URGE Miami Festival Returns This Thanksgiving Weekend
With Three Massive Night Spectaculars and the Steamiest Beach Party on the Sands of South Beach
URGE Miami Festival returns this Thanksgiving weekend with three massive nighttime events and three sizzling daytime fetes including the Royal Palm Pool Party and the legendary Beach Party on the sands of South Beach. Produced by Luis Morera, Billy Kemp and Hilton Wolman, the LGBTQ+ festival weekend will take place November 25-28 and will feature a list of the world’s most famous circuit DJs including Alex Lo, Dan Slater, Edu Quintas, Enrico Meloni, Jerac, Joe Gauthreaux, Marvin Ayy, Mauro Mozart, Paulo Fragoso, Suri and Tom Stephan, with more to be announced.
“After the massive success of last year’s Thanksgiving festival, we are excited to do it all over again, bigger and better than ever before,” says Hilton Wolman.
URGE Miami Festival kicks off Friday, November 25 at 10pm when Barcelona’s Matinee Group makes its triumphant return to Miami with Matinee Pervert XXL. DJ’s Tom Stephan and Alex Lo will take over the decks at Miami's newest nightclub, M2 Nightclub, for their raunchiest production ever. The historic nightclub (formerly known as Paragon/Glam Slam/Level/Mansion and Icon) has been transformed with $10 million in upgrades to structure, sound and lighting. At 35,000 square feet, it will be the largest party ever thrown by URGE. Matinee Group is promising a level of production seldom seen before and they are flying in some of the hottest dancers from Spain and Europe to keep the dancefloor shaking into the wee morning hours.
At 2pm on Saturday is the Royal Palm South Beach pool party, presented by Eliad Cohen as part of the Papa World Tour. DJs Dan Slater and Paulo Fragoso will raise the temps with their high energy beats, making extensive use of the incredible facilities offered by Royal Palm. Expect plenty of wet and wild, splish and splashy fun and gorgeous men in skimpy bikinis.
The weekend’s Saturday night Main Event, URGE Warrior, will take place at one of Miami's premier film studios, home to some of the biggest blockbusters on HBO Max and Netflix, on their largest sound stage. DJs Suri and Mauro Mozart will battle it out with incredible beats in a spectacular production, sure to amaze.
It leads to the signature event of the weekend: the long-established Sunday Beach Party on the sands of South Beach. The sandblast begins at 2pm with DJ’s Enrico Meloni from Italy and Joe Gauthreaux from the USA dropping the beats on the largest stage and dancefloor and most colossal VIP deck this event has seen before. Kidd Madonny and his company, 3DX, are building the decor for the party and like last year, it will incorporate URGE Miami Festival’s yellow and white retro resort and cabana influenced theme.
“Circuit fans come from all over the world to experience one of America’s biggest LGBTQ beach parties,” Wolman explains. “We will not disappoint.”
This year’s host hotel is the Royal Palm South Beach. With 400 rooms, more than a quarter of which are suites, the Royal Palm is one of South Beach’s largest hotels, superbly located directly on the beach on Collins at the end of Ocean Drive. It offers a superior experience and will serve as the location of URGE Miami Festival’s Welcome Center and Saturday Pool Party. It is also a short walk to a majority of the parties. Special $249 room rates are available while supplies last.
A portion of the proceeds from URGE Miami Festival will once again benefit Miami Beach Pride, a not-for-profit organization that works to unite members of the LGBTQ community by celebrating the unique spirit and culture of its people.
Tickets for URGE Miami Festival are available now on the website. GA and VIP tickets are available, as is the popular 24-hour pass that includes the Sunday Beach Party, Sunday night event and Monday morning Afterhours event.
ACL FEST 2021- BEING HEARD AT MUSIC FESTIVALS
By Wesley Smoot
Photo Credit: Roger Ho
When you think of music festivals, you might think: headliners, huge crowds, fun costumes, overpriced drinks, perhaps creating unforgettable memories with your closest friends… This is often the case for most of us. So, while organizers work tirelessly to make their events stand out, what else could be missing?
HBO Max’s 2021 documentary showed us the tragic events of Woodstock ‘99 in a chilling story (Woodstock 1999: Peace, Love, & Rage) that ended in arrests, bloodshed, and eventually a bunch of angry white men setting the whole damn thing on fire. With multiple cases of sexual assault and even preventable deaths, this was the perfect example of toxic masculinity at its finest.
Was it the perfect recipe for the events that took place? Could it have been avoided? Again, what was missing?
An obvious solution, Diversity.
Music festivals, including ACL have been booking talent with large LGBTQ fanbases for some time. In previous years, ACL has brought us LGBTQ icons like Robyn, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, The Cure, and more. While I personally love these performers, I’m eager to see more talent that actually identifies as LGBTQ.
Could ACL do a better job of booking more diverse, or specifically more queer artists to their line-up? I’m happy to say, they have and they did… an absolutely, fabulous job!
Photo Credit: ©Charles Reagan
Austin City Limits 2021 was a milestone of inclusivity, From having their first ever drag performer, Trixie Mattel on the Tito’s Vodka Stage, to hosting Spanish speaking acts like Gina Chavez and Karol G. Representation seemed an obvious goal for this year’s organizers.. and bravo to you! Please don’t think this goes unnoticed.
Trixxie Mattel ACL Fest 2021 Weeked 2- Photo Credit: Alison Narro
Norway native, singer/songwriter, and proud lesbian, Girl in Red brought a considerable audience to her stage. (Look her up!) As a fan, I was a pleasantly surprised to see the crowd her performance attracted. Lead singer, Marie Ulven Ringheim told audience how she almost cancelled her ACL performance due to Texas’ Governor Greg Abbott’s horrific abortion law that passed earlier this year. She stated, “It wouldn’t be fair to skip this opportunity, I know many of you don’t agree with what’s happening… by performing here, I want to show support to those who don’t follow the Governor’s outdated views on something that most of the civilized world has moved past.”
Girl in Red ACL Fest 2021 Weeked 2- Photo Credit: Alison Narro
It’s worth mentioning country music star, LeAnn Rimes opened her song, Love is Love is Love by talking about her early, personal experience with LGBTQ acceptance. Non-binary, North Carolina based, Future Islands gave an unforgettable performance that will leave me a diehard fan. Erika Badu… well, she’s Erika Badu. Who always delivers gold. But what about the attendees?
A considerable number of rainbow flags and queer statements proudly worn by LGBTQ attendees, including myself and our very sexy group, was peppered throughout the vast audience. We experienced moments where straight-allies asked for photos with us and our rainbow flag. This meant a lot, or least to me. Hearing words of love and encouragement never goes unappreciated. We see you allies!
Future Islands ACL 2021 Weekend 2- Photo Credit: Charles Reagan
To wrap it up in a real cute bow… I can honestly say, what I witnessed is real progression. While I’d love to see acts like Toddrick Hall, Kameron Ross, and even Ricky Martin take stage, I can’t help but wonder what’s in store for next year and if other music festivals will follow suit.
I say, keep marketing to us, with us. Keep it diverse & inclusive and we’ll keep coming back. As someone who lived in Austin, Keep Austin Weird is something the LGBTQ community has always contributed to. Thank you for seeing us, and you can count on seeing me next year.
-Wesley Smoot
Unleashed LGBTQ
Photo Credit: Alison Narro
The Globetrotter Guys (UK) Interview with Brandon Schultz (US) Forbes.com
The Globetrotter Guys, Ben & Sion, join Brandon Shultz of Forbes.com to discuss gay travel- From the hottest LGBTQ spots around the globe, to less progressive destinations where being precautious about even showing affection is an unfortunate must. Also, how companies are using pink washing to attract the Lgbtq dollars. Find out more in this exclusive interview. #unleashedlgbtq