7 OctOber 16-22, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Sabatini is an Italian native. He spent his teenage years in the nightlife scene and, at one point, founded a music festival while liv- ing in Italy. He studied liberal arts at the Uni- versity of Miami and co-founded the sound company, Unreal Sound, with LaBrie. Sabatini connected with Sinopli in the early days of III Points through Art Basel events. His current role never allows him to detract; each year should be an opportunity to outpace the previous. “This year, I would have had the chance to make the Mind Melt stage smaller with the lineup, but we don’t take steps back. We’re not downgrading it. Ever.” He remembers setting the stage for heavyweight talent, just as a fighter might recall a prized match. “Goralliaz was ten trucks on day one. The XX was seven trucks on day three,” which was put back-to-back between Gorillaz, Nicolas Jaar, and The XX. “It was momentous to me. I remember it with a child-like sense of excitement and wonder. I remember weeping at the start of The XX. ‘We put it on stage. It’s over. We did it.’” Recently, the idea of adding big-name DJs to close out Mind Melt, while giving a crowd an open-air dance floor, added another feat that Sabatini has to maneuver. “It’s important to take advantage of the site and transform Mind Melt into this huge dancefloor, and there are good reasons for doing it. But the stage now has no break, and I would use that overnight time to reset and configure for the following day and load in touring produc- tion.” This year’s edition is smaller, but “Turn- stile is still three trucks and I need to load all this stuff out before the DJs close out.” Saba- tini believes this is the only main stage that not only doesn’t end first, but also transforms into a rave. “But I now have good plans and measures to make it happen. Mind Melt is a piece of art.” He also posits that III Points is a bona fide festival, rather than two days of mini-con- certs or a big party. According to his canons of construction, a festival must provide “a very curated approach and intention behind it.” Sure, III Points offers entertainment, but it’s done to a higher calling of discovery, ex- ploration, and enrichment, which he com- pares only to Sonar in Barcelona or Labyrinth in Japan. Sabatini doesn’t mean to criticize other festivals. Still, he believes III Points of- fers something different, even if it may be in- tangible. The attendee spends about twenty hours out of the year at III Points, makes unforget- table memories, hits up a satellite party, and carries on until this time next year. There are now loyal III Points goers who buy tickets be- fore the lineup comes out, but few forces are as powerful as a III Points staff member’s dedication to their sonic cause. “The III Points nation is the most impor- tant thing to us,” says Sabatini. “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 for- ward to.” III Points. Friday, October 17, and Saturday, October 18, at Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami; iiipoints.com. Tickets cost $139 to $309 via iiipoints.frontgatetickets.com. [email protected] The Stories Your Friends Are Sharing FOLLOW US
