Confetti, smoke machines, champagne, birthday cakes, an inflatable raft, and crowd surfing. It isn’t surprising to find all this stuff at one of Steve Aoki’s performances. He’s known for hyping the crowd up with his crazy stunts. But Aoki dialed it up to 11 for his set at Ultra Music…
Woah, wait a minute. What happened this weekend? We thought we were in Miami. But as soon as we crossed over Biscayne Boulevard we found ourselves in the middle of EDM insanity. We were surrounded by thousands of colorful, crazy-eyed people-creatures. Some of them had furry ears and tails, some…
There’s house concerts. Then there’s Deadmau5. As one of the closing events to the week-long spectacle known as Winter Music Confererence and Miami Music Week, tickets at the door for Deadmau5’s gig ran $150. But that didn’t stop thousands of house music junkies from packing Amnesia Miami’s dancefloor and VIP…
Check out Crossfade’s 76-photo recap from day one of Swedish House Mafia’s Masquerade Motel Miami 2012. Relocating from last year’s tent on the beach, Swedish House Mafia’s Masquerade Motel enjoyed two very successful nights at Dowtown Miami’s recently completed Grand Central Park. Opening for SHM on both nights were Calvn…
Ultra Music Festival’s MC introduced David Guetta as “the man that means more to electric dance music than anyone in the United States.” Hmm, of all time? Definitely not. At the moment? You could make a strong argument for that. Is he the DJ currently making the most money off…
Magnetic Man is a collabo between three dubstep dudes from the UK — DJs Benga, Skream, and Artwork — who met at a record store in the ’90s and have been raging ever since. They’re all big-name DJs and producers in their own right. As Magnetic Man, though, Benga, Skream,…
Read Crossfade’s recap of M83’s two-song set at Ultra 2012. Ultra Music Festival is over. But we’re still wondering about one thing: Will M83 be returning to Miami to make up for a ridiculously shortened Ultra set marred by technical difficulties? Well, in a contrite statement that we just received…
We missed Afrobeta’s opening-night set at Ultra Music Festival. But the Miami duo also played an action-packed closeout to Ultra on Sunday. And we caught it all on camera. The party animals were out in full force and the band’s Cuci Amador and Tony Smurphio were in strong shape. They…
Bassnectar is the sound of a thousand meteors crashing into Earth. On the last night of the fest, his heavy metal/electronic alchemy destroyed Ultra Music Festival 2012’s Live Stage as 6,500 beat freaks raved, raged, and howled. His hourlong set ripped through more genres, samples, and live effects than a…
The Main Stage lineup on Saturday was impressive with both Fatboy Slim and Justice warming up the crowd for headliner Avicii. But at 11:07 p.m., the Swedish DJ was nowhere to be found. And so the restless crowd started chanting his name, “Avicii! Avicii! Avicii!” Maybe the tactic worked. Because…
Back in the 1990s, Fatboy Slim helped establish the standard for EDM producers breaking through to the mainstream. A decade and half later, DJs and producers are once again showing up on Top 40 and what’s left of MTV. We’re not saying Slim has any sort of axe to grind…
Dude, 2ManyDJs are great for a number of reasons. Firstly, they’ve got a great sense of humor, playfully poking fun at themselves, their friends, and the scene itself. Secondly, they’re the same guys behind Soulwax — not to mention Nite Versions, whose remixes are some of the best tracks to…
We were superconfused during the first part of DJ Shadow’s Ultra Music Festival set last night. Just as we we were turning the corner to the Live Stage, we heard him announcing that it was his first time in Miami. But once we actually got a view of things, all…
Are you beat-freaking kidding me? We’re still uhntz-uhntz-ing around Ultra Music Festival 2012, waiting for EDM riot-starter Kaskade, David “The French Tickler” Guetta, and super-Dutch trance man Armin van Buuren to hump up onto the Main Stage and bring this sweaty, pheremone-soaked festival of dance to a furious, fist-pumping climax…
Can’t say we’re surprised that Justice’s set at Ultra Music Festival was reminiscent of the duo’s sophomore effort, Audio, Video, Disco, an album of which we aren’t exactly a fan. And last night’s performance didn’t convince us either. But that’s not to say we didn’t enjoy it. A Justice show…
See Crossfade’s original post about Madonna at Ultra Music Festival 2012 and read Deadmau5’s response to Madonna’s Ultra appearance: “Fuck off, you fucking idiot.” After spending the entire afternoon holed up at the Delano Miami Beach for a private “Gang Bang” (i.e. the release of Madonna’s MDNA Nightlife Edition Remix…
Yesterday, Little Dragon took conga, junkanoo, timba, breaks, hip-hop, indie, funk, New Wave, and ran them through Miami like a fastboat to Nassau at Ultra Music Festival’s Live Stage.The Swedish indie band featured live instrumentation on electronic triggers and sounded like a 2012 Blondie.The keyboards washes, dropping bass, tropical beats,…
As the sun was setting, we looked around Bayfront Park’s Klipsch Amphitheater. And we got a little worried. It was only fifteen minutes till Metronomy was set to play Ultra Music Festival and the Live Stage area was looking pretty bare. We sat there, hoping attendees could peel themselves away…
All week, Grand Central’s been home to some kickass Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week parties. On Wednesday, there was Hard Miami and Mad Decent’s Moombahton Massive. The next night, you had Hard’s Main Event with Busy P and Boys Noize. And Saturday night featuring the Fool’s Gold family…
Read M83’s official comment on its ridiculously shortened two-song set. I’ll admit, I was livid yesterday. But after having a chance to sleep on it, I’ve come to accept it. My hope of seeing M83 in concert wasn’t meant to be.Yes, the group performed two songs, but its rushed performance…
Check out Crossfade’s daily WMC and MMW party guide — plus the fifteen best parties. The King Rat says, “This is The End.” In less than 24 hours, Winter Music Conference, Miami Music Week, and Ultra Music Festival will be over. The clubs will close. The uhntz-uhntz will fade. The…
We’re pretty sure that Duck Sauce exists for no reason besides giving A-Trak and Armand Van Helden an excuse to have as much fun as possible together reveling in big disco house excess, and that’s exactly what happened when the pair took the Main Stage at Ultra Music Festival yesterday…
