DJ Shadow & Ultra Music Festival

If you were in Miami last weekend and were not at Ultra Music Festivalyou wasted your weekend.  Founded in 1999, Ultra evolved from a one-day electronic music festival to a juggernaut three-day festival.  While Ultra is still dominant in electronic music, it has expanded to diverse genres which has only helped expand the festival to great heights.  This year the growth of the event was felt throughout the downtown Miami area!

The first day of this festival brought together music legends and Industry greats. The landscape was divided into eight different areas that offered a listener different environments to dance the night away.  On Friday, the opening night of the festival, I opted for getting close to the greater stages. You could fill your iPod for the rest of the year with all the talent that took over the “Live” and “Main” stages on Friday night. With the performances of legends like New Order and Kraftwerk to the powerhouse energy of Benny Benassi and Skrillex I couldn’t find a need to go anywhere else!

Day two was beautiful, filled with sunshine and neon-wearing electro fans all around.  With so many blinding colors, it was like having traveled back in time to the 80’s! Not even the scorching sun was enough to discourage the public from wearing fake animal head pieces.  This day I did venture off to visit every stage, and I came to the conclusion that all the genres promote the same ideal: Get out there and dance to your heart’s content!

Saturday was the day to see icons like M83 and first-time Miami visitor DJ Shadow on the live stage.  The “Main” stage showcased greats like Fatboy Slim and Justice.  One of the most-publicized moments of the night came when Madonna made a drug reference in her intro for Avicii!

Sunday, the festival’s final day, was all about the hard-core electronic music fans.  Acts like Bloody Beatroots and Armin Van Buuren let the true devotees take back their genre!

Ultra is the playground for the hippy of the new millennium!  If you missed this year’s festival,  be sure to start saving and planning as of now for next year.  To quote the legendary Daft Punk it will  be ‘Harder Better & Faster.’