N.E.R.D. to headline the Future Classic Festival in Miami

Miami’s industrial Soho Studios will be the lucky venue of this Saturday’s Future Classic Festival, a culmination of underground culture and unique Miami style right in the heart of the city’s artsy Wynwood District. With an audience anticipated to be in the triple digits, national artists like N.E.R.D. will join local favorites like Awesome New Republic and Spam All Stars for a night of music, art, and culture.

Fashion, visual art, dance, electronic gaming, action sports, and eco-consciousness exhibits will all be represented in the art complex. Features like art installations and live graffiti might attract the visually inclined, whereas a skate ramp used by top skateboarders can attract those who crave adrenaline in not-so-moderate doses. Fans of fashion and electronic gaming might find their own niche in the festival, as the fair promises to provide a formidable fashion show by SoMe Designs and a video gaming area with 20 gaming stations where guests can compete with professional gamers.

The focus of the Future Classic Festival is really on the music, though. The event boasts an eclectic combination of artists, including the Grammy-nominated Locos Por Juana as well as Afrobeta, Soniko, Suenalo, Mayday, Elastic Bond, Artofficial, Fusik, Bachaco, Buttaverses, and The Morning Flesh Project—most of which sound like a fusion of progressive rock, reggae, and electro-pop.

“The list of bands is enough to make me want to go,” sophomore Jenessy Rodriguez said.

The Future Classic Festival also includes a focus on environmental awareness, including a special Eco Village produced by Miami-based green enterprise, Rescue Earth. This non-profit organization consists of a coalition of Miami-Dade schools and local EPA officials who seek to educate South Floridians about the environment and our impact on it, and will be exhibiting their sustainable architecture at the festival.

“The concept of the festival is to bring together many subcultures in one event,” said event organizer Mihai Crisan.  “For example, you might be a fan of N.E.R.D. and at the same time love to watch break dancing. All these things can be found at one event.”

If You Go

Who: N.E.R.D., Awesome New Republic, Spam All Stars and many more

What: Performances and other cultural exhibits all in one night

Where: Soho Studios, Miami Wynwood district at 2136 NW 1st Avenue.

When: Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009

Get Tickets: www.wantickets.com/futureclassicfestival