Lost Frequencies
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Miami Music Week 2018: 5 Parties You Should Have Been To
There were many reasons to come to Miami in late March this year: Ultra Music Festival's 20th Anniversary, the resurgence of Winter Music Conference, and of course, Miami Music Week.
Now in its seventh year, MMW is host to over a thousand artists across 300-plus events at more than 85 venues day and night, making the diversity and quality of their parties and shows dance music's ultimate destination. This year, we were on the ground in Miami to check out a small slice of what they had to offer. We hit industry mixers, daytime beach bashes and the hottest afterparties capturing the Ultra crowds late into the evening. Check out these five parties from Miami Music Week you wish you'd been there to see for yourself.
1. Drinks & Bites, Big Beat Industry Mixer
It's not just dance music fans that flock to Miami Music Week, industry players also take advantage of the opportunity to network, swap contacts and make deals. Atlantic subsidiary Big Beat Records offered the weekend's best industry party, hands down, on March 22 at Basement in the Miami Beach Edition Hotel. With swanky décor, a full-blown bowling alley and an attached ice skating rink (!), the scene provided a surreal backdrop for connecting and reconnecting with colleagues the world over.
“There’s an open bar at every Miami Music Week party so our Big Beat team decided to take it to the next level to get down and have fun," says Jordan Danielle Frazes, head of publicity for Big Beat and senior director of PR for Atlantic Records. "Watching artist managers, media and artists ice skate and go bowling all in the same hour was a personal highlight of the week for me.”
2. Tiësto, Uber Throw A Secret Show
Imagine seeing one of the world's most famous and influential DJs at a secret show in an intimate club. For 300 Uber users, this dream came true on March 22. Starting at 6 p.m., fans had the opportunity to request a "Tiësto" ride through the Uber app, which could lead them to a free ride to the secret show.
Have you heard the news? This Thursday, March 22, there’s an exclusive Tiësto show happening on Miami Beach. The only way in? Your Uber app. Learn more: https://t.co/1wMUQBaibJ #20yearsofUltra #UberUltra pic.twitter.com/vkQ3Kqdbdq
— Uber Miami (@Uber_Miami) March 20, 2018
"It was really cool," Tiësto told us about the show afterward. "You got into an Uber and it says on your Uber app, 'Hey do you want to go to a Tiësto party right now?' And then people just showed up! So it was a really cool, spontaneous thing."
3. Above & Beyond: Common Ground At RC Cola Plant
For those who return to Miami Music Week each year, there's no part of town more noticeably different than the hip community of Wynwood. The RC Cola Plant played host to several afterparties this weekend, including Dim Mak's Friday night blowout with Dada Life, Desiigner and label boss Steve Aoki. But Thursday night's Above & Beyond performance of their new album, Common Ground, stood out as transformative. The stark, industrial backdrop of Wynwood and carnival-like surroundings provided a hard-edged juxtaposition to the trio's euphoric soundscapes and uplifting message.
"Miami, for us, has been almost like a marker in the year," Above & Beyond's Paavo Siljamäki told us the day after the party. "We've been coming to for Miami Music Week for so many years. The first shows were really, really small through the years, every year it's been a little bit bigger and crazier and madder. Now, just last night, it was an honor to be able to, first of all have so many people turn up there, but also have a lineup like we had with such talented people. One of the other things that makes it special for us as well is that we have an amazing team in our office in London, and they don't normally get to go to the shows, but I think we had something like 14 people over from our London office here in Miami partying. So it makes it into a real family affair, it was great!"
4. LIV Miami Kicks It Off
Each year, Miami's LIV holds a series of late-night shows that rival the best in town. This year's lineup was no exception, boasting Hardwell, Tiësto, and David Guetta as the Thursday-through-Saturday headliners. But the party truly began on Wednesday night of Miami Music Week, with a double-headline show with GRAMMY winner Cedric Gervais and Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano kicking things off.
Let’s do this #MiamiMusicWeek #onlyatLIV! What will you be attending? https://t.co/2gI0nFs4oC. pic.twitter.com/C7jeEtIGa3
— LIV miami (@LIVmiami) March 19, 2018
"It's my label party that I do yearly [for] Delecta Records, [my] label with Armada Music. And every year, it's been five years now, we do a Wednesday opening," Gervais told us from backstage at Ultra. "It's always an incredible party because everybody shows up —Hardwell, Benny Benassi, Diplo were back to back again with us. It's just a fun party."
5. No Sugar Added Hits The Beach
A trip to Miami would not be complete without a party on the beach. Enter No Sugar Added, the annual pool party bash for those who just can't get enough dancing. As Ultra celebrated its 20th anniversary across town, N.S.A. celebrated its biggest beach bash to date at the 1 Hotel on South Beach, featuring performances from Dada Life, Sam Feldt, Lost Frequencies, and more from noon on into the hot Miami night.
Welcome to the 8th Anniversary of #NSAmiami, on the beach at @1HotelSB @ChocolatePuma going in! pic.twitter.com/V864RHCwZi
— No Sugar Added (@nsaofficial) March 24, 2018
"I'm really happy to play at No Sugar Added tonight. They asked me to come here, and when I saw the whole lineup I could not say no," headliner Lost Frequencies told us from the pool deck overlooking the party just before his set. "It's always cool to play here at the 1 Hotel. ... The stage looks really nice and there's a really big line outside, so I'm really excited to play my music here and see how the people react."
