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The producers of four independent California festivals are offering a limited edition ticket that provides general admission access to the 2025 edition of each event.
Dubbed the “indepenDANCE Pass” the ticket is on offer for $599, approximately $1,400 less expensive than the cost of buying four separate tickets to each festival. A total of 100 indepenDANCE Passes are currently available, with profits split evenly between each event.
The passes are part of a campaign to bring attention to the state of independent music festivals, which have struggled following the pandemic due to rising costs of goods and services. The founders of each of the four festivals involved with the IndepenDANCE Pass recently gathered for a longform conversation about the state of the independent side of the festival industry.
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“Independent festivals have always been about community, and now we’re taking that to the next level,” Same Same But Different co-founder and CEO Brad Sweet says during the talk. “We pour everything we have into creating spaces where people can truly connect, dance freely, and experience something real, and now we’re uniting to create something bigger than any one festival, a collective that strengthens the entire scene and gives our community more access, more connection, and more unforgettable experiences across the festival season. By coming together, we’re making sure independent festivals don’t just survive, but evolve and flourish for years to come.”
Featuring dance, funk, global music and more, Joshua Tree Music Festival happens both this May 15-18 and October 9-12 (the pass is good for just one of the events) in Joshua Tree, Calif. Happening in Lake Perris, Calif. this Sept. 26-28, Same Same But Different has previously featured artists including Griz, Big Gigantic, Polo & Pan and Louis the Child, with the 2025 lineup to be announced in the coming months.
Meanwhile the longstanding house and techno festival Desert Hearts 2025 happens July 3-7 in Flagstaff, Ariz. The electronic-oriented Northern Nights, which has this year partnered with Dirtybird Campout, happens Cook’s Valley Campground in Northern California on July 18-20, with the lineup also to be announced in the coming months.
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Sexyy Red is back with a new anthem for the YN’s, and it’s already got the streets buzzing.
The St. Louis rapper gave fans a preview of her upcoming track “YN” during a live stream with PlaqueBoyMax, and from the sound of it, this one is about to go crazy. The song kicks off with Sexyy setting the tone, rapping, “That’s my evil twin, me and him got matching pipes / Don’t see him when I’m working, only see my boo at night.” Her signature raw energy is all over the track, making it clear this is one for the young crash-outs.
Chicago’s BabyChiefDoit slides in on the second verse with a playful nod to his and Sexyy’s age difference, spitting, “Me and Sexyy meant to be, I know she feel the same way / I’m finna take her to meet my momma even though they damn near the same age.” His delivery keeps it light, adding to the track’s wild, carefree vibe.
Things really turn up when Atlanta’s Baby Kia hops on the third verse. Known for his chaotic, almost screaming flow, Kia brings that unfiltered energy that has the YN’s locked in. While his sound might not be for everyone, the young crowd eats it up every time. With Sexyy Red leading the charge and two rising stars backing her up, YN is shaping up to be another viral moment. Grab your Shiesty’s, it’s about to get active.
Check out the Sexyy Red and PlaqueboyMax stream below:
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Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been a fixture in the news recently, as he and fellow progressive, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have embarked on their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour of rallies in the Western United States. Sanders sat down with Jonathan Karl on ABC’s This Week on Sunday (March 23) for an interview. Karl asked about Sanders’ view of Ocasio-Cortez possibly joining him as a senator. “Would you like to see her join you in the Senate?” he queried.
Sanders stood up, aiming to end the interview. “I said, just a whole lot of people in the Congress. OK, Jonathan, thanks,” he said. “Wait, I got one more – I got one more. This is an important – “Karl pleaded before Sanders swiftly cut him off. “No, you want to do nonsense. Do nonsense. I don’t want to talk about inside-the-beltway stuff.” With that, Sanders ended his talk with Karl. The 83-year-old had made it a point not to vigorously trash current Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York when Karl asked about Sanders’ comments that the passage of the continuing resolution that prevented a government shutdown was an “absolute failure of Democratic leadership.” “Well, [Sen. Chuck] Schumer is the leader of the party, and it should not have happened, period. No question about it,” Sanders said before adding: “But the bottom line, it’s not just Chuck Schumer. It’s not just Chuck Schumer. It is, you’ve got a Democratic Party in general that is dominated by billionaires, just as the Republican Party is, that … operates under the leadership of a bunch of inside-the-Beltway consultants, very well paid, who are way out of touch with the 32,000 people who are here today.”Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have drawn sizable numbers at their “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies. Ocasio-Cortez has not publicly discussed her plans, but has been consistently mentioned as someone who could take on Schumer as a primary candidate for his Senate seat. There have even been rumors of her being positioned as a presidential candidate for 2028. Despite calls for him to step down as Senate Minority Leader, Schumer has remained defiant and stated he has no plans to do so.

After their second go-round as a couple produced endless reams of tabloid press coverage, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have been relatively quiet about the dissolution of their marriage. The couple first began dating in 2002 and got engaged before calling it off in 2004 and famously reuniting in 2021 and getting married the following year.
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But, after less than two years, Lopez filed for divorce just months after the February 2024 release of her film This Is Me Now: A Love Story, a movie co-written by the couple that was loosely based on their love story. A surprisingly candid behind-the-scenes doc, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, was also released at the time, featuring a scene in which it was revealed that Affleck kept Lopez’s love letters even while he was married to his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner.
In a new GQ feature about Affleck’s plans to shake up Hollywood wit his artist-friendly Artists Equity company, the actor/director opens up for the first time about the couple’s split and makes it clear that despite the drama, he has a deep and abiding affection for his ex.
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“You asked me about Jen and the documentary and I talked about that and my sort of personal life a little bit, which I don’t mind doing as long as my actual feelings and intentions and beliefs are communicated, which I hope I was clear that really this is somebody I have a lot of respect for,” he said. “And I get wanting to divine or explore the kind of differences in perspective that we have in terms of how a person feels comfortable approaching the line between public and private life. But I really hope that whatever you use doesn’t suggest that I have any negativity or judgment or anything regarding that.”
Affleck also makes it clear that he has “nothing but respect” for Lopez, lamenting the need by some to dissect break-ups in search of the “root causes” of a split. “But honestly, like I said, the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting,” he said.
“There’s no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue. The truth is, when you talk to somebody, ‘Hey, what happened?’ Well, there is no: ‘This is what happened,’” he added. “It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do. And as you get older, this is true for me, I assume it’s true for most people, there is no ‘So-and-so did this’ or ‘This was the big event.’ It’s really, it sounds more like a couple’s therapy session, which — you would tune out of someone else’s couple’s therapy after a while. For one thing, you start going, ‘Okay, clearly this person has got these issues. Clearly they have these issues.’ And the reason I don’t want to share that is just sort of embarrassing. It feels vulnerable.”
The piece delves into the fact that despite appearances, Affleck has a well-thought-out, nonchalant attitude about being pictured in public picking up his copious Dunkin’ order, or wearing an outfit a star might not want to be shot by paparazzi wearing. He talks about his strategies, such as wearing the same look every day so the pap pictures of him are indistinguishable, or looking “like a slob” on purpose and how he just doesn’t really care, or sweat it that much.
“Then you become the sad Affleck meme spilling the coffee. Which I have to say I think is kind of funny,” he said. “So I think it’s just a function of the fact that I’ve spent time thinking about really trying to figure it out.”
Affleck was also asked about some moments in the widely panned Greatest Love Story Never Told doc, in which the now ex-couple repeatedly claimed they were private people, even as Lopez revealed some intimate moments and aspects of their relationship via the letters and footage of them at home. In those scenes, the writer suggests that Affleck seems to both be taking a deep “here we go again” breath, even as he’s clearly expressing his love and support for Lopez.
“Part of it was, ‘Okay, if I’m going to participate in this, I want to try to do it in an honest way and in a way that’s interesting,’” Affleck said. “Because I thought it was an interesting examination. Like I mentioned to you before, there are a lot of people who I think have handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have, Jennifer among them. My temperament is to be a little bit more reserved and private than hers. As happens in relationships, you don’t always have the same attitude towards these things. And so I thought, ‘Oh, this is interesting because how do you reconcile that?’ Because exactly what you said is true. I love and support this person. I believe in them. They’re great. I want people to see that.”
Affleck recalled that the doc used his line “You don’t marry a ship captain and then say, ‘Well, I don’t like going out in the water,’” saying that you have to “own what you knew going into any relationship.” And, for the record, Affleck assures readers that the movie wasn’t the cause of “some major fracture. It’s not like you can watch that documentary and go, ‘Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had.’”
Affleck will next be seen in The Accountant 2, which will hit theaters on April 25.
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Detroit Pistons star combo guard Cade Cunningham is having himself quite the season and while most basketball players of his caliber tend to protest their bodies at all costs to avoid injuries, Cunningham seems willing to put his on the line to live a life-long dream.
In a recent interview with Landon Buford, Cade Cunningham is one of the many wrestling fans that play in the NBA, but Cade doesn’t want to just watch his favorite wrestlers duke it out in the squared ring, he also wants to partake in laying the smacketh down on someone. After seeing the likes of Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O’Neal and even Jalen Brunson pop up and get involved in some scuffles in the ring, Cade is hoping to follow suit at some point in the future as he’s been a fan of the sport for quite some time.
When asked about his love of wrestling and if he would like to one day partake in some ring action, Cade didn’t hesitate to respond. “Yeah it’s possible. For sure. I think WWE is fire. I grew up loving WWE… but yeah. I’d be down to do it for sure,” he said.
While we’re sure Cade would love to get his hands on an opponent at some live WWE event, we’re not sure management over at the Detroit Pistons front office would co-sign seeing their start guard put himself in harms way as we’ve seen many professional wrestlers suffer all kinds of injuries over the decades. Heck, when Jalen Brunson appeared to hurt himself during his quick WWE appearance last year, Knicks nation collectively held their breath as we couldn’t bare the thought of losing our superstar point guard in such a way.
What do y’all think about Cade Cunningham wanting to take part in a WWE event? Should he risk it for fun or play it safe and just watch from the sidelines? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Between her starring role in The White Lotus and her new solo album earning a top 10 debut on the Billboard 200, one could argue that LISA from BLACKPINK is currently enjoying the “Best of Both Worlds.” In an interview with The Guardian published March 24, the K-pop star revealed that’s not the only thing […]
Prompted by Chappell Roan’s comments about health insurance from the Grammy stage on Feb. 2, over the last several weeks an important conversation has been taking place about financial stability and health among those who work in music. At MusiCares, we celebrate this conversation and want to collectively seize this moment for real change. To do this, we need to go deeper than just a conversation. It is important to understand and focus solutions on data-backed, long-standing issues around fair pay and health in the music community.
In fact, MusiCares was founded with this mission in mind. The Recording Academy formed MusiCares as an independent 501c3 charity in 1989 to be a shared service for the larger music industry because even back then, it was difficult to ensure fair pay across all sectors. As a result, many music people were falling on hard times. Health and welfare problems are exacerbated in low-income environments. This problem continues in music today, even after MusiCares has provided over $118 million in direct assistance to people from every music profession, genre and U.S. state.
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We know this because we research it. Financial instability is a major concern for people in music, affecting their household economics, physical well-being and mental health. Our Wellness in Music survey, open to anyone in the U.S. working in music, shows that 69% of respondents cannot comfortably cover their expenses through work in music alone and 47% attribute their stress to financial instability. Furthermore, 65% of respondents are not confident about the trajectory of the industry. These are major red flags for both the well-being of our music community and the sustainability of this industry in its current form.
MusiCares provides customized care, often with substantial financial assistance to cover basic living needs and other expenses, when music people face economic hardship. Many people in music never get guidance on how to manage their money. For this reason, we also focus on the preventive side of financial health, including financial management services and tax support. The tragic fires in Los Angeles and hurricanes in the Southeast demonstrate how perilously close so many people in our community are to financial ruin. While some music people had substantial loss, many of the 5,000+ individuals we supported through our recent disaster relief efforts needed support simply because they lost a gig or two: $200 or $300 in income was often what separated them from security and an inability to pay their basic living costs. Higher wages are essential, but we also need to grow financial safety nets, which include funding and resources to support music professionals through hard times. This requires substantial and ongoing investments from the industry to ensure qualified non-profit organizations can meet the need.
Health insurance has also been a major topic in recent weeks, and it’s an important one. But health insurance alone is not enough. Our Wellness in Music survey consistently shows that 87-90% of music professionals have health insurance, just slightly the below US national coverage. While universal coverage is the goal, the barrier many people in music face is an inability to use the insurance they have. Most MusiCares clients have health insurance but may not use it because they can’t afford the deductible, their provider doesn’t take insurance, or the provider is out of network. Overwhelmingly, music people are not accessing preventive care services, like mammograms, dental cleanings and hearing screenings, at healthy rates. For this reason, we work with a carefully vetted network of hundreds of licensed health providers across the United States and have provided over 45,000 free preventive clinic visits. We need to keep closing the gap in economic and logistical access to essential medical care. This includes access to quality health insurance, additional funding to cover out of pocket costs and dedicated providers who can work with music professionals on their unique needs.
Inability to use insurance affects mental health too. The American Psychological Association estimates that about one in three therapists do not take insurance. Access to care is further complicated because people in music are highly mobile. Licensing regulations may mean people can’t work with their mental health provider or worse, end up receiving care from unlicensed providers. In the absence of access to licensed, affordable care, many music people are vulnerable to unregulated initiatives that have no grounding in science.
Music people in need of substance use treatment often face similar challenges. In-network treatment centers may have no space or it’s not the right fit for their needs. For single parents, highly mobile workers or those who need to keep working, in-patient treatment may not be an option. To get people the care they deserve, we need to expand access to substantial financial assistance for addiction recovery, in addition to tailored and long-term care options, referrals, and placement.
At MusiCares, we’ve provided over $25 million in direct assistance to music people and placed them in therapy and substance use treatment. Currently, MusiCares is the only philanthropic organization that covers the full costs of substance use treatment for music people. While financial support is essential, we find it is only effective because we have specialized providers o meet the needs of music people as well as follow-up care, like sober living, accountability coaching and support for basic living needs during key recovery junctures.
Finally, we need better coordination to create comprehensive support for everyone who works in music. At MusiCares, we have never gone at it alone and have no interest in trying. We need to work in tandem with health care providers, music industry companies and non-profit partners to ensure no one slips through the cracks. Those of us who work in this space have an opportunity for stronger coordination, including sharing our data and best practices, so that we are all making evidence-based investments that address the very real challenges within our community.
We all need music. Music needs a safety net.
Laura Segura is executive director and Theresa Wolters is vice president of health & human services at MusiCares.
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Snow White, the new live-action film starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, is being panned online by those assumed to be in the MAGA nation, accusing the motion picture of “wokeness.” On X, the reactions to Snow White have been passionate, and other film fans are joining the pile-on to blast some of the acting and more.
Snow White was released last Friday (March 21) and is one of the early big-budget films of the spring season. Zegler stars as the title character, while Gadot plays a contrasting role as the Evil Queen. At issue for the MAGA meatheads is Zegler’s role and the fact that the American actress is Polish and Colombian. Some of the more extreme racist trolls have attacked Zegler’s racial identity, and other film fans are critical of Gadot’s acting and her political positions.
Beyond the culture war being waged over the movie, the early reports are leaning towards the fact that Snow White’s box office opening numbers are a bit underwhelming. With a budget reported to be between $240-270 million, the film had a worldwide weekend opening of about $86 million, according to The Numbers website.
Professional critics largely called the film a refreshing update on the classic tale, and it manages to put forth some progressive themes here and there. Also present in the film is the goal of female empowerment and other stylistic and source material changes. It is there where MAGA and online trolls are having the most issues.
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Ángel del Villar‘s criminal trial case could set a precedent in Latin music. The CEO of regional Mexican powerhouse label, Del Records, is accused of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels. Del Villar’s ongoing trial began on March 18 at a downtown Los Angeles federal courtroom and follows a 2022 criminal […]

25 years ago this month, Miami’s Club Space first opened its doors. In the decades since, it’s become not just a citywide institution, but a national and international destination that’s risen, then risen again, in tandem with the explosion of underground electronic music.
Created by Miami native Luis Puig in 2000 and now operated by a trio of friends and business partners who’ve long been embedded in the city’s dance scene, Club Space now hosts roughly 600 annual events, drawing tens of thousands of party people for the both the music and the all-night into morning experience that the club, which possesses a 24 hour license, famously offers. Parties can, and do, go on for days.
This week is not only the Club Space’s anniversary, but its busiest week of the year, with thousands of dance industry folks and genre fans flocking to town for Miami Music Week, a confluence of parties, showcases and gatherings. Starting today (March 25), Club Space will feature a flurry of producers and party brands including Hugel’s Make the Girls Dance, Fisher’s Catch & Release, HARD, Cloonee, The Martinez Brothers and Loco Dice and many, many more.
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In tandem with the revelry, here Puig, the current co-owners and other essential Club Space employees tell the story of the venue, in their own words.
I. Origins
Puig started bartending and DJing in Miami nightclubs as a teenager. Eventually, he operated clubs in South Beach, but the competitive market and a yearning for another type of venue later brought him to downtown Miami, a move that would affect the future of nightclubs in the city and ultimately reverberate throughout dance music culture.
Puig: The experience I got from DJing and bartending was watching people and what they liked. That was fused with my travels to all the big clubs in New York — Ice Palace 57, New York, New York, Paradise Garage. Then in 1981, I went to Ibiza. That just took it to another level. I was 21 years old [and going], “Wow, this is something else.” The clubs didn’t close, they just stayed open. From that experience and from all those years of clubbing and DJing and working at nightclubs, it gave me an idea what would make a great club.
I had my blueprints and architectural plans [with me in Ibiza] and one night I was invited to dinner at Roman Polanski’s house there. [Pacha Ibiza] founder Ricardo Urgell was there, and after dinner I spread the plans over the table and went through it like, “This is where DJ booth is. This is how big the dance floor will be. This where I’m putting the bar. Everybody’s doing VIP clubs on the Beach, but this is going to be for locals, and it’s going to have a patio.”
There were like, eight people sitting at the dinner table having drinks and looking at the plans. I remember Ricardo just passed his hand to the left, and said, “Esto va a ser un gran éxito.” This is going to be a great success. If I would have never built a club, I would have been happy just with his blessing. It was a pretty amazing night for me.
Years later, in 1999, Puig located a promising building in Miami’s Park West neighborhood, then an unsavory part of downtown.
Puig: The whole area was abandoned. The landlords had nobody to rent to. [The area I wanted] was basically three warehouses and a parking lot. I walked in and there were three homeless people living on the floor, s— everywhere. It was horrible. I mean, rats, everything.
Longtime Space bartender Sean Ospina: I mean, back in the dy downtown was scary. I’d be scared walking down the street.
Puig: The walls of the building were missing. There were pieces of roof missing. But I just saw a club. I was 39 at the time and said, “It’s now or never,” and I started building it. I paid $7 a square foot, for almost 20,000 square feet. I’d been paying $30 a square foot on the Beach. I started selling everything I had to raise money for the club. I sold my car. I had money put away. I borrowed money. I think we put together the original Space for about half a million dollars.
Knowing it’d be hard to compete with the South Beach clubs, Puig decided his venue would be an after hours, designed to draw the thousands of partiers forced to leave the city’s many clubs at closing time, but who didn’t want to go home. To make that happen, first a few laws had to be changed.
Puig: In Miami, there are areas where you can stay open until 3:00 or 5:00 a.m. Anyone can do those. That’s easy. The 24-hour thing was unheard of outside of Vegas. But I knew if I was going to make any money, I’d have to get all these people to come at 4 or 5 a.m., and the only way to do that was to sell liquor after hours.
The director of the Downtown Development Association got a hold of me through my lawyer and requested a meeting. She helped me so much, because she knew that first the club comes, then people get comfortable with the area — then the next thing you know, some guy opens a pizza shop and then something else opens up. Nightclubs are like the seed to start entertainment districts.
Current Space co-owner David Sinopoli: Louis paved the way for us. That guy bulldozed and changed the laws.
Puig: My lawyer and I came up with the 24-hour district thing. Convincing the city took some lobbying, because they didn’t understand why anybody would want to be drinking at seven in the morning. Like, what kind of animals are drinking and dancing at 7 a.m.? It took about three months of lobbying and talking to commissioners. Then it went to vote, and they all voted for making this two-by-two block segment dedicated as a 24-hour entertainment district where you could sell liquor for 24 hours. Game-changer.
Louis Puig during a Space remodel
Courtesy of Space
After construction was completed, Space opened on March 24, 2000, during Miami Music Week.
Puig: My marketing director said, “Bro, just call it Club Space, because there’s all this space inside it.” The opening night was Danny Tenaglia, the king of clubs. He was the most respected DJ in the industry. Every DJ wanted to hear what Danny was playing, because he could play for hours and not repeat a record. That first party just kept going and going. Overnight, everybody started talking about this crazy club that didn’t shut down. All the DJs started calling, because if Danny was playing there, they all wanted to play there.
We were only open on Saturdays for the first two or three years. We’d start getting busy around three or four in the morning, enough to open up all the rooms. When we first opened, there was the Red Room and the Blue Room. The Blue Room would would play trance; Paul van Dyk, Tiësto, all the big trance DJs, then the Red Room would play house. Our resident was Oscar G, a legend. Then I opened the hip-hop room, and it became very popular, because the hip-hoppers didn’t have anywhere to go for after hours.
Longtime Space employee and current general manager Lisa Mion: When I started at Space I was a waitress in the hip-hop room. It was a tiny room with two tiny VIP tables on each side. That place was filled to the brim all the time.
Puig: The last room to open didn’t open until four months after everything else, and that was the patio.
II. The Patio!
Also referred to as The Terrace, this outdoor area is one of Club Space’s most popular and defining features, allowing guests to enjoy the music as the sun rises. Initially open air, this upper floor of the venue now has a transparent, retractable roof to protect people on the dancefloor from the elements while still letting the sunlight in.
Puig: In the early years, people would go peek out at the patio then run back inside. The question was, how do you get people who’ve been partying all night to come into the light and and keep partying, besides giving them sunglasses?
I knew everybody liked Ibiza, so we did an Ibiza party. Back then Ibiza was mostly farms, except for the clubs. So we went and got chickens, dogs, pigs and bunnies. We had a goat. We bought bales of hay. We all wore overalls with farmer hats and gave away popsicles and melons. [All the employees] went outside to the patio so no one could find us. If you wanted to hang out with us or get a free drink, you had to come see us. We gave away free sunglasses. That was the first patio party. Within two months, pictures started going around and people were preparing to be in the light, and it became the thing. [British DJ] Steve Lawler] became the king of the patio.
Ospina: Back in the early days, we didn’t have a roof on the terrace, so people were exposed to the elements. It could be cold, or super hot, or raining. People didn’t care — they were on the terrace for the music and the vibe.
Puig: It was open-air for the first two or three years. One of those years, during Miami Music Week, it was like, 10 in the morning and raining like it’s never rained before. There were about six inches of water on the terrace, and the awning started getting full of water and stretching. We thought the whole thing was going to fall on top of people and kill them. It was this huge balloon of water. We thought we were going to have to close.
We had bamboo trees on the patio back then, so my manager took a knife, tied it to a bamboo shaft that he broke from one of the trees and started poking holes in the belly of the beast. It became a shower, all these little waterfalls everywhere. Everybody’s just digging it and running around and playing in the water. Then out of nowhere, Sasha shows up and wants to play. So he gets on, and then Sharam from Deep Dish gets on. They weren’t hired to play, they just wanted to. People are going bananas. DJs are showing up. Everybody’s calling everybody. It doesn’t stop raining, people are jumping in the water like kids. That, to me, was epic.
Louis Puig at Space
Courtesy of Space
III. Space Is the Place
Puig: I mean, look, I run a pretty tight ship. I would say we started turning a profit within the first six months. And once it really got going, it just just got bigger and bigger. Everybody on the Beach was trying to shut me down. My big competition would call bomb scares. They would tell their clients that it was an after hours for drug abuse people. Luckily, we hired police to work the front door and when the other police would get there, they would say, “There’s nothing going on.”
Longtime Space doorman Alan Tibaldeo: The perfect Space guest is done to the nines, giving a look — comfortable, but giving. They know who’s playing and what time to be there. They have their ticket and they’re ready to go dance.
Puig: A few years in, half a million people were going through the door of Space every year. But it started getting busy right away. The Music Conference [the year after we opened] was huge, because now everybody knew about Space, and everybody knew there was a room for them to play where they didn’t have to turn of the music at 5:00 in the morning.
Mion: Miami Music Week is what we all wait for. It’s like the hurrah, the big boom of the year for us.
Puig: Some of my worst nights were during Miami Music Week, because you had every club owner, every actor, every famous DJ in the world, and they all wanted to get in for free. They all wanted to drink for free. They all demanded to be in VIP or worse, the DJ booth. I mean, those are the nights that we would turn off our phones and hide. I would actually go to my office and lock myself in.
Ospina: How many drinks do I serve on a really busy night like that? I don’t know. It’s a lot of drinks.
IV. “The Boys”
Puig: By 2012, I had gotten married and my wife was pregnant with our second son. The phone was ringing at all times of the night with people trying to get into the club. I wanted to have a happy marriage and see my kids on Sundays. I thought, “You know what? I did everything I wanted to do here. What more am I going to do?” I decided to sell.
In late 2013, Puig sold Space to Roman Jones and Justin Levine of Opium Group, who operated the venue for three years before selling it to Coloma Kaboomsky, Davide Danese and David Sinopoli, three locals who’d been cutting their teeth in Miami’s club and festival scene for years. Sinopoli was co-founder of the city’s III Points Festival, while Danese and Kaboomsky had been throwing parties at local venues under their Link Miami Rebels brand. The trio took over Club Space in late 2016.
Puig: The [Opium Group] people I sold to didn’t really operate the club the way I would. They were trying to run Space like the clubs in South Beach, and that didn’t really work out for them. So the owners reached out to “the boys,” as I call them — Davide, Coloma and David. I couldn’t be more satisfied than to have them taking care of my baby. It’s like sending your kid off to college and knowing they’re in the right hands.
David Sinopoli, Coloma Kaboomsky and Davide Danese
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Sinopoli: Justin [Levine] was at a point in his career where he wanted to kind of be done with Miami nightlife, and for us it was simply right place, right time.
Danese: The three of us had a strong following in the Miami music scene, and many years of strong relationships with underground artists that were about to become major players in the international electronic music scene. So when it was offered to us, it was perfect. It was just plug-and=play.
Kaboomsky: We had been scouting Space for a while, and it was really at a low point. The bookings were all over the place. There were very few people going to the venue. We did a pop-up with Art Department in August of 2016, and it felt like the venue came alive again. Everyone was buzzing about how the place was so phenomenal, but the week before, nobody wanted to go there, so that first night was just such a strong proof of concept.
Danese: For me, the first four months were very difficult. It was our first Music Week [in 2017] that really made me feel like we had it, because every single night was phenomenal and all led into a 36-hour closing party with The Martinez Brothers, Jamie Jones and Joseph Capriati. It felt like we could finally welcome our crowd to a place that was fully ours — that looked like us, that felt like us, where we controlled everything from the door to the bars and, most importantly, the music direction. It felt like the community came together that [week] and from then on, it was almost easy.
Kaboomsky: A lot of these [international party brands] were previously doing these high-risk pop ups in random places [around town]. A lot of what we were doing was saying “Hey guys, you can trust us. This is going to be a turnkey thing for your brand, and we can focus on marketing and presenting it the way it should be presented, versus you trying to figure out where to put port-a-potties.”
Danese: The employees loved how we changed the security, we changed the bars, we changed the strong, heavy energy they used to have.
Kaboomsky: [When we came in] it was also really important for Space to be safe for women, because at the end of the day, guys are going to follow women. We can book great DJs, but if we want to build a culture, women need to be safe. A lot of the security changes were focused on making sure women feel safe holding a drink in their hand, making sure there’s no fighting.
I think the music programming also had a lot to do with it. Some of the first weeks in the club that weren’t big DJs were a cleansing. They were these very underground bookings, nothing that had ever been at Space before. It was this beautiful music, more feminine, more downtempo. A lot of the crowd that was coming before for the high, tribal energy came and were like, “Oh, we’re never coming back.”
Sinopoli: We were also kind of evangelistic about converting people to the after-hours. At the same time, Davide and Coloma were converting me to the after-hours, because I wasn’t from that world. Davide would basically force me to come. He’s like, “You need to see your f–king club in the morning, man. It’s an incredible thing.” I found that if you spend a couple mornings there, or do the night-into-the-morning thing, it becomes an itch. It’s unlike anything you can you can experience at any other nightclub.
In 2019, Club Space partnered with Insomniac Events, with the dance events company acquiring an ownership stake in the venue. Upon the announcement, Insomniac Events founder Pasquale Rotella said that Danese, Kaboomsky andSinopoli would still be “running the show and together we will set the bar for entertainment in Miami.” Since 2016, Danese, Kaboomsky, Sinopoli and their sprawling team have made changes to make the club more comfortable for early morning attendees, offering coffee at the bar, introducing a breakfast menu and allowing guests to order takeout right to the dancefloor.
Doorman Alan Tibaldeo
Courtesy of Space
Tibaldeo: People will arrive at 11:00 at night, and it’s like, go home, take a nap and come back, because you’re too early. The club is really to experience daybreak, if you want the whole enchilada. The best time to arrive is probably around 5:00 a.m.
Mion: The sunrise is the most magical moment we have here.
Kaboomsky: One of the biggest misses, and I see it all the time, is when somebody goes to the club and they don’t make it to sunrise. It’s tragic.
V. Sleep & Lack Thereof
The club’s possession of the 24-hour license that allows for these moments also means that parties can and do go on for days — making it so that considerations must be made for approaching a night, and day, at the Club Space properly.
Puig: Danny [Tenaglia] created the format. He would do these marathon sets, and it became the thing.
Tibaldeo: The big weekends go forever, it’s usually Sunday to Tuesday. There are nights that can go 24, 25, 26 hours.
Danese: People plan on being there for 12, 15 hours. They can spend an entire day with us.
Kaboomsky: People have outfit changes.
Tibaldeo: I have outfit changes, for sure.
Kaboomsky: I had a friend who was at the club, then took a meeting in New York and then came back to the same party.
Ospina: It takes me at least two days to decompress after a shift. After a weekend is done, I come home and I’m like a hermit. I’ll be in my room for two days. Back in the day, we would do marathon shifts. We could be behind the bar for 20 or 25 hours. We don’t do that now; they won’t let us. Now at the most it’s 15-hour shifts.
Mion: The the hours are probably the most challenging, because sometimes we don’t sleep much. For me, [working at] Space is like having a baby. The baby needs to eat. Like a new parent, you’re never going to sleep much. I don’t drink, I’m vegan, I don’t partake in anything; I don’t even drink caffeine. People ask me all the time, “How do you stay up 30 hours?” It’s because I love my job. I care for it like I would if it was my child.
Space employee and longtime colleague of “the boys” Lucas Zaglul: We always keep in touch to see, who’s coming in at what hour? It’s like, “I’m going in the morning,” and Coloma will be like, “Cool, I’ll go early in the night and take over.” I was once at the club for 20 hours, totally delirious. It’s hard to go past 12 hours when you’re in there working and having to deal with stuff. That’s when it’s like, “Okay, I have to go home.”
VI: It’s Solomun!
The esteemed Bosnian-German producer first played Space during Art Basel 2017, becoming a favorite of the venue while also becoming known for sets that have lasted a full 24 hours.
Kaboomsky: The first Solomun marathon was super important. It was a moment of like, “Damn, we could actually do this,” where before [those long sets] were just something we wanted to do. No one had done marathons that long in the club before. There had been 12 hour marathons, but not 25.
Ospina: When Solomun plays, I don’t know what it is, but you feel the energy in the air. I usually don’t pay attention to the music — because I’m working and focused on what I’m doing — but with him I’ll always be like, “Wow, this is really good.”
Mion: Solomun, oh my goodness. When we have Solomun nights, those are the highlights. You know when you’re there and then you’re [dancing] and you don’t know why? He’s that kind of vibe. When we have Solomun we’re all very excited, The whole staff, management. I want to say that the whole building is on fire when we know Solomun is coming.
Zaglul: Most times when Solomun comes, I’m like, “I want to see how long I can hear Solomun play,” and then I can’t even stay for half his set. The guy’s just built differently than the rest of us. Midway through I’ll go home and take a disco nap and come back.
Solomun plays The Terrace at Club Space
Courtesy of Space
VII: The Portal
Along with all the music, Space has also become a community hub, hosting events like pet adoptions and a free weekly yoga class, evolutions as the club also welcomes new generations of dance fans.
Tibladeo: I mean, now I’m addressing people’s kids and grandkids at the door. I get phone calls from parents who are like, “Hey heads up, my daughter’s coming. She’s on her way to dental school and this is her last hurrah.”
Zaglul: With our community programming, we figure out how to get people from all walks of life to come to Space and see how magical this place is. Our biggest one to date is our 420 Space Yoga. It’s a yoga class we do for free every Saturday for everybody in Miami or anybody who comes to visit. At first people were like, “We’re not going to do yoga on the floor of the club.” We had to start sharing videos of us cleaning right after the party and bleaching the floors.
Sinopoli: When Davide is in Ibiza, he’ll [sometimes] text me at some crazy time, like, “This guy just said we have the best club in the world.” It still floors us to hear s–t like that, but we keep each other accountable in staying grounded and controlling the ego things that come from this job. You can’t get lost in the soft sauce, because the second you do that, you lose track of what’s actually important, and that’s the experience, the programming, the community, the operation, the staff.
Danese: We’re kind of scared of giving ourselves the importance that maybe other people can see from the outside, like when they tell you you’re running the best club in the world, for me it’s almost scary.
Sinopoli: The main thing we’re doing is maintaining a portal. This thing has been open since 2000 and there’s been different custodians maintaining it along the way. Like any portal, if you don’t take care of it, it can become a different type of energy. Clubs are very life-changing for people, so how we maintain this portal for them to be able to have those life-changing moments is a massive responsibility that the three of us understand more than we understand what club we are in the world. That responsibility alone is enough to fill up our plate.
Puig: I know the boys are going to keep it going. I think this thing has legs. I mean, listen, Space is as close to heaven as you’re ever gonna get.