After making history with back to back weekends in 2013, Ultra Music Festival looks for a strong return in 2014. Expected to be “the fastest sell out in the event’s history,” Ultra will be letting loose early bird tickets on Tuesday, May 21st at 1pm. Tickets will start at $149, but remember, early bird tickets sold out in less than five minutes last year. UMF 2014 will stretch from March 28th to March 30th with no early signs of a second weekend.
His latest record, a remix for OneRepublic’s “If I Lose Myself,” has dominated April and will continue to own the summer. It all started weeks before its release, at Ultra Music Festival’s main stage, where Alesso gave Miami the final set before Swedish House Mafia closed their curtains. Providing the appropriate visuals, Alesso recaps his Miami Music Week for the music video. Filmed and edited by usual videographer for the Swedes, Henrik Hanson, the video portrays the maturity of the young star during a pivotal week in his career.
Playing “the best gig of his life“ at Ultra Music Festival and hosting his Revealed showcase at Mansion, Hardwell is coming off a Miami Music Week that will be long remembered. One month following the mayhem, he relives the mega-week in South Beach and shares his official aftermovie to immortalize the memories. Sharing the same name with his forthcoming Dyro collaboration, “Never Say Goodbye” is an emotional look inside the Hardwell experience at Ultra Music Festival 2013.
Last month, David Guetta took Ultra Music Festival‘s main stage and outed a set that went overlooked despite its global live stream. Rather than a strictly mainstream set that most would have predicted, he offered a compromise between popular tracks, his own material, and unexpected drops. Thumping remixes of “Play Hard” set the tone for his big room presentation and was followed by unreleased edits with a splash of the festivals biggest anthems.
As a thank you to fans and a celebration of the greatest moments from this year’s festival, Ultra Music Festival has released a 4-minute montage of the largest UMF in its 15 year history. This could be one of the most well-done recap videos we’ve ever seen. Stay tuned for June and Ultra15′s official aftermovie.
In its 15 year history Ultra Music Festival has grown from a small beach party to a dance music behemoth, invading Miami’s Bayfront Park for six days this year – making it the first electronic music festival to ever expand to two weekends. After 6 days and over 75 hours of sun kissed beats in in downtown Miami, our coverage of the most ticketed event in the history of ticketed events has finally come to an end. From Avicii’s album debut to Hardwell’s unbelievable performance, there was no shortage of once-in-a-lifetime, only-at-Ultra moments. Swedish House Mafia closed the door on their storied legacy, ASOT600 delivered 11-hours of trance bliss, Carl Cox returned as the headmaster of his own arena and deadmau5 was joined on stage by a cross-dressing Zedd. In Ultra’s 6 days, over 200 artists transformed the quiet park in downtown Miami into a menagerie of neon and bass. Dance-obsessed fans from all walks of life joined together to celebrate in the Florida sun, all eager to play their part in dance music history. This is what went down.
Long-haired, enigmatic, and outspoken, Tommie Sunshine has been a presence in dance music for over a decade, fostering young talent and establishing himself as a tastemaker in the industry. His Ultra Music performance on Day 2 of the first weekend – much like his Axis mix – was a showcase of countless unreleased tracks and debuts from TJR, Mt. Eden, Alvaro, Showtek, and of course, the man himself. Tommie keeps things bouncy and care-free in his hour set, delivering 14 tracks of blistering electro designed specifically for keeping energy levels high and crowds entranced. One such debut during the mix was Dave Silcox’s remix of “Cool Without You,” a rendition that leaves no room for subtlety, stripping the melody from the original and replacing it with breakneck drum fills, twisted vocals and a blaring siren-filled break.
Listen and download Tommie’s set and Dave Silcox’s remix after the break. (more…)
In place of our normal weekly Editors’ Selections, we decided we’d share with you our staff’s greatest memories of Miami Music Week 2013. We were on the ground at Ultra both weekends, all over pool decks, rooftops, yachts, buses, clubs, and cabanas — trying to soak in as many experiences (and DJ sets) as we possibly could. Everyone had that magic moment, that one thing they’ll be able to recall twenty years down the line. Read on to relive with us.
Avicii made a splash at Ultra Music Festival last weekend when he brought a slew of live musicians to the main stage to perform music from his forthcoming album. Of those artists were country legend Mac Davis, Incubus members Mike Einziger, Ben Kenney, and Jose Pasillis II. This was no a random festival charade — these were the artists (among Nile Rodgers and Mike Shinoda) that have contributed to the album’s production. In a recent interview with KROQ, Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger opens up about his experience working with Avicii in the studio, joining him at Ultra last weekend, and the negative feedback from their performance
It was a festival within the festival. Major Lazer came suited in tuxedos, but with no intentions to keep their performance formal. While Ultra’s live stage is one that remains shy for most of the weekend, the amphitheater packed out for Diplo and company, anxious for the music, but more the experience. The squad became their own electronic version of Barnum & Bailey, pulling out all the circus tricks in the book — only without a ring of fire or a red foam nose. The spectacle was like nothing that had been displayed throughout both weekends — not at Carl Cox’s arena, not at Armin’s, not even at the Main Stage.
