URGE Miami Festival Returns To South Beach This Thanksgiving Weekend

URGE Miami Festival producers were forced to make a quick down-to-the-wire venue shuffle for this weekend's events but in South Beach, the party always goes on.

The popular LGBTQ+ festival weekend begins this Friday and runs through Monday with three massive nighttime events and three sizzling daytime fetes, featuring many of the world's most famous circuit DJs.

“After the massive success of last year’s Thanksgiving festival, we are excited to do it all over again, bigger and better than ever before,” says Hilton Wolman, who is producing URGE Miami Festival along with Luis Morera and Billy Kemp.

The revelry begins with Barcelona’s Matinee Group making its triumphant return to Miami with Matinee Pervert XXL. The party was originally planned to take place at M2 nightclub, the historic 35,000 square feet nightclub (formerly known as Paragon, Glam Slam, Level, Mansion, and Icon) that is being transformed with $10 million upgrades to its structure and its sound and lighting systems. However, on Sunday, M2 announced the venue would not be operational in time.

Producers have now moved the opening event to C Universal Studios, Miami's premier film studios and home to some of the biggest blockbusters on HBO Max and Netflix. DJ’s Tom Stephan and Alex Lo will take over the decks at C Universal Studios' largest sound stage. Matinee Group is promising a level of production seldom seen before and they are flying in some of the hottest dancers from Spain and Europe to keep the dance floor shaking into the wee morning hours.

At 2pm on Saturday is the Royal Palm South Beach pool party, presented by Eliad Cohen as part of the Papa World Tour. DJs Dan Slater and Paulo Fragoso will raise the temps with their high energy beats, making extensive use of the incredible facilities offered by Royal Palm. Expect plenty of wet and wild, splish and splashy fun and gorgeous men in skimpy bikinis.

The fun returns to C Universal Studios on Saturday night for the weekend’s main event, URGE Warrior. DJs Suri and Mauro Mozart will battle it out with incredible beats in a spectacular production, sure to amaze. It leads to the signature event of the weekend: the long-established Sunday Beach Party on the sands of South Beach.

The sandblast begins at 2pm with DJ’s Enrico Meloni from Italy and Joe Gauthreaux from the USA dropping the beats on the largest stage and dancefloor and most colossal VIP deck this event has seen before. Kidd Madonny and his company, 3DX, are building the decor for the party and like last year, it will incorporate URGE Miami Festival’s yellow and white retro resort and cabana influenced theme.

“Circuit fans come from all over the world to experience one of America’s biggest LGBTQ beach parties,” Wolman explains. “We will not disappoint.”

This year’s host hotel is the Royal Palm South Beach. With 400 rooms, more than a quarter of which are suites, the Royal Palm is one of South Beach’s largest hotels, superbly located directly on the beach on Collins at the end of Ocean Drive. It offers a superior experience and will serve as the location of URGE Miami Festival’s Welcome Center and Saturday Pool Party. Complimentary transportation will be provided from/to Royal Palm South Beach and C Universal Studios for the Friday and Saturday night events.

A portion of the proceeds from URGE Miami Festival will once again benefit Miami Beach Pride, a not-for-profit organization that works to unite members of the LGBTQ community by celebrating the unique spirit and culture of its people.

GA and VIP tickets for URGE Miami Festival are available on the website, as is the popular 24-hour pass that includes the Sunday Beach Party, Sunday night event and Monday morning after hours event.