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| Laidback Luke - Photo Credit: Julia Rickert |
Located in the heart of downtown Miami, the sold-out, all-electronic spectacle that is Ultra Music Festival featured the world’s greatest DJs, electronic bands and for the first time, a third day.
The festival grounds closed at midnight each night, leading to a leakage of attendees onto South Beach’s strip for after-parties – both official and spontaneous – all weekend. In some cities, this could have been a hindrance, but in beautiful Southern Florida, the unexpected benefits were plentiful, as the city was bumping through the early morning.
[FIND complete lineups, ticketing information and analysis of upcoming festivals on our 2011 Festival Guide.]
And with no muddy tents to be seen, you could sleep off the wild days within the comforts of a hotel room, the couch (or even floor) of your friend’s apartment or if the cops decided not to bother you, the gorgeous sandy beaches.
Ultra was truly the best party in the world this past weekend and everyone knew they were part of something special.
[DOWNLOAD more pictures and videos from Ultra on the festival's website.]
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Day 1 – Friday, March 25
The festivities began at 4:00 p.m. as fans rolled in from dozens of countries decked out in glitter and glow sticks, harnessing an unspoken bond of anticipation.
On the Main Stage, Fedde Le Grand started things off right in the early evening with some Dutch-style house music, followed by Miami veteran and fan-favorite, Benny Benassi who dropped two impressive dubstep tracks during his set in addition to his classics.
[FIND tour dates, downloads and news on Benny Benassi's official website.]
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| Photo Credit: Julia Rickert |
After Benassi, I explored the Carl Cox and Friends Arena, an oval-shaped tent with Sherwood Forest-esque ornaments, bouncing lights and strobes. The DJ booth was shaped like a crystal diamond with vibrant colors – truly a visual masterpiece.
I caught some of Laurent Garnier’s four-hour set and was pleasantly surprised by the music. The energy in the tent contributed to the experience as sweat glistened off of a couple thousand fans during the midday rave.
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By this time, the park was packed and for the first time I felt almost claustrophobic. There were about 50,000 people headed in every direction making it difficult to stay with your crew. The fact that cell phone service was spotty contributed to my frustration. Thankfully, this seemed to improve as the weekend progressed.
Avicii played his first set of three in the UMF Korea Tent, a sphere-shaped dome where the DJ booth was enclosed in the middle of a multi-screen, wall-sized visualizer. The dome’s floor was covered in gravel, which seemed like a good idea but only hindered dance moves as I – and others – were forced to lean on others’ shoulders from time to time to empty rocks from my shoes.
The evening came swiftly and we got our first dose of top-billed headliner action at Ultra.
Tiësto, currently ranked the number two DJ in the world by DJ Magazine, took the Main Stage and hypnotized the crowd. The former best DJ in the world, truly defines trance music – especially live – when he mesmerizes audiences with swirling ambience and teases the beat drops. “Century” was epitomized this perfectly.
[FIND tour dates, downloads and news on Tiësto official website.]
On the Live Stage livetronica quintet STS9 played from to close out the first night. This was the band’s first performance since Mayan Holidaze earlier this year due to bassist David Murphy’s January cancer diagnosis. He has since undergone surgery and is in good shape as he continues to recover.
Murph was hairless, but that did not stop him from tearing up the stage and closing out the night in outstanding fashion.
[DISCUSS STS9 and other bands on our message boards.]
The set was predictable with many of their most popular electronic songs – like “EHM” and “The Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature” – but they also dropped some old favorites like “Rent” and “Evasive Maneuvers.” Their two newest tracks, “When The Dust Settles” and “Scheme,” which debuted over the New Year’s Eve run, opened the set.
Lighting designer Saxton Waller was on-point as usual. The beautiful stage lights and swinging lasers made the set extra special.
[READ Headstash Magazine's interview with Waller from last year.]
The Live Stage, nestled deep within the grounds, had the best atmosphere and was where most of the livetronica fans gathered to experience soothing light shows.
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Day 2 – Saturday, March 26
Skrillex - Photo Credit: Julia Rickert
The park opened at noon, but most fans, still recovering from Friday, rolled in around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., missing energetic sets from Conspirator and Eclectic Method. Because this day had a jam-packed 12 hours of music, fans had to be strategic in order to catch all the amazing acts.
[READ Headstash Magazine's review of Conspirator's performance in New York City.]
On the Carl Cox Stage, Afrojack premiered a new single and sampled some Daft Punk during the first of his two sets that day.
Next came Avicii’s best set of the weekend on the Main Stage. At the same time on the Live Stage, Skrillex was tearing up some dirty dubstep remixes and premiered a couple of new tracks.
Kaskade was next on the Main Stage and during his set released about a hundred large white balloons.
The balloons, along with a ton of pent up anticipation, carried over into Armin Van Buuren’s set. Everyone was excited for the current number one DJ’s set and rightfully so. His mix of electro and trance was impossible not to dance to. I couldn’t help but stick around for his entire performance. I was never a huge fan of Van Buuren, but at this point in the festival I was convinced that he had stole the show.
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Continue reading for a review of Cut Copy, Empire of the Sun, Deadmau5, The Disco Biscuits, The Glitch Mob and The Chemical Brothers.
