ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL wrapped this past weekend (March 22-24) as its most successful year yet. Over 330,000 electronic music enthusiasts descended upon downtown Miami's Bayfront Park to attend the massive event which took place for the first time in its 15 year history over two weekends: March 15-17 and 22-24. ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL will return next year March 28, 29 and 30, 2014.
Each of the six days were streamed live over the internet via UMF TV reaching over 10,000,000 viewers, making it the largest viewed festival event in the U.S. to date. Over 200 of the world's leading DJs and electronic musicians as well as emerging artists participated each weekend.
It wouldn't be ULTRA without special guests. This year Avicii debuted material from his upcoming new album. Wrote Alexei Baranuevo of the New York Times (3/25/12), "In a preview of his as-yet-untitled debut album, due this summer, Avicii shared the stage with the country and bluegrass artists Mac Davis, Audra Mae and Dan Tyminski, as well as three members of the alternative band Incubus [Mike Einziger, Jose Pasillas, Ben Kenney]. It was a set unlike any other at Ultra, which spanned two weekends this year for the first time, featuring seven stages and more than 200 D.J.s." Aloe Blacc also joined the performance.
There was also iconic, Grammy-winning guitarist Slash who along with Betatraxx joined Chuckie during his main stage set for a performance of their collaboration "Rocktronica." Wrote Katie Morse of Billboard (3/23/13), "Chuckie hopes that this collaboration will spawn a new sound and says that he would love to 'take it all over the world with Slash.'" Martin Solveig was joined by indie-pop singer Kyle for the debut of "Hey Now."
Another highlight of the festival was the final show from Swedish House Mafia. Wrote Joshua Erenstein and Matthew Spitz of USA Today (3/25/13), "As fans have come to expect from a
Swedish House Mafia show, mind-numbing lighting and laser effects, dynamic visuals displayed across massive LED screens, pyrotechnic displays from the band's beloved "Pyro Pete" and a fireworks finale kept downtown Miami alight for as far as the eye could see. During the waning moments of the show, Axwell grabbed the microphone and asked, 'Can we have the last dance with you?' The crowd responded with one last burst of energy as the band's finale, 'Save the World' (feat. John Martin), rocked downtown Miami. 'Miami is where it all started,' proclaimed Axwell. Now Miami is where it has ended for Steve Angello, Axwell, and Sebastian Ingrosso... for now."
Other critical quotes for ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL include:
"Getting one's head around the entirety of Miami's Ultra Music Festival is nigh impossible - and not just because this year, its 15th, the festival has expanded, Coachella-style, to two consecutive weekends with largely the same lineup. For one thing, Ultra has seven stages going at once (to say nothing of numerous after-parties at Miami's clubs); for another, while big, banging EDM was the clear order of the day, the sheer variety of DJs and live performers defied any attempt at too neatly cohesive a narrative." - Michaelangelo Matos, ROLLING STONE (3/18/13)
"The event attracts the world's top DJs and producers, along with an expected 330,000 fans, mostly young people looking for a brief respite...The festival is set up at Bayfront Park in the middle of downtown. Festivalgoers can go from one stage to another, the lights of the city beaming nearby. It's visually spectacular, and the crowd is a spectacle." - Christine Amario, MIAMI HERALD/NY DAILY NEWS/ASSOCIATED PRESS (3/16/13)
"New tracks were sampled, a Trap tent was born and every genre under the EDM umbrella was heard." - Sarah Harper, MTV (3/25/13)
"...UMF still definitely packs enough blips, bass and breaks to make any dance music fan squeal with excitement." - Jose Duran, MIAMI NEW TIMES (3/14/13)
"Ultra Music Festival celebrated its 15th annual edition by expanding over two three-day weekends (a la Coachella) making it the largest electronic music festival in the US and the only one in the world to take place over two weekends. Acts included some of the world's biggest EDM names such as Tiësto, Armin Van Buuren, David Guetta, Deadmau5,
Calvin Harris to non dance music artist like
Snoop Dogg and Yesayer. Overlooking the breathtaking downtown Miami skyline and marina at Bayfront Park, the festival brought over 165,000 dance music fans (March 22-24) from all over the world - literally. The sea of participants adorned flags, shirts, hats and everything you could imagine to represent their hometowns, states and countries." - Alejandra Loera, OC WEEKLY (3/26/13)
"If you want to find a happy place, may we suggest Ultra Music Festival? There's nary a frown at the whirling neon EDM bacchanal, which just concluded its first of two consecutive weekend takeovers of Miami's Biscayne Boulevard and Bayfront Park with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Kaskade, and Richie Hawtin...what's even more striking than the fashion -- or at least comes close -- is how well-run the festival is. Ultra has seven stages, dozens of major acts to juggle at any one time, more than 100,000 attendees, and a small village's worth of bathrooms, venders, carts, tents, and security. But the festival, in its 15th year, is a marvel of organization and runs incredibly smoothly, especially considering its tight footprint Downtown." -Janie Campbell, THE HUFFINGTON POST (3/18/13)
"The party continued as Ultra Music Festival saw its fifth day of mayhem yesterday, delivering another sun-kissed day of dance music in the Miami heat. Officially the most ticketed event in the history of ticketed events, Ultra continues to impress with its massive lineup, special sets, and only-at-Ultra moments." - Dylan Farella, DANCING ASTRONAUT (3/24/13)
"ULTRA didn't disappoint when it came to the visuals, the sounds, the mechanical contraptions which seemed to be the creation of some mad scientist or extraterrestrial. Everything was thought out thoroughly, placement of various stages and various amenities was flawless." - Paloma Hsu, OKAYFUTURE (March 2013)
About ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL
As the world's most famous outdoor electronic music festival, ULTRA has won "Best Music Event" by the International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) six consecutive years, from 2005 to 2011, "Best International Dance Music Festival" by the Ibiza DJ Awards in 2008 and "Best Festival" by the Village Voice Media New Times consecutively five years running from 2005 through 2009. Originally created as a pure EDM (electronic dance music) festival in 1999, ULTRA has grown through the years to present not only the genre's hottest, biggest and best headline artists (The Prodigy, Swedish House Mafia, The Chemical Brothers, Tiësto, David Guetta, deadmau5, Underworld, Kraftwerk, Armin van Buuren, Moby, Fatboy Slim, Justice,
Carl Cox and Avicii to name a few), but also crossover headline bands that incorporate EDM elements in their music and have a history or new beginning in the EDM community and culture (The Cure, The Killers, New Order, Duran Duran, The Black Eyed Peas, Erasure, M83, Santigold, The Ting Tings, Cut Copy,
Empire of the Sun and Bloc Party). In 2012, global pop icon
Madonna appeared as a special surprise guest-the festival's gift to their fans-to introduce the main stage final headlining artist AVICII, joining him behind the decks to premiere his UMF remix of her new single "Girl Gone Wild."
The year also was the subject of CAN U FEEL IT, a major documentary feature about the festival, which was shown in over 500 theatres nation-wide. Together with its signature, cutting-edge productions, ULTRA is unrivalled by consistently presenting the world's greatest, most diverse EDM line-ups year after year. In 2013, as it celebrated its 15 year anniversary, ULTRA became the first major EDM festival in the world to expand to two weekends: March 15, 16 and 17 and March 22, 23 and 24. Both weekends sold out with a combined total of over 330,000 people in attendance from 95 countries, breaking the festival's previous record. A global brand, ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL takes place in Miami, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ibiza and Korea, expanding into Europe with ULTRA EUROPE July 2013 in Croatia.
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Photo credit: Anthony Nunez
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