Points 2023.<\/p>\n![\"crowd](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/iii_points_crowd_press.webp\")
Past edition of III Points. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2h5a2582.webp\")
In 2023, III Points featured performances by Iggy Pop, Grimes, and Caroline Polachek. <\/p>\n