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.