III Points opened its 13th edition in Miami on Friday, October 16, with a failure at the front gate. This year the festival introduced radio-frequency (RFID) wristbands. The scanner used to process them at will-call “experienced unexpected technical problems during will-call pickup, and caused delays in entry,” organisers said in an Instagram statement quoted by the Miami Herald. The Herald reported hours-long lines outside Mana Wynwood as rain fell on the site. By Saturday, III Points had moved affected general-admission ticket holders to emailed QR codes and changed how queues were managed.
Ahead of the weekend the festival was expecting about 40,000 fans each day, according to the Herald. That is an expected figure, not a confirmed attendance count.
What fans described
The most serious accounts come from attendees, not officials. In comments under III Points’ October 17 Instagram post, quoted by the Herald, one person wrote that she had “witnessed people get trampled, people passing out and crying because they couldn’t breathe.” Another, Daniel Cortés, wrote that he was unable to move for 40 minutes “with no staff members managing or controlling the situation,” and that he left the line after a four-hour wait.
These are individual social-media comments and BEZ has not independently verified them. At the time of writing we had found no official injury or medical figures, and no statements from Miami police or fire-rescue services. Miami New Times’ night-one review mentioned emergency carts moving through the grounds to help attendees, but gave no further detail.
The rain also reached the stages. The Herald described social media clips from the site. In those clips, the Herald said, Brazil-based DJ Roddy Lima holds up a pair of soaked headphones, and British DJ Ben Sterling pauses his main-stage set to tell the crowd the rain had damaged the deck.
What III Points changed for night two
The festival set out its fixes in a “Day 2 Update” on its official guide page. III Points sent a digital pass with a QR code to 2-Day GA and Saturday GA holders who had not received a wristband at will-call. It told fans whose wristbands had failed to scan on Friday, and who were let in after a visual check, to use the digital pass instead. GA+, VIP and VIP+ holders still collected tickets at will-call.
III Points says it added staff, scan points and ticket lanes. It also says it removed restrooms and other infrastructure from the main entrance area to make room for queues. It says it placed staff at the north and south ends of NW 6th Avenue to direct people to the right line.
It asked ticket holders who did not get in on Friday to email info@iiipoints.com with their order numbers. The festival says it is “actively processing and responding to all refund requests.” It has not said how many fans were affected, how many have asked for refunds, or whether every affected buyer will be refunded in full. The same guide page still lists “no refunds or exchanges” among its standard festival policies.
Saturday appeared to run more smoothly, the Herald reported, with fans passing through admission and security without problems. Miami New Times’ night-two review said the festival “keeps growing, sometimes faster than its infrastructure can keep up.” The same review noted that Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes paused his set when someone in the crowd appeared to need medical attention.
When the gate is the weak point
Chip wristbands are now common at large festivals because they promise faster entry and fewer fake tickets. Friday showed the risk built into that system. If the reader at will-call stops working, everyone who still needs to collect a wristband ends up in the same queue. On Friday that queue stood in the rain.
The bigger question for III Points: the site
The weekend may be one of the last at III Points’ long-time home. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin bought Mana Wynwood for about $1.1 billion and is donating the land for a new Carnegie Mellon University campus, the Herald reported on October 6. A Mana Wynwood spokesperson told the paper the venue will operate through the end of 2027. Campus construction is expected to begin next year, with first students in 2028. “III Points is ever-evolving, and planning for 2027 is underway,” founder David Sinopoli told the Herald. He did not say where.
What to watch
Four questions remain open: how many ticket holders missed night one, how the festival is handling refunds, what will change at the gates for 2027, and where III Points goes after Mana Wynwood. Meanwhile, the festival’s Satellite programme continues with a closing marathon of more than 33 hours on the Terrace at Club Space in Downtown Miami, running from Sunday, October 18 to Tuesday, October 20. The bill announced in August includes Honey Dijon, Marco Carola, Seth Troxler and Tiga, according to Electronic Groove.
