Ultra Music Festival : Miami, Florida

It’s been almost two weeks since Ultra has been over, but the emotions that this festival left on us have still not gone away.

Before getting into the review, we have to start by saluting the team behind making Ultra Music Festival happen this year. The way they matched the expectations of so many people was simply unbelievable.

Here is a quick overview of the bigger picture – Firstly, this was a huge occasion for them as Ultra was turning 15 (yes, that’s right 15!) this March. Then you also had 200 of the world’s top DJ’s and artists performing at such a massive platform. Finally, there was this enormous task of giving over 150,000 fans from across the world a show to remember.

Over the course of three days, we can easily assure everybody that team Ultra put on a show that proved one fact – there can only be one place like Ultra Music Festival!

Day 1 (March 22^nd)

Team Bangin Beats arrived at the beautiful location of Bayfront Park where we checked in through the press area. After getting familiar with the layout of the venue, we were very keen to check out the uniqueness of the various Ultra stages. The music is something that surely defines Ultra but the production and the set up are some of the biggest you would ever see at a music festival

Just as we entered, the amazing Live Stage greeted us. This stage had a typical amphitheater look about it. We were impressed by the old school nature of this set up as it literally made the crowd feel like they were right up close to the artist performing.

As soon as we turned to our right and pushed through a crowd of people, we saw the super Afrojack raising the bar while performing at the UMF Radio Stage. Enormous LED’s were spread all across and there was a big UMF Radio box connected on the side. Their job was to ensure the smooth streaming of all the DJ’s set’s being played on their side.

Before we even knew it, the legendary Eric Prydz’s set time was coming up and we rushed our way across to make sure we caught him playing live. The super Swede made his return to Ultra and had the crowd going wild to his tracks. My pick of his set was the crowd repeating “Allein” when he was finishing up his set with this track.

Just as Eric Prydz was finishing up, it was the turn of another Swede sensation to take up the decks in some time. Avicii stepped in to premiere his new album with a very unorthodox performance. Instead of sticking to the conventional style of doing his usual mixing and premiering new tracks, he brought on country artists like Mac Davis, Audra Mae and Dan Tyminski to sing along on a couple of his upcoming tracks as part of this album.

There was some backlash towards this set and Avicii responded by giving in reasons on why he chose to premiere his new album in this manner

The closing act of Day 1 came with the Dutch maestro Tiesto taking over. For someone who has been playing at every Ultra since it’s inception, it was only fitting that Tiesto was given the honor of playing the last set. His set was what a typical Tiesto set is all about – making the crowd jump, amazing visuals and finally his best friends joining him on stage. My pick from Tiesto’s set was his new ID with Dyro, his remix of Zedd’s “Clarity” and finally his remix of Calvin Harris’s “Sweet Nothing”.

We also managed to catch up with Tiesto’s fellow Dutch mates Hardwell, Dannic and Dyro backstage and all of us managed to agree on one thing – Tijs just knows what it takes to get the best of a crowd!

Fireworks light up the sky and with that Day 1 came out to an end

Day 2 (March 23^rd)

This day had so many super acts in store for all of us. Deadmau5 would finally be making his return to the Ultra main stage. We also had the likes of Calvin Harris, Carl Cox, 12^th Planet, and Krewella taking over on the other stages as well.

We started the day by checking out the Ultra Worldwide stage. This stage had a very unique set up. It came across as a rainbow/semi circle type of a shape and gave the artist performing a pure vertical view of the crowd in front of them. Just as we entered, we saw Bassnectar dropping some solid bass for the crowd. His new upcoming ID with Excision got a super response.

*Watch in 720p*

Next up for us was the Bayfront Stage. This stage had two huge Ultra logos on either side with an elevated stage set up in the middle. I loved the fact that instead of restricting upcoming artists to a smaller set up, team Ultra did the opposite by giving them an opportunity to perform in such a massive setting. The Bayfront Stage had artists like Joris Voorn, Tiga and Robert Dietz bringing in their own style of music to the party that was Ultra 15.

Moving along and on our way to the Eco Village stage we stopped by the artist lounge where we bumped into our friends – Sick Individuals. The boys decided to join us as we reached the Eco Village stage just in time for Nari and Milani to take over. Some tracks will always be special at festivals and their track “Atom” is right up there in this list. The atmosphere around the stage was simply special when they dropped it.

A couple of other acts took place during the day that simply blew us away. Laidback Luke on the main stage was brilliant. The dynamic duo of Dmitri Vegas and Like Mike joined him on stage to premiere their new collaboration as well.

Calvin Harris started the evening session with a bang. All of his monster hits like “We Found Love”, “Sweet Nothing” and “Feel So Close” gave the crowd exactly what they wanted – to sing and to dance.

Finally, the mighty Deadmau5 stepped in to close out Day 2 with his amazing cube all lit up. Sticking to his own tracks only, Joel brought back the sweet memories by playing “Raise Your Weapon”, “Some Chords” and “Ghosts N Stuff”. My pick of the entire set or in fact the entire day was when the last track “The Veldt” was played.

The view of the entire crowd bowing down and acknowledging this true EDM genius was superb!

Joel took of his helmet and came down to thank the crowd for coming in. Day 2 came to an end and boy we couldn’t wait for Day3!

Day 3 (March 24^th)

Here it is then. It all comes down to this. As Axwell would say about 8 hours later, it felt like the “last day of school”.

Just as we entered Day 3 of this festival there was a mixed feeling in the air. Some were just so excited about A State Of Trance 600. Then there were those who felt nostalgic on seeing the last ever show of the Swedish House Mafia.

First up we checked out the massive Mega Structure that was hosting the Episode 600 of A State of Trance. After the main stage, this stage could easily be considered the best in terms of it’s entire set up. The solid stage structure makes you feel that you are part of a different festival all together. Huge blocks in the roof that resemble a honeybee cave are filled with amazing LED screens.

The response for ASOT 600 in India was excellent so naturally our excitement for the Miami Episode was really high. Overall, Armin and his team did a fantastic job in terms of both the production and the quality of music.

Our pick of the lot was Above and Beyond who were simply exceptional. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed some of their classics like “Alchemy”, “Thing Called Love” and “Sun and Moon”. The boys laid a perfect foundation for Armin who simply blew the crowd over.

Next up for us with the super main stage. Unlike in the previous years, Team Ultra reinvented the look of the stage with a big “U” from the Ultra logo hanging in the middle and giving the stage a triangular shape overall. Another interesting thing to note in the main stage were the revolving robotic hands on either side of the DJ console. They essentially kept moving upwards, downwards and sideways in the middle of the DJ’s sets.

We entered just at the right time when the young Swedish superstar Alesso was taking over the main stage. Once again, being one of the favorites of the Swedish House Mafia, it was also fitting that Alesso got the opportunity to play just before their last ever show. In an interview with Billboard recently, he admitted that there is a little bit of pressure on him to perform since technically this is his first UMF (he had being playing at Masquerade Motel with the SHM team for all these years)

All in all, he did bring on one hell of a show. Alesso’s set was full of his typical progressive house sounds and with a touch of some excellent mash-ups blended in as well. My pick of his set goes to his mix of “Sweet Nothing” and “Superlove”. He finished up his set by premiering his remix of One Republic’s “If I Lose Myself” to the Miami crowd.

After Alesso, it was the turn of the Swedish House Mafia to say a final good bye to all of their fans. As they walked up to their elevated booth, the legendary Pete Tong walked out to the front of the stage and made a short thank you speech to the crowd.

What followed after that was one and a half hours of some of the best music we have heard from these three Swedes. Leaving aside the usual, there were three moments during their set that will always be special for me.

The first one being when they made the Miami crowd sing “Miami To Ibiza” together with them. The second one being the last ever Swedish House Mafia sit down while playing “Don’t You Worry Child”. Finally, the moment that perhaps we would all cherish – Axwell asking the crowd “Can we save the world for one last time?” and bringing out John Martin to sing “Save The World” with the entire crowd.

Fireworks were up again and with that note the Swedish House Mafia team thanked everyone for making this trip to Ultra Music Festival!

Overall, the 15^th edition of Ultra gave us a show that we will remember for a long time. There were new tracks, album releases, unbelievable sound and lighting.

Not only is UMF the first biggest festival of the year in terms of music but essentially it is an amalgamation of dance music in its purest form. I say this only because there has to be some valid reason when you have the biggest and the best names in dance music come together for all the fans.

To finish things up, I leave you with my top three tracks that dominated almost every DJ’s set on this amazing weekend. You could easily hear them being played on every stage.