Amid calls from some Miami officials to cancel Ultra after one fence storming resulted in the near-death of 28-year-old security guard Erica Mack, a new video has surfaced showing more than a dozen Ultra fans hopping another fence to sneak in. (Tickets to the three-day event retailed at close to…
Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa was defiant during a news conference on Monday, saying his department warned Ultra about the weak spot in the event’s fence where a security guard would later be trampled. He went so far as to suggest that Ultra organizers could face criminal charges over the…
Winter Music Conference and Ultra Music Festival have always been the place where new dance music records, artists, and genres are broken and made. If your track catches fire at Ultra, you’re guaranteed to have the best year of your career so far. Play your cards right, and you’ll definitely…
UPDATE: Medical examiner report showed that Adonis Peña Escoto passed away due to “acute alpha-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone (alpha-PVP) toxicity.” Alpha-PVP is a type of synthetic bath salt sometimes sold as “gravel.” A young Ultra attendee has died under mysterious circumstances. Adonis Escoto, 21, passed away in a car parked near the music…
Hey, Ravers … Arrested? Apprehended? Busted? Collared? Pinched? Just call the Law Offices of Chad Piotrowski. He’s a former state prosecutor and he’s giving away legal help to party people in need. “Did you get in trouble at Ultra? Do you need a criminal attorney?” he asks in a Vine…
Grumpiest Cat For a festival plump with PLUR, it was certainly odd to see a Grumpy Cat prowling amid the bubblegum-colored tutus. He was testing the saccharine smiles of kandi ravers. But nothing, not even this guy, could bring the party down with a frown. Well, maybe the stench lurking…
Beats, beauties, bass, booties, brawn, bras, and some valuable life experience. That’s what it takes to make an Ultra Music Festival, as far as a fashionista is concerned. You’ve never seen anything like the get-ups these people wear for their get-down. Luckily, you don’t need to go to Ultra to…
Two days after a horrifying trampling incident that has city officials, including Mayor Tomás Regalado, calling for an end to Miami as host city of Ultra, the massive EDM festival carried on like, well, a massive EDM festival. Throughout Sunday afternoon, thousands of revelers — many in colorful body or…
Muscles were so big at this year’s Ultra Music Festival. Like, they were just as huge a trend as they looked on the shoulders, chests, buttocks, thighs … You get the idea: Beefcakes ruled the EDM blowout. We couldn’t creep near the Carl Cox text without getting an exposed male…
Deep Dish With Carl Craig, Hot Since 82, and Andhim Ice Palace Film Studios, Miami Saturday, March 29, 2014 Deep Dish is officially back. And the Grammy-winning house duo’s Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week reunion at Ice Palace Film Studios proved to be nothing but sheer perfection. “I’m…
Uhntz, uhntz, uhntz, uhntz, uhntz. There are 50,000 people partying at Ultra Music Festival right now. And they hope it will never end. But there are probably many, many, many times that number of Miami residents (especially the Biscayne condo dwellers) who are at least a little eager for the…
He is EDM’s evil stepchild. Many hail Deadmau5 as “my fave DJ!” Some refer to the King Rat as the “Troll of Trolls.” Others whisper “asshole.” For years, Joel Zimmerman, the human who wears that famous rodent helmet for a living, has been cultivating a reputation (mainly via Twitter) as…
Those who rave presumably adhere to the values of PLUR: peace, love, unity, respect. While attending Ultra Music Festival, we wondered if the fans’ philosophical perspectives were broader than those four words. And also, had they, in their PLUR-verse, uncovered answers to existence’s most puzzling questions? Were they simply nihilists…
Ultra Music Festival is nothing if not gnarly. The beats are gnarly, the people are gnarly, the portable toilets are gnarly. It’s stank-face city, bro. But even more than the sight of no toilet paper, it’s those dirty beats — dutch, dub, or otherwise — that make us twist our…
Whoa! Bro! You got boobs! For the last couple of years at Ultra Music Festival, male ravers have rocked increasingly explicit, sometimes anatomically correct, and often innuendo-emblazoned tees, resulting in many LOLs and WTFs. Some are funny. Others are gross. And others still are straight-up creeeeeepy. We’ve carefully tracked the…
Once ridiculed as the hilariously embarrassing accessory of choice for fat American tourists, the fanny pack is now a practical piece of party gear for hot, young EDM fanatics. At music fests such as Miami’s Ultra, it has become a ubiquitous carry-all for scantily clad ravers with no pockets. Easy,…
Much like the actual weather in this era of global warming, the emotional climate at Ultra Music Festival’s live stage is wildly unpredictable. The fans might love it. They might hate it. It’s always tough to predict. But the fervor and size of the audience often mirrors the enthusiasm, though…
We all know the words to the song. But is Rihanna telling the truth? Is it really possible to find love in a hopeless place? Ultra Music Festival can sometimes seem to be as hopeless a place as any for finding a true connection. You’re lucky just to find toilet…
Beat freaks dreaming about Ultra tix are usually shit outta luck for months before the fest even swings opens its kandi-covered gates. In 2011, UMF ran out of tickets with a full 34 days left until the festival was scheduled to get goin’. And the next year, Ultra passes disappeared…
If you think rave culture is about the music or drugs, you’re so very wrong. Above all, it’s about the look. And at a rave: the freakier, the finer. Year after year, fans of EDM and friends of Molly help the culture evolve with their fashion choices at Miami’s Ultra…
Only 48 hours to go? Well, hell … It’s time to pack ten parties onto tonight’s plan. From the Deep Dish reunion at Ice Palace to Boys Noize and crew in Wynwood, Maceo Plex and Miami’s own Danny Daze at Trade, and inumerable other Winter Music Conference and Miami Music…
Avicii has canceled his Ultra Music Festival headlining set. Last night, the Swedish superstar also nixed a show as part of his Avicii Hotel takeover of the SLS before before being rushed to the hospital after he “got sick,” according to a member of his team. And now the fest’s…
