Bang! Music Festival
By: Jonathan Mayor
Catalyst Staff
November 12, 2006
By: Jonathan Mayor
Catalyst Staff
November 12, 2006
The word bang, used as a informal noun means a sudden or intense pleasure; thrill; excitement, which certainly defines the atmosphere of the third annual Bang! Music Festival. Concertgoers from all over the world have managed to end up at Bicentennial Park on November 11 2006 to form the crowd of the Bang! Music Festival. People from Chicago, Pennsylvania, New York, Venezuela, Columbia and even Holland attended the music festival. Some claimed to have just been here for holiday vacation with the interest to visit family but saw or overheard about the event that included some of their favorite home town performers and couldn’t resist. One concertgoer James Curtis from Arnhem, Holland traveled across sees to visit his family for the thanksgiving week and was told of DJ Tiesto’s performance that would take place at Bang! and couldn’t resist the temptation to buy a last minute overpriced ticket to see his fellow Holland DJ perform.
Approximately 20,000 concertgoers came out to see more than 50 dance, alternative, latin, rock, and reggae acts on five stages. General admission tickets first went on sale in early August for only $45.00 and went up to $95.00 on the day of the Event. VIP tickets ranged from $100.00 dollars to $2,500.00. Live performances from Gnarls Barkley, Duran Duran, Common, and Damian “JR. Gong” Marley turned the Live stage into one overcharged thrill ride. Giving it that Bang! Gnarls Barkley made its South Florida debut at Bang with a 12-piece band that certainly held up to the anticipation. The Trance stage had a performance from the number one DJ, according to the well known “The DJ List,” DJ Tiesto. Who basically had the entire crowd’s attention from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. During his performance the other stages were slightly empty. Earlier in the day, the Trance stage was the setting for some well known Trance DJ’s such as Lazardi, Edgar V, George Acosta, and Chris Lawrence.
One of the most talked about performances was by the French electronic pop duo Daft Punk. Daft punk appeared on the House Stage from 9:00 p.m. to 10.15 p.m. dressed up in shinny space suits within a Pyramid of lights and a back drop of honeycomb neon lights, mixing some of their classic hits such as one more time, around the world, and Technologic. The performance was Daft Punk’s last of the 2006 year which surely went out with a Bang! On that same House stage performers such as Roger Sanchez, Steve Angelo, and Cedric Gervais taped into the club culture of Miami. The second live stage had performances from the hit Latin groups Los Amigos Invisibles, Kinky, and Yerba Buena. V.I.P Tents with unlimited bottle service were also scattered throughout the Festival for those who prefer not to be surrounded by so many people in a tight crowd. The Bang! Music festival was definitely a hit according to Miami Dade College student Andres Gomez, 20 who said “Third time is always a charm. The Bang! Music festival really did it this time with the line up of performers, pyrotechnics and accommodations. I’m only 20 and by the looks of the progress that the Bang Music festival has made within three years, I’m going be 30 still banging at the Bang! Music Festival!” 
