The Best Concerts in Miami This Week, April 10-16

With major arena tours from Ariana Grande, the Chainsmokers, Chris Brown, and Panic! at the Disco hitting South Florida this week, it will be a music-filled month. In club land, electroclash icon Miss Kittin goes B2B with Oxia at Heart, while Duke Dumont, who was surprisingly absent last month during…

Duran Duran Remains Timeless at Hard Rock Live

It is a bizarre experience for anyone visiting the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood these days. The mammoth entertainment and gaming property is undergoing an equally massive facelift that, at the moment, has left much of the property a desolate landscape. Gone…

Bed Scene Talks Upcoming EP Ahead of Debut Show April 6 at Bardot

Cotton-candy skies and technicolor dreams drip through the speakers and melt like gold into your ears, courtesy of Miami composer/producer Bed Scene.Nick Aponte, better known as Bed Scene, is no stranger to the tropics. The Miami native is gearing up for his debut show tonight, April 6, at Bardot. It’s presented by Showskii Records as part of the Artist Series.

Dionne Warwick on Diana Ross and Evolving With the Classics

Movie and television audiences tend to appreciate subtle, understated work from actors. But music is a different story. Singers who simply let the song carry their voice, without theatrical flair, don’t always get the love and admiration they deserve. If they did, Dionne Warwick would have a fancy nickname like…

Soul Man Zach Deputy Redefines the Solo Album

“It’s soul music. It touches the soul and the soles of the feet that gets everyone moving to the orchestra in my head.” Zach Deputy’s description of his sound is both inspiring and pun-tastic. The Savannah, Georgia-based Deputy, who will play the Wynwood Yard this Saturday, is a 21st-century version…

Fedde Le Grand Talks “Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit” at Ultra 2017

In 2006, “Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit” catapulted Dutch house producer Fedde Le Grand into the spotlight. Beyond that, it helped revive a flagging industry and is commonly regarded as one of the crucial tracks of the rebirth of dance music. This past Sunday, Le Grand delivered one of the best headlining sets at Ultra Music Festival 2017.

A 62-Year-Old Mom and Her Son Bonded at Ultra 2017

Generally speaking, society has defined the way mothers and sons bond. It usually involves shared interest in geeky passions or time at familial gatherings. Heads nodding in sweaty, immense crowds to techno typically doesn’t make the cut. Try telling that to Thomas Marshall, who’s 29 years old, and his mother…

We the Kings Keep Their Florida Roots at the Forefront

As grownups living out their teenage rock-star dreams, it’s only right that the five guys who make up We the Kings named their band after the Bradenton middle school they attended. “We all went to Martha B. King Middle School,” keyboardist Coley O’Toole confirms. “Travis Clark and Hunter Thomsen started…

Ultra Music Festival 2017 Was Strangely Apolitical

Music has always been a way to escape, and dance music embodies this mission more than any other genre. Following the “disco sucks” movement of 1979, marginalized groups — black, Latino, and gay — were once again pushed outside the mainstream. Genres like house and techno were born in the warehouses in which these groups sought refuge.

Is Live Music at Ultra Dead?

Currently, 18 of the first 30 songs listed on Billboard’s Hot 100 are electronic, hip-hop, or a style that contains some element of either. This year, the 19th edition of Ultra Music Festival was a reflection of that trend. The main stage, headlined by the biggest names in EDM — DJ Snake, David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki, etc. — drew the largest crowds.

Ultra Music Festival 2017 Winners and Losers

Sunday night, Ultra Music Festival let downtown know that its three-day party was over with a fireworks display at the end of DJ Snake’s set on the main stage. Condo dwellers breathed a sigh of relief knowing they would finally be free once again to roam the city.

Concert of the Week: Nouvelle Vague at the North Beach Bandshell

Though you might want to attend Radiohead at the American Airlines Arena, tickets cost more than your first-born. So we turn our attention to another act. Nouvelle Vague, the French New Wave band that has made a career out of covering pop songs set to bossa nova grooves, returns to Miami for the first time in more than ten years.

Phoenix Returns to Rock the Fillmore Miami Beach May 12

The last time the French alt-rockers of Phoenix rolled into Miami, they were at the tipping point between indie darlings and household-name status. Their 2009 album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, with hits like “1901” and “Lizstomania,” was getting play everywhere from college radio to Super Bowl ads. No wonder, then, that their 2010 appearance at the Fillmore Miami Beach was packed with fans, from Wavves’ opening set till Phoenix’s final song.