Your Guide To The Ultra Music Festival

BY JACOB FIERMAN

Millions of fans gather in Miami each year for Ultra Music Festival, commonly called “Ultra,” one of the largest conglomerations of DJs worldwide. Ultra is three days long, and it features a variety of musical genres such as house, trance, and dubstep. Fans come from around the world to support their favorite DJs at this epic music fiesta. This year the Ultra will be held  on the weekends of March 15-17 and March 22-24

Who Will Be Performing

Ultra thrives on bringing together some of the most popular electronic artists in the world. Ultra’s website releases “lineup phases” which let you know who is performing and when. As the event grows closer, two more phases will be released, which either add or remove scheduled DJs. Some of the performers to watch for this year are: Avicii, DeadMau5, Tiesto, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, CarlCox, Calvin Harris, and many more.

What to Wear

Ultra is home to some of the most unique people in the world. It’s certainly appropriate to wear something out of the ordinary since creativity is encouraged. Comfort is also something to keep in mind because you will be dancing a lot, and a typical summer day in Miami can get pretty hot, so be sure to wear clothes suitable for those conditions. Neon-colored shirts, glow in the dark bracelets and headbands, 3D glasses and basically any attention grabbing accessories are common. The purpose of Ultra is to express yourself freely so make sure you come prepared to do so!

The Setup

Ultra this year is going to be a “little bit different” than usual and by a “little bit different,” I mean there is going to be two weekends of it for the first time. Most of the important DJs will be performing both weekends so choosing one over the other isn’t such a big deal. Ultra is held yearly in Miami at Bay Front Park, which is basically a huge downtown playground. There’s around 5-6 stages spread out throughout the park with artists performing at all times. The popularity of the performer determines which stage they will play, because the stages are all different sizes.

The Crowd

The crowd is what truly makes Ultra. Fans that travel from across the country and around the world to attend Ultra and they are all extremely pumped to see their favorite performers. This make for a wide variety of extremely enthusiastic people. Throughout the masses you will find thousands dancing, doing light shows, and some just sitting and watching the show. Ultra is home to some of the greatest street dancers in the world, who show off all kinds of impressive talents such as fire spinning and break dancing. One thing to remember is that pushing to get to the front of a stage is frowned upon and will not be appreciated by fellow audience members.

Ultra is like the Disney World of music festivals . It’s an adventure for most and you are guaranteed to leave Bay Front Park with a smile on your face. The crowd is amazing, the DJs are the definition of entertainment and the environment is one of a kind. Be prepared for the Ultra Music Festival experience!