Rapture Music Festival – A Beautiful Miami Music Week Experience
Rapture returned to the beautiful Historic Virginia Key Beach Park for its second year last weekend. The one day festival is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of packed Miami Music Week events in a setting that makes you feel like you left Miami, and Florida completely and entered another realm. We have had the pleasure of attending events like Fractal Beach and Rakastella and Rapture exceeded our expectations of what could be done with staging and production while keeping the focus and appreciation on the natural surroundings of the park.
The production crew was on site for a week beforehand creating six unique stage areas, one megastructure with massive organically designed horse heads presiding over the dancefloor (Terra Stage), one beautiful and immersive tent (Soundgarden Stage), a beautiful area underneath the trees right on the beach (Un_mute Stage) complete with sand, water, driftwood. Last but not lease were the the Nomad, Where Are My Keys, Orijins stages which provided more intimate areas to dance and vibe.
The grounds were set up wonderfully to allow ample space to explore nature and art installations in between getting down on the dancefloors. Watching the cotton candy Miami sunset while tINI laid down some weird vibes was a magical experience. Everyone we saw and interacted with had a smile on their face and we were happy to be experiencing such an incredible event and see international DJs like Luciano, RPR Soundsystem and Hernan Cattaneo who rarely play in the United States. When they do, you better be there!
The very rare and talented RPR Soundsystem began playing back to back from 7am-1pm at the Un_Mute stage. The festival opened at 7am to get the party started that would go almost 24 hours progressing and traversing through many different styles and flavors of house and techno music. Standout sets for us for the event were Art Department, Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren, Luciano and Guy Gerber.
Rapture did something very unique here, a massive open air event featuring some international legends in techno and house who are not necessarily household names here, but to true fans of the underground this was one of the best lineups of Miami Music Week.
Experiencing a sunrise and sunset in this beautiful setting with a backdrop of melodic and progressive basslines was something unforgettable for everyone who attended, along with the delicious Hawaiian food served out of carved out pineapples. Rapture is curating a vibe that is hard to come by during Miami Music Week where most events happen in packed clubs with nowhere to sit and take a break from the party.
We were thoroughly impressed by every aspect of Rapture, from the setup of the grounds to the selection and arrangement of the artists everything was perfectly in its place to create a magical and ethereal experience and an oasis for creativity and expression.
photos by Charlie Trester
Guy Gerber
tINI
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