Ultra Madness

So I went to Ultra Music Festival in Maimi last week and the only words I can come up to describe it are massive party.  Ultra took the city by storm with pre-parties and after parties throughout Miami and Miami Beach. The night I arrived (Thursday) I went to a Pacha party sponsored by Beatport at the W Hotel right on South Beach.  The party was free but the price to pay was in the drinks-you could expect to pay $8 and up for a splash of liquor in your cranberry juice.  Fedde Le Grand headlined filling not only the beach but the boardwalk with dancing fans. 

Friday was the offical start of Ultra, artists included:Avicii, Sander Kleinberg, Jes, BT, Roger Sanchez, Carl Cox, Loco Dice, STS9, CSS, Duran, Duran, Pendulum and Tiesto.  It was a nice slow warm up to the weekend.  The festival had a total of 8 stages setup throughout Bicentennial Park.

Saturday was when the festival really heated up with a noticable increase in attendance and security. Deadmau5 headlined on the mainstage, which brought out a slew of Deadmau5 heads in the crowd.  His set had a lot of energy but he never really dropped a hard beat-there was buildup for a weak delivery.  The highlight of the day was hands down the Carl Cox Tent, which hosted Yousef, Steve Aoki, Afrojack, Fedde Le Grand, Moby and of course Carl Cox.  Moby's set almost blew the roof off with by far the most energetic crowd of the entire weekend.  The Live Stage brought in several electronic rock bands like Cut Copy, Boys Noize, Empire of the Sun, and Simian Mobile Disco.

After two days off dancing my ass off I got to a later start on Sunday and arrived around 6pm, just in time to see Steve Aoki's set on the Live Stage while Will.I.Am played radio hits on the Main Stage.  Aoki killed it and had everyone jumping up and down before Crystal Castles set which followed him.  Crystal Castles had incredible energy but had some sound issues with the microphones.  The Chemical Brothers closed the Festival on the Main Stage and absolutely killed it-I couldn't think of a better pair to end the weekend then the two of them.  Not only was the music selection on poitn but the visuals/video were sick and unique to each song.

Global Dance Festival

Looks like Miami won't be the only city to see a massive 3 day electronic music festival in 2011.  The Triad Dragons of Denver, CO will be producing it's annual festival for the 8th time this year.  Like Ultra, Global started as a one day event and gathered an overwhelming following that lead to the expansion of the festival to 2 days last summer.  This summer Global will be held on July 14th-16th at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Golden, CO just 15 minutes west of Denver.  The outdoor venue is nestled amongst massive red colored rocks (hence the name) which provide for amazing natural acoustics.  Last year over 17,000 people attended Global from all over the world, will the record be broken this year?

Below is an early promotion Triad Dragons are running from Facebook for the highly anticipated event!
"Get on the Global Dance Mobile VIP list now!!! Text TRIAD to 46786 on your cellphone. You'll need to get the original text or a global dance membership card to buy the limited EXCLUSIVE GLOBAL DANCE MEMBERS PRESALES that will start this week at two denver outlets! Otherwise, you'll have to wait until April 15th for the public onsale."

The festival will also hit the road this summer stopping in Athens, Greece; Kansas City, MO; and Detroit, MI

The World's Most Famous Outdoor Electronic Music Festival

Ultra Music Festival in Miami, part of the Winter Music Conference, will be a 3 day long event this year and is over 95% sold out!  What began as a one day event in 1999 has grown into an international destination for electronic music lovers everywhere.  The first two years the festival was held on South Beach but due to tremendous growth in attendance, relocated to Bayfront Park for 2001 and then again changed location in 2005 to the present day site of Bicentennial Park.  The festival is one of the highest grossing of its kind in the world. Thousands of spring breakers and music lovers will gather from March 25-27th to celebrate an array of electronic music artists ranging from Deadmau5 to Duran Duran.  The first official Ultra commercial for Ultra3 showcases the major talent hitting this year's stages, which is sure to set a new precedence for music festivals everywhere.