What’s in a name? That which we call Generation Z, by any other name would behave as peculiarly as any other digital native. So a festival would, were it not a festival called, retain that edgy sumpin’ sumpin’ which it owes without that title, lol.
Words of the moment seem to give way to other words of the moment; intersectional, immersive, interactive, and artist-centric come to mind: optics, xennials, popinjay, ship, caping for, imbroglio, collusion. Yet the notion of naming something as timeless as a music festival has morphed increasingly into something even more interesting. Not by virtue of a guitar ablaze at Woodstock or a stabbing at Altamont, but GroundUP Music Fest 2018 and Nu Deco Concert 4 will soon stretch concert boundaries in their own distinctly local ways. Neither disinformation nor clickbait going viral, these gigs are not fake news which someone is attempting to unmask; instead, both events are real and in the MIA.
I confess that I am quite late to the Nu Deco Ensemble mania which has swallowed all who have seen them. Despite the pride I take in being ahead of the curve, here I am quite behind. Like the drip of a faucet, at first only a few notice. Subsequently, one drop leads to another until a river occurs. The cascading praise which flows from Nu Deco has become a flood.
The concept is straight up Century 22 – a series of progressive adjectives need to explain: eclectic, virtuosic, traditional, alternative, genre-bending, digital, interactive, multicultural, local, dramatic, sophisticated – check all the boxes!
February 15 is Concert 4 in a series of seven that began in October at the Light Box. This one is at the Knight and covers Stevie Wonder, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and Jacob Collier. All Nu Deco performances explore, so if you enjoyed the last one, which dealt with the music of Henry Mancini, Kraftwerk, Aaron Lebos, Radiohead, and Electric Kif and featured Danay Suarez, Stephen Marley, and El B – you can go again. Nu Deco journeys far and wide.
GroundUP, from February 9-11 on the Beach targets everyone from hippies to hipsters to millenials to old heads. Its promotional language talks about hanging with the bands, and offers three days of sun, fun, and music – their ampersand and their three, not mine. The lineup is heavy, with three dozen mad-diverse artists. Snarky Puppy, Bela Fleck, Robert Glasper, Joshua Redman, and the Wood Brothers are among those reppin. GroundUP takes place at the North Beach Bandshell’s Amphitheater and big adjacent Palm Grove Park.
What’s in a name? Coachella, AFROPUNK, SXSW, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Sasquatch, Pitchfork, ULTRA, and Burning Man define themselves; Nu Deco and GroundUP speak Miami fair.
