By: Jacob Neil
I had wanted to go to Ultra since 2014, when some of my best friends went and I watched the livestream from home. It looked like an amazing time, and I decided I was going to start planning for when I could have my first Ultra experience. After almost going in 2017 but lacking the money, I decided to wait and continue to save up to be able to go for the 20th anniversary for my first time, and it was well worth the wait.
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival takes place as the forefront of Miami Music week every year in March. It is held in the middle of Bayfront Park in Miami, with the skyscrapers overshadowing one side of the festival and the beach to the other. It is known for being one of the biggest international festivals in the world, as you travel through the festival you will see flags from almost every major country. It is a three day festival that goes from Friday to Sunday, but Miami Music Week really starts the Sunday before and there are shows every night and after-parties every night of the week.
Tips for Travel & Hotels
Making the trip to Ultra takes a lot of planning upfront. Coming from Arizona, I booked my plane tickets in December, as that is when prices are generally the lowest. Flying into Ft. Lauderdale proved to be the cheapest option, and they offer a train the takes you from that airport to the Miami airport for a very low cost. If you want to stay within a budget, I would recommend finding an AirBnB or hotel close to the Miami airport, as you can take the train into downtown every day and it is much cheaper than staying in any hotels in downtown Miami. You will spend a decent amount of money on Lyfts or Ubers, but the price difference between that and the premier hotels is worth it.
Miami Music Week
Miami Music Week is half of the reason to go to Ultra. Every night there are amazing shows curated by labels or artists. If you arrive early you can go to shows every night leading up to Ultra and after parties every night of Ultra. The city really transforms and adapts around Ultra during this week, and the music and energy is off the charts.
What I Wore
I am pretty simple and don’t plan too much when it comes to what I wear to festivals, if it’s an Insomniac event or something that has more heady music I will rock a pashmina with any merch shirt and merch shorts or just cool rave shorts. Ultra is not that kind of vibe, I would argue it is the festival with the most “Plur vibes” of any festival I have been to, so I stuck to a Rezz shirt day 1 with rave shorts (and I bought an Ultra jersey and wore it for the rest of the weekend). Day 2 I went with my EDC 2016 lineup shirt, the jersey and some different rave shorts. And Day 3 I went with my Relentless Beats shirt (to rep AZ in Florida), with the jersey, and shorts again. I also wore Kandi every day, this is definitely a Kandi festival, and you see incredible perlers left and right. Overall, I generally keep what I wear pretty simple, but with emphasis on either an artist I am seeing that day or festivals I have been to in the past. The attire there definitely had a plur and ravey vibe to it, with colorful outfits and if you have ever watched the Tomorrowland livestream it is similar to that.
Day 0
I flew out from Phoenix Wednesday night and arrived in Miami Thursday morning. After arriving at our AirBnB, one of my two groups (the Air BnB I was at) took a quick nap, then woke up and immediately headed to Zeds Dead’s “Deadbeats goes off the Deep End”. This show took place at the Soho Warehouse, and has a similar vibe to the warehouse at Rawhide (for all you AZ ravers). This was an amazing show that opened with Eprom b2b Zeke beats, followed by Zeds Dead b2b Jauz for an amazing throwback dubstep set where they played mostly Jauz’s originals and all old Zeds Dead and old dubstep from that era, and closed with 12th planet b2b Ghastly. The beauty of Miami Music Week is we had four different shows to choose from that night even before Ultra had started. My other group decided to go to Above and Beyond’s Group Therapy, which had a 2 hour A&B set with Seven Lions opening.
Day 1
After the show Thursday night, my group got up at 10 AM Friday to prepare for the first day of Ultra. I had heard the line is insane to get in the first day, as there is only one entrance into Ultra. Ultra opens at 12 pm every day, so we got there early. The energy was unreal as we walked in and all around you could see different people from all countries all prepared to enter the gates. It was beautiful weather and the atmosphere and energy was completely different and unlike anything I had been to on the West Coast. Music highlights from Day 1 were Nghtmre and Slander’s Gud Vibrations set at the Worldwide Stage (filled with amazing trap and dubstep, and they brought out Wavedash to perform their new collab with Slander), Rezz at the Worldwide Stage (bringing her signature unique music), and Virtual Self at the live stage (a beautiful combination of a true visual and musical experience). Other amazing sets to note were Oliver Heldens and Hardwell at mainstage. Ultra goes from 12PM to 12 AM every day, but after the first day my group decided to go to an afterparty at the Soho warehouse to see Malaa and Rezz. Malaa’s set was unreal, as he brought out all the Pardon my French members (DJ Snake, Tchami, and Mercer) for the last 20 minutes to do a back to back that will forever be unforgettable. Rezz’s hour and a half set after was my favorite Rezz set I have ever seen, as she premiered most of her new album that came out in August, A Certain Kind of Magic.
Day 2
I was super excited for Day 2, as Brownies and Lemonade had a complete takeover of UMF Radio stage. My group got to the stage very early, and they filtered in and out between seeing sets at other stages. As a huge Brownies and Lemonade fan and fan of all the artists they brought out, I stayed for five sets (Cray, Quix b2b Wuki, Krane, Manila Killa, Ekali) in a row to start off the day. Manila Killa and Ekali were some of my favorite sets from the day, both brought amazing energy to their sets and Ekali for the sunset set was absolutely unreal. After my Brownies and Lemonade experience, I closed out the day with seeing some Tiesto, Benny Benassi, Carl Cox, and closing with the Tchami and Malaa No Redemption set. I have always been a fan of house music, but this set made me appreciate and respect house music even more, and both my groups linked up to form an unforgettable experience.
Day 3
Day 3 was a top three day for me ever at a festival. Every set just blew me away, and I got to fully immerse myself in my favorite stage at any music festival I’ve attended, the Carl Cox Resistance Stage. The resistance stage had a full ASOT takeover, and it was absolutely amazing. I started off the day at the Resistance Stage, by seeing Paul Oakenfold, a legend I have been listening to since middle school I never thought I would have the chance to see. I followed that up by seeing Vini Vici, a complete psytrance set that absolutely blew my mind. Right after that I saw the first hour and a half of Armin Van Burren’s two hour ASOT set, which was beautiful. The way the resistance stage’s visuals are to go in line with trance music is incredible.
I followed that set up by leaving a little early to go to Kaskade’s mainstage set, which was by far the best Kaskade set I had ever seen in my life. When he played I Remember and said this was the ten year anniversary of the song that really hit me because I remember listening to that when it first came out. After that we went right back for a top five set I have ever seen and my favorite set of the weekend, Eric Prydz’s set at the resistance stage. The resistance stage has the most insane visuals and screens to support his holograms and truly put on the full Eric Prydz experience. On top of that, the ceiling literally moves up and down and rotates at the resistance stage, which just added to the awe of the whole experience. His closing with Pjanoo was beautiful, and it is one of the few sets I have been at where I truly could not look away from everything happening visually in front of me. There is a great quality video of his set on Youtube, and I highly recommend you watch some of it and just see the how incredible the visuals and lasers were throughout it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OWRqKevUAE, 45:45, 54:45, and 1:06:45 are some of my personal favorites).
Finally, we closed with a truly unforgettable memory, the Swedish House Mafia reunion at mainstage. I have never seen so many people at one stage in my entire life; the crowd went all the way to the bathrooms in the far back and was the tightest crowd I have ever been in. Experiencing the songs I have been listening to since middle school was truly an unforgettable experience and everywhere I looked I could see flags and people from every country.
Ultra Experience
Overall, Ultra exceeded the expectations of a festival I had wanted to go to for four years. Being at the 20th anniversary was truly special. It is unlike any other festival I have been to, and has a completely different vibe from Hard, Insomniac and Relentless events. Coupled with the Miami Music Week experience, it is truly amazing. If you have considered going to Ultra, I would highly recommend doing it. Even if you can’t do it this year, plan ahead and set aside funds just for that trip over the course of two years like I did, it is 100% worth every penny. All in all, I would highly recommend Ultra to anyone considering attending.
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