Halfway through the Chemical Brothers’ Ultra-closing set Sunday night, when a skyscraper-size screen repeatedly flashed the words “Don’t Think,” complying was a given. The British duo’s live performance was an all-encompassing sensory experience so powerful in its force, any thought was quickly crowded out by lights and sound. …
Last night, MSTRKRFT performed for an enthusiastic group of dancing fans at Ultra Music Festival. It was after ten o’clock and the crowd was in full effect. They played a range of deeply textured electronica and ended with a mix of “It Takes Two” that an older crowd would have gone batshit…
For any Internet bellyaching that goes on, Ultra is at its core a homegrown festival. Organizers continue to recognize that by slotting in plenty of local DJs and acts — many of which are virtually unknown out of their microscenes. This year, there were two stages, the Eco Village stage…
Steve Aoki Ultra Music Festival’s Live Stage Bicentennial Park March 27, 2011 Better Than: A Benihana chef’s onion volcano. If you’re a sucker for hibachi like I am, then you probably already knew that Steve Aoki comes from Japanese Steakhouse royalty. His old man, the late Rocky Aoki, founded the…
Ultra’s third day was intense. Things were getting real Mad Max out there in the field, what with the stranded, tired, and simply out of their minds wandering around in the swirling dust bowl that surrounded the outer tents. Still, the party didn’t stop in its final stretch, and day…
BT is difficult to pinpoint. He’s a Grammy-nominated producer, remixer, musician, singer, engineer and composer. But he also moonlights as software creator, mobile app maker, and TV producer for the sad (but true) reality show Tommy Lee Goes to College on NBC. Yeah, who knew Tommy Lee actually even went…
While you were all home nursing your Ecstasy hangovers, you missed out on the best feel-good show of Ultra — and possibly the year. !!! (or Chk Chk Chk) played to what singer Nic Offer noted was about 50 people. Truly, though, the performance wasn’t just a total hit with…
How are you? Tired, dehydrated, out of drugs … Yeah, this debauched free-for-all so innocuously called Ultra Music Festival can really run you down. Somebody should’ve totally warned you, huh? Oh, that’s right — we did with our five-item Ultra fest survival kit. And you shoulda listened ’cause we feel…
Like 100,000 little rats that’d just found a trash bag full of back-alley speed, a massive mob of Mau5heads flooded the huge concrete field in front of Ultra Music Festival’s Main Stage last night. They were wet and sweaty. They were screaming. They were all hyped up to meet their…
So is drum ‘n’ bass dead or what? Unlike previous editions of Ultra Music Festival where the sizable jungle-heads were out in full force and their superstar DJs would get top billing, the representation was a bit slim at this year’s fest. In fact, hipster Brooklynites who came out to…
There is no arguing here. Best. Ultra. Performance. Ever. Most were foolishly duped into checking out Underworld and Deadmau5’s performances on the Main Stage. But you foolish punks missed out on one the best moments in the festival’s entire history.Only once have we felt such a rush of energy, knowing…
“Drive boy, dog boy/Dirty numb angel boy … She was a lipstick boy/She was a beautiful boy.” So says Underworld’s 1995 hit “Born Slippy.” The song launched the duo to massive fame after landing on the soundtrack for the classic cult film Trainspotting. And ever since, Karl Hyde and Rick…
When Moby took over the pixelated DJ pod in the Carl Cox and Friends Mega Structure last night, I wonder if he was saying to himself, “This audience is going to fucking love my set tonight… whether they like it or not!” He immediately began egging the crowd on, pumping…
Maybe it was the unbearable heat at their last Ultra performance, but Cut Copy seemed rather reserved this time around.Still, with pop gems that would make Depeche Mode jealous, the Aussie band gave the kids what they wanted: polished songs with unbelievably catchy hooks. Seriously, we had their sophomore effort,…
Sunday, a day typically reserved for Jesus. And if I were a praying man, I’d probably throw on a pair of kakis and confess that I was involved in a massive seaside dry-hump last night. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Over the course of seven hours, this indie…
You tweetcasted from the port-a-potty. You got goofy and sunburned with Simian Mobile Disco, Boys Noize, and a middle-aged, glowstick-wielding paramedic at Day Two of Ultra Music Festival. And then (so long as you didn’t overdo it and pass out in a trash pile behind the Tower of Ultra) your…
Sure, you could have been at the Fool’s Gold party at Grand Central — a decent enough choice. But you would have missed out on the next-level shit. The Overthrow and Trouble & Bass’ Black Magick party at the Overthrow Castle surely had a darker vibe than other festivities last…
In the wee hours of the morning, Busy P and DJ Mehdi brought a little bit of La France to Downtown Miami with a short but sweet Ed Banger party. Not your normal night, the patio was thick with fans of cocaine, left over Ultra-lites, and people who dig good…
It seems like Simian Mobile Disco has taken a bit of a tumble lately. In shedding their electro-house sound and adopting a darker techno approach, it seems they’ve lost quite a few fans. We remember a few years ago, in 2008, when the duo performed live at Studio A to…
With Armin Van Buuren and Boys Noize blasting the grounds with unrelenting four-four, local act Afrobeta’s early-evening set at the UMF Radio Stage provided some soothing audio balm. The mostly-local stage was practically hidden in a back corner of the park near the bay. But from the beginning, the band’s…
Boys Noize, the pseudonym of German producer/label head Alexander Ridha, has delivered some of the best live P.A. performances of Winter Music Conference over the past few years. This has been thanks to uptempo beats that still brought some melodic nuance and pop structure to everything. Of course, a couple…
Yes, things went all Pete Tong … and Sarah Main, Bob Sinclar, and DJ Jazzy Jeff to name a few, at Saturday’s fourth annual Pacha Ibiza Pool Party at the Shelborne Beach Resort. In the afternoon hours, party people sat sedately around the pool, enjoying the perfect weather, dipping their…
