Ultra Music Festival is always synonymous with epic festivals. They tour all around the world bringing the latest and best of the electronic dance music scene to massive events with amazing visual effects and sound. We’ve been hitting up UMF in Miami for years now and every year it seems to be bigger and better. This year we got a chance to get the full experience as press and were very impressed with how the whole weekend was put together.
If you’ve never been down to Miami for this festival definitely plan on going next year. It’s one of the best festivals in the United States hands down and always has an amazing line up. This year with over 200 artists and over 165,000 fans in attendance each weekend, Ultra definitely made their stamp on history. With all of the artists on the bill it was hard to get to experience it all so we’ll do our best to give you an overview of weekend two.
The Venue
This year the festival was help in Bayfront park, same as last year but Ultra really upped the anti and figured out how to really take advantage of the space they were given. Each stage had ample room for the crowds all except for the Ultra World Wide stage. Now don’t get us wrong, it was way better than last years tent setup being a huge half circle canopy but when it got crowded, it got super packed. Being in between the main stage and the Mega Structure (Carl Cox/ASOT Stage) it was not the place to be in between set changes. Other than the one stage, the rest of the venue was amazing. They figured out all the sound this year and there was little to no blending of the music from all the stages.
Live Stage
Every year the live stage is a token place to either hang out on the outskirts grabbing a bit to eat and a drink. Or to be right up in front jumping up and down to the live performances. This year we got a chance to catch Boys Noize and Pretty Lights play live. Each set left us speechless as the artists put on a live show of their many unique productions and remixes. Seeing the artist play live puts to rest any thoughts of push button DJs in the electronic music scene. It is great to see a dedicated area for live performances and should be a standard for EDM festivals.
Mega Structure (Carl Cox / A State of Trance)
When Ultra says Mega, they mean Mega. Each year they seem to out do themselves with this stage and this year was no exception. The whole area was massive. With a hard floor perfect for dancing and a more open concept that allowed fans to enter from all sides of the area it felt open while giving that clubby feeling. Huge platforms filled with lights were set on some sort of elevation system which were lowered and raised to the music. This was a brilliant addition which added that club feeling to the tent. As always the Mega structure was most definitely the best stage hands down.
Ultra World Wide
As we mentioned before it was a bit or a bad placement for this stage since during set changes it was a main highway for people moving to the next act. That being said, the setup was pretty damn spectacular. The tent was a half circle and had LED screens mounted to every portion of the cieling. Also had some wacky props hanging down which gave this stage a very unique experience. We got to see Nicky Romero, Hardwell, Knife Party and Bassnectar here. Each set had its own flare and the stage definitly propelled each performace to amazing heights. If Ultra would have plopped this tent in a more open area and it would have been even better.
Main Stage & Visuals
We were truly taken back by the excruciating detail that Ultra put into the main stage this year. With a huge Ultra logo on the top of the stage filled with lights and LED screens it was hard not to keep your eyes off of the visuals cranking out. In addition to the logo was huge LED screens on robotic arms that spun and twisted with the beat of the music. Two sets that really stood out for us were Eric Prydz and Deadmau5. During Eric Prydz the floor of the stage housed massive cube-like cylinders that pulsated up and down with the beat. Deadmau5 really stole the show with an epic closing of Saturday. The mau5’s head lit up with LEDs with different visual designs that constantly changed to the sound of the tracks.
The Vibe
Huge festivals like this always vary when it comes to the people that attend. Ultra Miami in particular draws people from all over the world so the crowd is super diverse which makes for an amazing experience. We did our usual rounds, talking to people and dancing around like maniacs and got to meet some pretty cool people. If you were crammed all the way up at the front of the main stage, as always it was tight, but all in all people were general courteous of each other which lead to an amazing vibe. Each stage had is own unique feel which made traveling around to see different acts exciting.
Food, Drinks & Booze
This year Ultra filled in the gaps where food and drinks were concerned. Might have had a little help from Red Bull and Heineken who had tons of different stations to get a red bull, water, beer or liquor drinks. We waited on no lines to get out drinks and that was a huge plus in our book. Food was amazing this year. Vendors sold everything from Gyros to Pizza to huge rotisserie turkey legs which made for a good laugh to see people chowing down on. All together the concessions were top notch quality and quantity wise.
The Music
About time I got the meat and potatoes, the music! If you haven’t been to Miami during Miami Music Week you really need to plan on going. So many artists in one place breeds new music, new collaborations and reveals of new tracks. Something about playing if front of 100,000+ people the DJs tend to let loose new productions and its a smorgasbord of EDM awesomeness. We got a chance to see a ton of artists, even got to experience the controversial Avicii set everyone was clamoring about. All in all new music was king and every artist dropped some amazing tunes. Some of our favorite moments where in some of the bigger stages but we took some time to chill out on some of the outskirt stages for some off the main stream beats.
Logistics
Sometimes getting into a festival can be a pain with long lines and security not moving people along fast enough. This wasn’t the case at Ultra this year. Getting into the festival was a snap and super fast. If you were staying in South Beach like we were, lots of cabs, limos and bus companies have learned to take advantage of the festival and provide $10 rides back to South Beach and there are a ton of them. Traveling to Ultra has never been so stress free.
Press Area
This year we got to experience the backstage of the festivals and had a photographer cataloging the event. It was an amazing opportunity to interview artists and organize our coverage. We got a chance to check out the huge yacht that was designated for press and was pretty damn amazing. Ultra is a huge undertaking and they take care of their workers with a full cafeteria and many other amenities for press and staff alike. It was inspiring to see the inter-workings of the festival and how well Ultra pulls it off.
Check out all our photos on Facebook
Conclusion
With the exception of the placement of the Ultra World Wide stage all in all the weekend was a complete success. The visuals on the stages were some of the best I’ve seen in the 12+ years we’ve been going to these festivals and parties. It was truly the best EDM Festival Experience we’ve had in years. We heard rumors that it will most likely be only one weekend next year, but regardless we are sure Ultra will knock it out of the park once again. Get your tickets early and definitely plan on going if you missed this year. We’ll see you there!