6 OctOber 16-22, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Matthew’s 100 mph winds, the Zika virus, and canceled headliners, all of which threatened its viability. 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 fes- tival, but the team again persevered by re- turning to a two-day format and making adjustments. 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 festi- val that grows bigger every year. 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’s 4 a.m. clos- ing time. New Times spoke to three of the 1700 faceless employees behind making III Points 2025. Step I: The Bookings Michelle Granado, III Points booking and artist operations director, has been a part of the festival when it was still a nebulous con- cept. The first footprint into her career began at Florida International University’s radio station in 2012. “I just remember being in that office, and one of us saw a listing for artist re- lations interns at Bardot,” Granado recalls while speaking to New Times. She began interning for the club, which included booking hotels and picking up art- ists from the airport. Sinopoli kept Granado on past her school internship and was asked to help blueprint the new festival. “I got on board right in the beginning when they were figuring out the concept, name, and logo. I was David’s booking assistant and handled artists’ relations and hospitality, and just general logistics since the team was so small.” Granado continued working at Bardot un- til 2015, when she transitioned to strictly III Points to manage the numerous responsibili- ties of an emerging festival. After COVID-19, Granado left the festival, but Sinopoli and the team faced challenges in find- ing a suitable replacement. She returned with a more managerial title and duties for at least six months. Despite this, she remained with the festival since and currently holds the position of oversee- ing booking operations. She is ultimately faced with the challenge of how tal- ent defines the year. For instance, 2019 could be considered the “hip-hop edition” 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. “We look at what is relevant and what Mi- ami, our community, is pivoting towards,” she explains. “We look at what is current and start with which headliners are available this year.” This year does not have a patented headliner like Justice or Gorillaz, which makes putting a “mark” on what the festival is all the more challenging. Granado enjoys live music and wants to book more live talent, despite the logistical challenges bands face coming all the way down south. “It’s really the only opportunity to showcase live music. I’d say Turnstile is still a headliner, so we decided to book more rock than the previous year. The lineup be- came more electronic once we started involv- ing Club Space more [Sinopoli is co-owner of the venue] and started doing more at Mind Melt and the ‘after hours’ at Mind Melt,” which is having DJs play after the last Mind Melt live act. There’s a common thread that connects all the talent bookings. It’s not just about finding popular artists or stacking predictable open- ers with closers. Instead, the goal is to create cohesion throughout the festival grounds. “It’s one of the things I love doing, the pro- gramming on it, like the progression of each state and making sure it all flows well and not being too predictable. It’s trying to have a more unique progression that still makes sense.” Like any nightlife veteran, Granado shares a bit of scar tissue from past III Points years. “I remember Hurricane Matthew in 2016. People’s 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’s 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.” LCD Soundsystem’s cancellation is still a chronic pain. “We were doing the ‘Road to III Points’ 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.” 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. “The entire disco ball above us lit up,” she remem- bers from The XX set. Every year is a new challenge, and no mat- ter how big the bookings are, there is always a white whale that evades the lineup each year, making the thrill live on. “We try every year for Aphex Twin.” Stage II: The Logistics Michelle Concilio is a festival producer for the event organization Insomniac Holdings, an international music production company. “I receive shows nationally and internation- ally, everything from the cruise shows, smaller festivals, and our partnership shows, including III Points.” Concilio, a Florida na- tive residing in Las Vegas, cut her teeth in the industry, like Granado, through internships. “I went to Broward College and FIU and needed internship credits, which were par- tially covered by my internship at the Coco- nut Creek Casino.” 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. 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. “I 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.” Concilio helps with the production side and oversees budgeting, safety, site layout, and “making sure everything gets mapped out and built accordingly and de- livering the best product possible.” This year, Concilio re- marks that it has been the earliest the team has dis- cussed the show, beginning in March 2025. She also spoke about new lay- outs that the festival-goers will experience. “We have a few changes in terms of the layout. We’re getting our old Main Frame stage area back. It’s not going to be a stage, but it’s going to be the covered area that used to be the Main Frame stage; it’s 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 ‘vendor vil- lage’ and a lot of people from the Miami com- munity will be selling their products.” Despite friction between the two compa- nies, Concilio believes the two can exist in harmony to deliver the best product for its fans. “There’s no tension. Everyone is looking forward, and everyone is treating each other just the same.” One usually dreads the early- morning meetings, but Concilio looks for- ward to talking to her East Coast neighbors about planning. “The most memorable thing is that it is such a family vibe. No production is ever or- dinary; 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.” Step III: The Production You might as well pack it up if the produc- tion isn’t 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’ Technical Manager since 2015. “What I do is all of the artist advancing, stage design, of course, and working with the core team. It’s a collaborative process in terms of the design- ing, but I’m the one commissioning those de- signs through and getting them built.” By “artist advancing,” Sabatini refers to maintaining contact with the artists and de- signing the stage to meet their needs. Addi- tionally, Sabatini serves as Mind Melt’s stage manager, ensuring the stage operates flaw- lessly 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. This year’s festival takes place on October 17 and 18 in Wynwood. Photo by ADINAYEV Media Movers & Shakers from p5 “For all of us who work at III Points, it’s a matter of life and death. There is nothing we give more importance and attention to and look forward to.”
