The 2019 Music is Art festival (MiA) was one for the record books. Even Mother Nature couldn’t hold up the show this year, even though she tried for a short spell. I would think that this year’s festival easily had the most attendance. It was also the most widespread, spilling over towards Ohio Street (along Ganson Street), and even across the river to RiverFest Park.
A spent a few hours at the festival, walking around with a couple from NYC, who moved away from Buffalo 15 years ago. They were in awe of the spectacles – the tiki boat taxis, touring the inside of the silos (curated by the Infringement Festival), the dance acts, the spectacular live music, and the sprawling grounds in general.
For years, MiA has been contending with venues, weather, and other issues. For the first time, from an outsider’s perspective, it appeared as if everything clicked. It was awesome to see. Throughout the say, the momentum continued to build – I recall seeing a traffic jam of cars around 6pm still attempting to get onto Kelly Island (Middle Harbor) to catch the action.
The best part about MiA this year was the performing talents, and the vast number of stages. From a lit disco floor with DJ John Ceglia (who spun at the hottest NYC discotheques back in the day) to Grosh (with Grace Lougen killing it on guitar solos) to the Mod Dance Studio flash mob at Madd Tatt2’s 716 Sideshow (see video above).
Photos below by Dimarco:
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Photos by Glenn Murray:
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Photos by Queenseyes:
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MiA had is all this year. It was reminiscent of a number of other coveted local festivals, all rolled into one. Robby Takac and his team should be proud that they battled it out throughout the years, to come to this point.