Future Classic Festival: Makes Big Promises, Delivers Little
All Photos by Elizabeth Ferguson
Miami has been devoid of any major concert festivals this year due to the cancelling of Bang!, Langarado, and Rock the Bells. The people of our city were clamoring for a mega-concert to get behind.
The buzz for Future Classic Festival began the moment it was announced. The first time I saw a flier I nearly jumped out of my skin. A show built on the ambitious task of cramming the massive space of SoHo Studios with the promise of tons of local acts, tons of local artists, tons of food, tons of video games, and headlining act N*E*R*D.
Liz, Steve, Denise, Alexandra, and everyone else associated with REVMiami passed around emails and made phone calls preparing for the event. I contacted the organizers and offered our full participation to help promote FCF. I wrote several articles in preparation, Steve put together a special Big City Breakdown featuring Bachaco (one of the bands being featured), and we all cleared out our schedules so we could dedicate the day to covering FCF.
Having bands Spam All-Stars, Locos Por Juana, ArtOfficial, Afrobeta, ¡MAYDAY!, and the rest of the headliners appearing on the same bill would have been a promoter's wet dream. To add to the collective enthusiasm, all the bands were promoting the hell out of FCF, and, from what I've been told, taking major cuts in their appearance fees because they all believed they would be part of something great.
This was the sort of event that could define the music scene in Miami. This could have been our Lamefest, the landmark Sub Pop Records Concert Event in 1989, that featured Mudhoney and Nirvana and launched Grunge music and the Seattle music scene onto the national stage.
It was raining steadily as I drove over to the massive warehouse space of SoHo Studios in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Thankfully the event was indoors and a tent covered the outside stage. The doors were supposed to open at 4pm but I planned to arrive at six because nothing in Miami ever starts on time.
Notebook in hand, I walked in.
I'll just get this off my chest right now: I was completely underwhelmed. The enormous amount of deception and over-hype was beyond disappointing. Look at how it was being promoted:
From FCF's Flyer:
From FCF's Website:
100 Art Exhibitions? Vendor Village? Food Court featuring 10 top local restaurants?
Uh... what?
There were 10 artists at the most, all lazily arranged at the entrance of SoHo Studios (probably to avoid the wall of noise coming from the stage, but the awfulness of the sound system will come later). I kept circling around the venue thinking to myself, "there must be another room where they're hiding the other 90 artists." Of course, the artists there were great, and I don't want to take anything away from them; including friends AHOLSNIFFSGLUE..., Alyssa Christine, and DeKal. But to promote 100 Art Exhibitions and have less than one-tenth there?
[Originally I criticized Future Classic Festival for promoting a video gaming area of 20+ video gaming stations and wrote that only 5 stations were present. This is completely false and absolutely not true as can be seen on this video provided by Derek Olivier of GameBreakers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhAejcjTIWQ. My intentions of this article were to provide a completely accurate depiction of Future Classic Festival, and in no way intended to purposefully mislead or report false information regarding any part of the event. Gamebreakers provided exactly what was promoted before the event and more -- including a 100" Projection Screen. I sincerely apologize to Derek and Gamebreakers for posting a blatant untruth and urge any Video Game enthusiasts to check out their website, www.thegamebreaker.com, which lists all their events and tournaments. - Ric]
By "Vendor Village" did they mean the table set up by Lolo and Jason of Sweat Records? At least, Lolo, Jason, and the entire Sweat crew showed up big time. They brought some beauties from everyone's favorite local record store, including the amazingly enticing box set of MTV's The State. Also, they had a special area selling local band merchandise; some local love going on. I'm sure all the bands were appreciative they didn't have to sit at their own merch tables all night.
What top local restaurants were set up in the Food Court? Is there a top local restaurant called We're Going to Sell Arepas for $5.50? What about Miami's Burnt Hot Dog Cart?
It was confounding. Did the organizers of the event print fliers with the hopes that they could match what they were promoting? The week before the event did they feel any sort of panic that they weren't going to be able to deliver what they were promising?
Honestly, shit happens sometimes. If there's anything that can epitomize the Miami music and art scene it's the high hopes and big promises that almost all of us tend to make. Sometimes people promise more than they can handle. It happens, it's excusable... well, until you start hearing about the door price.
The only door price on the flier stated Pre-Sale tickets being $20. Unfortunately, the FCF organizers felt that they could raise prices on an event that did not deliver what was promised. Friends complained, "they charged me $35 at the door!" And later in the evening, "they charged me $40 at the door!" And, "they charged me $70 for VIP access!"
If that wasn't enough, the sound quality, at least on the inside stage, was horrible, to say the least. The scene was almost laughable. On stage are these two beautiful drum sets, mic'ed up perfectly, and glistening from the stage lights. Of course, those were N*E*R*D's drums, which none of the other bands could touch. The local acts were forced to play on a practice drum set that wasn't even mic'ed, and were plugging into a 12-channel Mackie mixer not the enormous house system.
Let me stress that it was incredible to see some of Miami's best local bands playing in front of massive crowds. For example, Modernage, who I've followed for years, and ArtOfficial, who may be the most musically talented band in Miami, were playing to people who may never have attended a local show before.
Unfortunately, it may have done more harm than good.
One of the most impressive moments in every ArtOfficial set is when bassist Ralf and saxophonist Keith bust out and solo together during Three Four. I doubt anyone in the audience of FCF heard any of it. You couldn't hear Ralf's bass, or Logic's emceeing, or Manny's drumming. There was only distortion, muddiness, and the pounding in my head from the headache that quickly developed.
Anyone not familiar with the bands probably walked away unimpressed. Every single band deserves praise for even playing and not murdering the sound engineers for what they did to their music.
On a positive note, DJ Tom Laroc was unbelievable! He remixed Kings of Leon's Use Somebody into a dance song, and it was one of the few sonically pleasing moments of the night.
Let me backtrack for a second: SoHo Studios supposedly opened their doors at 5:30 pm rather than 4pm, as stated. Not that big a deal in Miami, except that the show was supposed to also start at four o'clock. Consequently, the whole night was off schedule by two hours. Looking over the set times, I kept thinking in my head, "If the show is two hours behind, and N*E*R*D can't be delayed because they're a national act, what happens to the bands scheduled to play before them?"
Well, it didn't take long for my question to be answered. N*E*R*D went on around 1 in the morning after setting up their equipment in complete silence because there were sound issues with the transition between Laroc and the band.
Afrobeta and !MAYDAY!had yet to play, but MC Cynic kept announcing, "Afrobeta will be playing after N*E*R*D, so stick around."
I don't know N*E*R*D and have never seen them, so I don't have much to say about their performance. Friends who had seen them before said their performance was sub-par, but that could easily be blamed on dehydration.
But whatever, they did their thing, they played for an hour, and they played relatively on time. If anything, they should be commended for playing their full set in oppressive heat and and not running out of SoHo Studios after 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, when N*E*R*D finished their set, the power on stage was shut off and Security told people to leave the venue. I was in shock.
Being the nosey, wanna-be journalist that I am, I ran backstage to find out what happened to Afrobeta and !MAYDAY!. I spot Tony and Cuci of Afrobeta standing next to the stairs leading up to the stage. Tony is furiously yelling into his phone while Cuci is waving her arms at the stage in utter disbelief. It was heartbreaking and I couldn't bear to witness it anymore.
As SoHo began emptying I made a quick B-Line to the outside stage and saw a band beginning to play. They were also two hours behind schedule outside, meaning that Locos Por Juana and Spam All Stars were going to be playing after N*E*R*D's set to a nearly empty house because security pushed the crowd out of the building rather than announcing that there were more bands playing outside.
Other complaints I've heard:
- The bands weren't provided drinks of any sort, not even water.
- Bands didn't receive the times that they were going to play until the day before.
- The drink ticket system.
- Promoting a non-existent "Eco Village", and also involving eco-friendly activists, but not providing garbage cans or recycle bins causing SoHo Studios to be quickly overwhelmed with empty cups, fliers, and garbage.
After Future Classic Festival a lot of people are feeling ripped off and some of the local bands feel screwed over. Cuci posted about the event on Afrobeta's blog, and sumed it all up:
"I really had high hopes for this local fest. And all in all, they had a great turnout. BECAUSE OF THE LOCAL BANDS. This is the part that is upsetting. Yes. Maybe some people did go there ONLY to see N.E.R.D. About 250. EVERYONE ELSE there was part of the local scene who did their part to support the musicians, artists, dancers and performers who comprised the lineup and PROMOTED the shit out of this show. And got handed the short end of the shit stick."
Future Classic Festival completely failed to be the unifying art and music event of Miami's oft-maligned cultural scenes that so many hoped it would be. It will be remembered for the complete lack of organization, disregard for local bands, horrendous sound system, dishonesty of promotion, and price gouging.
If You Enjoyed This Post, You May Also Like:
- Future Classic Festival Has Arrived
- Big City Breakdown 7 Future Classic Festival Special Edition: Bachaco- "La Muerte"
- Jahfe is Miami's favorite Reggae band
- Miami Music Festival, Yet Another Failed Music Festival
- Our Launch Party!
NOTE FOR COMMENTS: Do not flame or leave obnoxious comments, THEY WILL NOT BE APPROVED. Constructive criticism should always be welcomed by any artist, but don't be a d-bag, show some class. Thanks. - REVMiami Staff
This is so true. What a clusterfuck this was. And to think of the potential there was for it to be so great!
This was a very accurate article i loved every second of it i wish i could mentally regurgitate it and read it again. Finally someone honest enough to tell it like it is or atleast how it whent down. As one of the artists that performed at the festival this article speaks for me. I wouldnt do that show again if they payed me in virgins :)
Ahmen. Who was responsible for this any way
It's not important who was the organizers. There is no need to cruicify anyone in specific. The organizers and musicians know who is to blame. Hopefully the organizers will take their failure and be more careful when putting together another event like this.
Unfortunately, musicians, artists, and fans will probably be less enthusiastic about local "festivals."
No offense, but as someone who paid to get in I actually do somewhat feel its important... Obviously any sort of lambasting or crucifixion after the fact isn't the answer nor was that my intention at all.
But as a paying customer I had already attempted to discover who put the event on and I always thought it was weird that it was virtually unadvertised who was holding it - and I even mistakenly thought prior to the event that RevMiami had a part in it since you guys promoted it as well.
I think it's important to know who the organizers were for future reference in the sense that I could at least exercise some caution with their events.
And as you admit yourself.. there could even be some damage from it..
Regardless, I'm sure it'll come out in due time.
I was just agreeing with the article - no pitchforks, torches and all that trouble. Be easy brother :)
Let's not forget the inane distribution of 3D glasses EVERY TIME one walked into the DJing area.
the fact that people continue to have parties in that terrible space speaks volumes about most promoters' priorities in picking venues: ability to stuff a bunch of paying customers, no cares about comfort, audio, or concessions. weak.
This is a perfect example of why live music is so tough in Miami. Shitty promoters who have no respect for artists. his is a PERFECT example of why live music is so TOUGH in Miami.
Very well put....a very big upset. There are very few people out there we can trust in the music scene in this "magic" city.....
So many points made true... and yes, WE PROMOTED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS FESTIVAL! A lot would have gone smoother if there was some proper communication... and no, I'm not going to give my input, scale of 1-10 turnout whatever on the email I received from the powers that be. Devastatingly honest article.
Sounds like a true Lamefest after all.
Promoters!.Do not make live concerts in a warehouse..bad acoustics=bad sound!
"(FCF)...will be remembered for the complete lack of organization, disregard for local bands, horrendous sound system, dishonesty of promotion, and price gouging."
A-FUCKIN-MEN.
Thank you for writing this. This is exactly how I felt. I went in hoping for the best, and left whole-heartily disenchanted.
I felt Jahfe stole the show with their early ( but 2 hours late) set. Felt sorry for Artofficial as we all know they could have wowed (NERD) newcomers. Was wondering what happened to Afrobeta and Mayday. Ridiculous.
Perfectly written article!
My sentiments EXACTLY!
Thank u!
Lets talk about how to make it better now.
I agree. Shit went down that shouldn't have. And you forget to mention Spam - they didn't play either! It was obvious whoever did this either was an amateur or didn't have the budget to pay for professional production/sound... or maybe not enough staffing at the event or maybe just didn't care (I doubt they didn't care if the idea was to make this annual) whatever the case may be, I'm almost willing to FORGIVE. Call me a romantic! I believed in the event and I agreed the vision was on point with something that would be great for Miami as a whole. As an avid Miami-music supporter, who is also a writer, I must say I am happy something was done! Jazid, Transit, Churchill's, PS14, White Room are getting old... music fans wanted something fresh and I think this was a step in the right direction... hey, that's why I went! Clearly we are looking at the bad and the ugly here. So, I want to point out the good... and that would be this: something was done that nobody else has really organized in recent times. They over promised and under delivered, promotion and publicity were on point - production and sound (let's bunch it ALL in there) weren't.
Let’s give it up to all the local bands out there and let’s continue to support them. And let’s get over the epic fail or FCF as production and continue to support the idea of doing bigger and better things in Miami. We need it.
I had a great time regardless. That's my truth.
@W & Agreed Butt...:
I totally agree. I think that talking about how to make the festival better was outside of the scope of this article, I mainly wanted to review the event and express my experience and disappointment.
And yes, no band, DJ, B-Boy, Skateboarder, or Artist should be criticized for their participation in FCF and hopefully in the future there will be successful events that highlight the amazingness of our local scene.
The photographer's pit was the most disorganized, unprofessional garbage I have ever seen. Especially during N.E.R.D.
You just CAN'T HAVE multiple large video cameras all in the same spot shoot Pharell, especially in the photo pit. You CAN'T LET these cameramen hold up their enormous VIDEO cameras right in front of P. Williams' face, blocking everyone else's shot. You CAN'T HAVE 7 people that somehow got into the pit shooting with their fucking cell phone cameras. Some people have actual jobs to do. Your cell phone picture will suck dick, you might as well buy a photo from one of the real photographers you are blocking.
This is why REAL FESTIVALS do not allow video in the photo pit(or very limited if any), and ESPECIALLY no fucking cell phone cameras.
You CAN'T STOP letting people that are allegedly allowed backstage go backstage for no apparent reason.
In the words of Christian Bale, this was just "really fucking unprofessional."
perhaps a RevMiami festival ehh? :0
I'VE BEEN TO 5 FUTURE CLASSIC IN BOSTON http://futureclassic.net/about/
READ IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE.. SAME EXACT CONCEPT DONE RIGHT!
oh and I wouldn't blame the guys behind F.C.
it really is the assholes that run soho studios. they make big promises they can't keep.
I've delt with there bull shit!! all they care about is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I copied these post from COS.com. I love the way everyone bashes the sound guys without having the correct info. I talked to the sound guys and they told me they wanted to walk off the job but they as professional stayed and toughed it out and now it is something they will regret....
All right guys I made the call to my buddy who worked the FCF. He gave me some insight. I was correct in my thoughts. No money for the sound company and they were told that all of the bands were going to provide audio techs for themselves. The PA was on the stage where it should have been the night before and the FCF made them put it on the floor(because FCF placed the VIP stage in a bad spot and the VIPS could not see the stage) after the audio company fought with them for an hour telling FCF the sound was going to suffer. N.E.R.D and ANR were the only ones that brought a A1 with them(not for sure on this, so if others brought them I am sorry). So like i said in my last post please get as many facts as you can before you say someone sucks…
—–>>BDT: Thanks for clearing up the main stage sound issues…it makes perfect sense now…you could understand the frustration when you see the top flight sound equipment on stage but hear such deflating results..we (Fusik) were told there was no backline THE DAY BEFORE the show, thankfully we had no problem bringing our stuff(my drummer providing his own set as backline for the other bands, thank you Felix!) and if we would have known the whole stereo mix down thing, we would have prepared accordingly and brought some trusted ears to help nail the mix. I also guess we shouldn’t presume that we would get at least a slight soundcheck(since we were there at 3pm) or expect to have a sound guy communicating with us on how to run THEIR system…
N.E.R.D’s sound was SPECTACULAR b/c their mics and backline were up, soundchecked and left untouched the whole night….had nothing to do with their ability/inability to use the system, I’m sure the sound team made damn sure their sound was up to snuff..as it should be for the headlining artist.
When a promoter does not let the sound company do the right thing you get bad sound! The sound should never have been on the floor. It should have never been spread so far apart. It looked like the audio guys had the right gear. I do not know what happened for sure but I am a audio guy and mix for some big bands and know right from wrong. I have done shows like this before and know what these guys were dealing with. I did not see any of the bands audio guys using the FOH mixer, but they were behind the stage trying to mix? Lets not bash the audio guys when we do not really know what happened here. We do not know if the budget was small or they provided what was asked for, to many unanswered questions here. I do know the production company that did the main stage and they have higher end audio equipment sitting in there warehouse that I have used. From a audio stand point, that room is very hard to get great sound in unless you (the promoter)spends the money to get the proper equipment. He should have went for more speakers spread out in the room instead of going with the in your face approach, which did not really work. I could go on for hours about what went wrong, but do not have that much time. Just remember we do not know why or what happened that caused the sound guys to do what they did. My guess is the promoter screwed up in his planning stages and had to make something happen without thinking of what the outcome would be.
I just want to clear up a few things that I read in this blog. If the people that are bashing the sound really knew what was going on they would not be talking as much crap as they are. Last minute changes on the promoter’s side forced the sound company to put the speakers on the floor spreading them to far apart for proper coverage (because the VIP stage was to close to the main stage). The promoter also failed to tell all of the bands what they were supposed to bring i.e. all of their own backline including mixers, mics, drum kits etc… Now with that being said once the bands got all of their equipment to the venue they were responsible for sending a mixed stereo feed to the audio guys that put it out to the main PA. The bands mixed their own bands and the audio company had no control of what they (the band) were sending them, all the audio company could do is make sure that the band did not drive the system too hard. I was there and listened to most of the bands and they did not know how to send a proper mix to the PA. When N.E.R.D came on the sound was great. This is because they were using the system the proper way.
It was a nice effort. There were definately some problems. It was definately misleading. But i had a good time regardless. The bands were good and thats what really mattered. Hopefully it shines a positive light on our local music scene, but somehow, I doubt it made an impact on too many people who are not already familiar with the local music scene.
House parties need to come back.
All this 'promoter-dealing' bullshit won't stop when you have all these people involved in putting together an event. A promoter is merely a peon when they have to take the final word from the 'owner' of the venue.
personally i think the musicians are to blame as well for letting things get slacked.
These 'promoters' (or non-musicians who want to put on a musical event)
clearly don't give a rats ass about your band, or anything other than the money to be made for that evening.
- Showing up late
- Not paying
- Over-promising
- Lack of communication
- No understanding for what it is to be in a band (i.e the packing and unpacking of equip... setting up sound... backlining.... etc)
- disappearing in the event (to go get high or something)
- over booking bands for the night
- booking bad bands to play in an illogical lineup (horrible flow)
- booking an act for 1:30/2:00AM slot.... seriously how does this make sense?
- not being clear about what they can and can't do for you
These are all the things I've had to deal with in my very short time here in the 'scene' and i feel they need to be put in check because we all know its a very small pool of people involved in the 'miami-music scene'.
I don't know how to fix it (still not sure), but I do know what i have experienced here and i'm pretty sure you all have as well.
Theres places one could rent out (ballrooms, salons, 15's places)...
you charge tickets
you sell drinks (check ID)
this can be setup by an actual band.
book a few bands
DJ is a must for the downtime (or some kind of music from a source that isn't a live instrument)
All the money goes right to the people who planned it (only to do it all over again)
Its a private party. So its not open to the public (which is why you can pull it off)
An old man told me about this.... just a thought. Easier said than done, I know.
There are some really talented Festival Companies out there and Sound Engineers in this city, that have been doing successful shows for artist here for a long time!! We should form a local union with Miami's best artists, sound engineers, production companies, promoters, etc... If we put the $$$ aspect aside and get this done right... we can make an impact... we should organize a meetup and start coming together on this one! Im about to leave my job in the legal industry to do Artist Managment and Public Relations, I know this can be done right!!
^ I'm down. If its setup right.
Message me.
I feel the pain that everybody is sharing, I knew before hands that It wont work, if the production is not done right . I try to work a nice Audio and lighting production in the past for SOHO but we ended dealing with cheap promoters with no experience, and because all they care is make $$$$ without considering quality and respect for the audience, we didn't got the projects, I produce in the past many shows and tour with many Artist, the equipment and the Sound Quality is available in Miami, we have it, Im open to discuss a new Festival if we can put the right promotional team to work.
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who thought this festival was way subpar.
I had to review it, and I almost didn't want to because I wanted to write a good review but had no material to do so...
No one can do anything right in Miami, the same people that say they support the arts are the ones that bash it. Subpar yes, but no one else is even trying to put together something like this. I'm so over all the haters in Miami!
I'm confused by your comment.
"No one can do anything right in Miami"
or
"I'm so over all the haters..."
What are you trying to say?