Justice Delivered a Light Show During the Second Day of III Points

After a rainy start, the second day of III Points gave way to cool weather and amped-up performance. The grounds at Mana Wynwood felt even busier than the first day as festivalgoers jumped from stage to stage to catch their favorite performers. They were certainly in for a treat, particularly at the Mind Melt stage, where headliner Justice was set to deliver a light show that might have rivaled anything that has appeared at the festival for the past 11 years.

There was plenty to see around the festival, including Suero's takeover of the Sector 3 stage, which saw performances by Yung Lean and Bladee, Bad Gyal, and Arca. Over at the RC 95 stage, the queen of hard techno, Sara Landry, helped close out the festival while Seth Troxler kept things grooving at 444.

Check out all the highlights from the second day of III Points 2024 below.

Soulwax

By the end of their set, Soulwax's members were exhausted, as if they had all run a marathon. But in many ways, the Dewaele Brothers and company did just that — Soulwax was a last-minute booking, needing to get to Miami fast to replace the sudden cancelation of Massive Attack and played a nonstop, rousing set. Alongside three drummers, a second singer to match Stephen Dewaele, and a third keyboardist to join the brothers, the band assembled and delivered the epitome of an electro-rock set. It was hardware versus drums. The set would've felt absent had it not been for the drummers playing solos and carrying the rhythm to songs like "Part of the Weekend Never Dies" and "New Earth Time." Likewise, the synth work gave the extra oomph needed to be considered a quasi-electronic act. They brought the synths so low and so thick that it raddled the floor. The crowd erupted when they spliced the club-ready synths from their classic "Work It" remix as a layer to another song. To further cement their unity of rock and electronic music, when Stephen Dewaele requested on the mic that the lighting team "turn that disco ball on," a bright light pointed right at that giant disco ball overhead, and all of Mana turned into a dance floor. Grant Albert

Yung Lean and Bladee

Drain Gang member Bladee and Sad Boys' Yung Lean are never going to be household names — let's make that very clear. However, if you were at the Sector 3 stage at III Points on Saturday night, you'd like they are the biggest names in music right now. The Swedish rappers are a perfect example of how, in today's music industry, you can have a career somewhere that toes the line between obscurity and fame. The pair opened up the show with their collaboration "I Don't Like People," off of Bladee's latest album, Cold Visions, which the crowd ate up as if it were their life's mantra. "I don't like people, I don't like people/I don't like people, I really don't like people," Bladee sang into the mic. The set continued with live renditions of tracks like "One Second," "D.O.A.," and "Young Sherman." It wasn't a splashy performance by either of them, but it really didn't need to be. You don't go to a Bladee or Yung Lean show not expecting them to get in their feelings, and that's exactly what they gave Miami on Saturday. Jose D. Duran

Jamie xx

At the height of Jamie xx's DJing madness, he bordered Aphex Twin-like drill 'n' bass. At his low, it was almost mediative. He dropped his track, "Breather," which can ostensibly be played at a music festival and a yoga class with its mantra, "You deserve to feel good, you deserve to feel happy." But there were so many lost-in-the-dance-floor moments that the examples cover a small percentage of his 90-minute set. He played out his serotonin-surging classic "Gosh" — looping the track to extend its playtime to great fanfare. He played jungle, drum' n' bass, and break music, showing how dub and dancehall music influenced the Londoner. The show's latter half were reflective moments, playing "Falling Together" and "All the Children." Yet, the pinnacle may have been Jamie xx dropping Joe Cuba's 1966 boogaloo song "Bang! Bang!" No looping or adding effects or bass — just a statement saying, "They don't make it like that anymore." Grant Albert

Bad Gyal

Traditional Latin music didn't make a big appearance on the lineup this year, so artists like Bad Gyal had big shoes to fill, as there is such a hunger for Latin music, even at III Points. Coming out in a scandalous two-piece that left little to the imagination, some fishnets and big fluffy boots, Bad Gyal closed out her tour at the festival with a bit of a bang. There was a lot of perreo as Bad Gyal was down to shake ass and get down. Her dancers showed up in an impressive performance as Bad Gyal's lightly Auto-Tuned voice sang braggadocio and promiscuous lyrics such as the ones in "La Prendo." Mostly known for her collab song "Chulo pt. 2", there were no special guests, and she sang both Miko's and Tokischa's parts with her verse from the original version of the song. Closing out with the track "Fiebre," which has notes of Caribbean influences, she was an above-average set, but in all honesty, it wasn't anything too crazy. Osvaldo Espino

Justice

What can't be said about the spectacle that was Justice's set at this year's III Points? There were major expectations for the French duo before they geared up to play the festival, and boy, did they live up to them. If there's one question that doesn't need to be asked, it's "Does Justice live up to the hype?" because the answer is hell yeah! For more than an hour, Justice took us through a mind-melting space odyssey that spanned the entirety of their discography. They hit the ground running, playing bangers like "Generator" and "We Are Your Friends," making the crowd lose their minds almost immediately. Production-wise, it was insane. The duo, dressed in glittery disco attire, played on custom equipment underneath a set of lights that helped develop the mood and atmosphere of the festival. One of my favorite moments was when they used the lights to mimic the deep void of space as we traveled into the starry skies. Of course, the moment everyone will speak of is the mashup between the classic "D.A.N.C.E." and "Neverender" as the thousands in attendance all began dancing. It was the old mixing with the new as we all smiled, thanks to the nostalgia. Closing out with the song "The End" was so fitting as they got off stage, signed posters, and greeted fans. This will go down as one of the best sets to ever hit III Points. Osvaldo Espino

Arca

The sex swing on stage should have been a clear indicator of the kind of performance Arca would deliver on the Sector 3 stage. The Venezuelan producer and singer has been pushing the boundaries of music for years now, and her set would do the same, blending neoperro with industrial, noise, trap, hip-hop, and more. Arca ran through her extensive music catalogue throughout her performance, from her 2017 self-titled album to her five-part Kick series. Highlights included "Prada," "Riquiquí," and the Tokischa-assisted "Chama." As a trans woman, Arca naturally imbues her work with a sort of queerness that feels foreign to our heteronormative society. She isn't trying to make the straights comfortable — and in Ron DeSantis' Florida, we definitely need more of that. Jose D. Duran

Seth Troxler

It was only fitting for Seth Troxler to close out the 444 room: his resume boasts some of the finest sets in electronic music, and his four-hour III Points gig proved no exception. He pumped up the pace from last night and gave the great dark room inside Mana Wynwood a feeling of being on Club Space's terrace. Thanks to the 444 sound system, you were close to the speakers, regardless of your coordination points. It was a bass lover's delight as every track Troxler dropped continued to pound the floor. Troxler stayed somewhere in the Goldilocks zone, playing nothing too dark or fizzy. He dropped tech-house sounds along with some clear nods to Chicago house that kept the crowd going and going. Troxler, however, adding his signature flare to avoid a sterilized DJ set, threw in tons of delay and reverb and raised and lowered the channel quickly before the drop. Only eight acts played 444 this year, but Troxler christened the room for next year. Grant Albert

Sara Landry

Who better to close the RC 95 stage than one of the biggest stars of the current hard techno scene, Ms. Sara Landry? The American DJ is fresh off her debut album, Spiritual Driveby, and boy, did she deliver her brand of creepy, hard-hitting techno like a pro. Dressed in a tight, leather one-piece and big black boots, which fit her aesthetic so well, Landry came out and drove the BPMs to "Great Scott!" levels. For more than an hour, she fed the audience's craving for hard techno remixes of tracks like Nickelback's "Rockstar" (yes, you read that correctly) and Charli XCX's "Guess," which was one of the sickest things you'll ever hear. Eventually, she started moving into album territory, making the crowd bounce with songs like "Play With Me" and the angelic yet haunting "Heaven." If you still had any energy left at this point, you used what remained to go wild during Landry's set, which is good because they really saved some of the best for last booking her to close the night off. Osvaldo Espino