28 June 27- July 3, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times b e s T o f m i a m i ® 2 0 2 4 NOW OPEN AT FAIRCHILD! JURASSIC GARDEN An ALL NEW Prehistoric Adventure SAVE 20% NOW!* *SAVE 20% on adult tickets with promo code DINOTIMES in at three hours with two intermissions. New- port still has enormous shoes to fill after taking over GableStage in 2021, following the death of legendary founder and artistic director Joe Adler in 2020. But she’s not one to shy away from a challenge. She found a way to create big theater in the company’s small home, the his- toric horse stables of the Biltmore Hotel. While the show may have been about the fall of a dy- nasty, Newport proved she’s queen of the castle. BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC VENUE New World Center 500 17th Street Miami Beach, 33139 305-673-3331 nws.edu/new-world-center There’s nothing ostentatious about this South Beach music hall, despite the fact that world-fa- mous architect Frank Gehry designed it. Inside is a comfortable 756-seat, in-the-round audito- rium. Above the stage are five huge sails that help render pitch-perfect acoustics and allow for dreamy video projections. Comfort rules here — flip-flops and tank tops after the beach won’t fly, but the dress code is definitely not op- era gowns and tiaras. If you’d rather keep the beachwear, sprawl on a blanket outside for a free broadcast of the live concerts going on inside this classical music landmark. BEST LIVE MUSIC VENUE Fillmore Miami Beach 1700 Washington Avenue Miami Beach, 33139 305-673-7300 fillmore.com They keep trying to take the Fillmore away from us. First, COVID-19 robbed us of a year and a half of shows. Then, from mid-2022 to the end of De- cember 2023, the Fillmore was shut down for loading-dock renovations. It reopened in January with killer Elvis Costello and Mitski concerts, only for the Miami Beach City Commission to come and threaten to tear it down! When you walk into the lobby, you get goosebumps. You can just feel its rich and rewarding history. It would be a crime to raze the art deco theater that hosted everyone from Jackie Gleason to Madonna to Slayer. With Sting, Air, and Nicki Nicole on its fall calendar, make sure you enter its vaunted halls at least one more time before deep-pocketed devel- opers actually take the Fillmore down. BEST INTIMATE MUSIC VENUE Kill Your Idol 222 Española Way Miami Beach, 33139 305-534-1009 sub-culture.org/locations/kill-your-idol In the heart of South Beach, long-running Kill Your Idol offers music fans just enough room to shake their asses while really taking in live acts. The place couldn’t be more of a departure from the puddle-deep sensibilities of the touristy envi- rons right outside the club’s door. You’ll be in fine company at KYI, with life-size statues of Bruce Lee and an astronaut hanging overhead, as well as a crowd that actually cares about the music. Depending on the night, you might hear balls-to- the-wall rock, avant-garde punk, drag-themed karaoke, or heavy, driving bass music. Run by Subculture Group (think Lost Weekend, DADA Delray, and Subculture Coffee), the venue is tight on space, but there’s enough energy and devotion in it to fill a club five times its size. BEST VENUE FOR LOCAL ACTS Bar Nancy 2007 SW Eighth Street Miami, 33135 305-397-8971 nancy305.com If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: the local music scene suffers because local venues can’t stay open long enough. But since 2017, this nautical-themed bar on Calle Ocho with specialty craft cocktails has provided local troubadours a soft place to land. Offering a range of live entertainment seven nights a week, you can expect to catch anything from punk to folk to world music. Regardless of the genre, there’s something for everyone, like the monthly Stories in Song when local songwriters perform and dis- cuss their craft or that time when Bar Nancy re- ally embraced that upper-class nautical theme with a yacht-rock night. BEST JAZZ NIGHT Medium Cool at the Gale South Beach 1690 Collins Avenue, #2 Miami Beach, 33139 305-704-3600 mediumcool.miami Medium Cool is a sleek and sexy basement club housed in the Gale South Beach hotel. Ev- ery Wednesday through Sunday evening be- tween 7 and 10 p.m., you can find a lively
