Features
We’re In Miami B*&#!
The annual two-day dance-stravaganza, which marks the end of the Winter Music Conference, returns March 26-27 to Bicentennial Park with the biggest names in the groove game and a few super-star collaborations on the Ultra Main Stage.
Hit-makers Swedish House Mafia (Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso) will be joined by Florence Leontine Mary Welch, better known to fans as the Florence part of Florence & the Machine, and Italian house maestro Benny Benassi will get an assist from new mom Kelis, who returned to dance floors across the globe in November with the killer track “Acapella.”
Other titans of the dance floor on the roster include Tiësto, David Guetta, Groove Armada, Passion Pit, Little Boots, LMFAO, Dan Black, Disco Biscuits, The Crystal Method, Rabbit in the Moon, Infected Mushroom, Lotus, Carl Cox, Green Velvet, Timo Maas, Eric Prydz, Dirty South, Will.i.am, Kaskade, Felix Da Housecat, Laidback Luke, Adam Freeland, Alex Metric, Bassnectar, Deadmau5, Armin Van Buuren, Damian Marley & Nas, Calvin Harris, Orbital, Crookers, The Bloody Beetroots, Ghostland Observatory, A-Trak,
And what’s a bigger party without more places to stretch out and, well, party? UMF organizers have added four new venues to the festival grounds: the UMF Ibiza Tent (which brings a piece of the Spanish party capital of Europe to Miami to celebrate UMF’s role as host of Space Ibiza’s opening, anniversary and closing parties this summer), the UMF Brasil Tent, the Root Society Dome and the Heineken Dome Experience.
Also on hand this year is artist/composer Christopher Janney’s wicked-cool multi-media installation, Sonic Forest, which provides an interactive aural and visual experience in a grove of 16 eight-foot tall aluminum poles containing audio speakers, lights and photo-electric cells. As fans move about the “forest” they trigger various sounds, altering the content of a preprogrammed composition.
Over the past five years, Sonic Forest has captivated fans at U.S. festivals Bonnaroo, All Points West and Coachella, as well as The U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival, The Netherlands’ Lowlands Festival and the Zaroga World’s Fair in Zaroga, Spain.
Tickets for Ultra Music Festival, priced at $139.95 for general admission two-day passes and $350 for VIP two-day passes, are available at UltraMusicFestival.com.