It’s hard to imagine how the founders of Miami Beach envisioned their island paradise a century in the future. It’s unlikely that they foresaw Miami Beach residents in 2015 using selfie sticks or drones. They also probably could not see Flo Rida coming. But Flo, along with fellow 305 superstar…
Much like music, noise is everywhere. “People are so used to listening to noise that they’ll sit for hours and see it [on film],” Frank Falestra AKA Rat Bastard claims. “Take away the picture, and it’s just noise.” Sitting in the living room of his South Beach apartment-turned-recording studio, the…
The 305’s Telekinetic Walrus and the Pride of Ions may have started their Magic City voyage in 2009. But according to legend, their journey actually began galaxies away and eons ago when the Prime Primordial Walrus was placed at the center of the ancient universe to lead the Primordial Pride…
Ten years ago in 2005, I went to my first Ultra Music Festival. Back then, it lasted merely a day. Moby played, but he played with a full band and did nothing but original material. The Carl Cox & Friends tent was still actually a tent. No one yet knew…
Ultra Music Festival is 36 solid hours of EDM-themed overstimulation. Superfamous DJs! Pop-star cameos! Half-naked ladies! Oiled-up beefcakes! Dancing robots! Human tacos! Toothpaste Man! Pyrotechnics! Cryo cannons! Fireworks! Everything at Ultra deserves an exclamation point. Or maybe ten. And there’s never less than 120 decibels rumbling through your already stimuli-flooded…
“Thank you, South Beach.” Those are the words currently tacked to the famous Cameo marquee. Built in 1936, it was originally a movie theater. In the ’80s, it became a punk and hardcore venue where Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, D.O.A., Bad Brains, and even the Red Hot Chili…
Another year, another Ultra, another man-on-the-street video starring you, the Ultra attendee. You braved a lot this year to have a good time. You roared in the face of torrential downpour, you struggled (or maybe breezed) through heightened security, and you toiled hours composing the world’s sexiest and most vibrant…
Any veteran of Ultra Music Festival who attended this year’s three-day event was pleasantly surprised by the increased organization and overall maturity of the audience. Certain seemingly simple measures, like significantly improved perimeter security and an 18-and-over age policy, taken following 2014’s trampling of security guard Erica Mack and the…
Sure, the rain washed out a lot of acts on Friday and Krewella spent Sunday getting trolled by Deadmau5, but for the most part Ultra Music Festival 2015 was a success. The most positive feedback we heard all week was how much more enjoyable the festival was without the under-18…
The United Nations could learn a thing or two from Ultra. Imagine how much more effective Ban Ki-moon would be in bright pink booty shorts that said Slut across the butt. Hold up, Iran, before we drop these sanctions on your ass, allow me to drop the beat. The people…
Still recovering from the uhntz-uhntz buzz of Winter Music Conference, Miami Music Week, and Ultra Music Festival? Luckily for you, there’s a cure for that: even more music. And while the kandi masks, neon pasties, and flower crowns have long been put away, the tuneage never ends in the Magic…
Ultra 2015 just might go down in history as the most cameo-crazy edition of the festival ever. Last night, Usher showed up for Martin Garrix’s set on the Main Stage to perform their new single, “Don’t Look Down.” And honestly, even though we joked about the possibility of a Bieber…
Deadmau5 isn’t at Ultra Music Festival this year, but that’s not going to stop the loudmouth Canadian DJ-producer from taking away the spotlight from what’s happening in Bayfront Park. Krewella, who are now just consists of sisters Jahan Yousaf and Yasmine Yousaf after producer Kristopher “Rain Man” Trindl resigned from the…
Yesterday, we at New Times told you Ultra “blew its surprise superstar load” when Usher crashed Martin Garrix’ headline set on the Main Stage. We have to apologize a bit to Ultra. They have more loaded in their star-power canon than we thought. Arianna Grande blind-sided the Ultra World Stage…
It’s become an annual Ultra Music Festival tradition. Even before party people, DJs, and downtown Miami condo residents have recovered from their latest romp through Ultraland, the fest springs the news that next year’s 200,000-strong EDM extravaganza is only 365 days away. At Ultra 2013, it only took organizers 17…
There have been a lot of changes at Ultra Music Festival. The audience is over 18 now. And many of rave culture’s familiar accoutrements — finger gloves, glow sticks, rage totems, etc. — have been banned under the fest’s new Prohibited Items policy. There are still those of adult age…
When I wrote back in January that I found Ultra Music Festival’s 2015 underwhelming, honest to God I wasn’t doing it do be contrarian or clickbait-y. EDM is big and there’s a lot of money to be made. No one is going to argue that headliners like Avicii and Tiësto…
Downtown Miami’s 32-acre Bayfront park is swarming with some 40 thousand (NOT SURE IF THIS IS ACCURATE #, CANT FIND 2015 ATTENDANCE) glistening glittered bodies. The lights on the main stage make the Vegas strip look like the ass of a dying lightning bug. The hard-bodied minimely dressed millennials are…
Ultra Music Festival 2015 just blew its surprise superstar load as Usher joined heir-to-the-EDM-throne Martin Garrix for a surprise live performance of their new collabo track, “Don’t Look Down.” The explosive Main Stage was all fireworks, confused ravers, and screaming girls when the A-Town R&B legend stood atop the decks…
“I need to know now, can you love me again?” That was the opening line of Avicii’s set on Ultra Music Festival 2015’s main stage last night. Sure, they weren’t his words. (He isn’t an especially chatty DJ, only occasionally reaching for the mic to express his affection for the…
Only 48 hours left. Don’t cry. Don’t hyperventilate. Don’t despair. We know it seems Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week is oh-so-quickly coming to an end. But there’s still plenty of party time to go. You will realize your wildest WMC and MMW dreams. You will fist-pump underwater. You…
The big news from day one at Ultra Music Festival 2015 was, of course, the rain. Personally, we spent more time in the press area trying not to get wet than we did on the festival grounds. (Still, Röyksopp’s last-minute performance on the Live Stage made all the crappy weather…
