UPDATE: Miami To Make Offer To Bring Ultra Back To Bayfront Park

Ultra Miami – Ultra Miami

The city of Miami passed a resolution June 18 giving the city manager the green light to make an offer to bring back Ultra Music Festival to Bayfront Park, after the mega-electronic music festival announced it had voluntarily terminated its license with the city, calling its new location Virginia Key location inadequate.

The license would allow “for the presentation of the Ultra Music Festival at Bayfront Park, further authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute such license, subject license, subject to review and approval by the city attorney, as to legal form and correctness.”

The resolution goes on to note that Ultra, with 36 events worldwide on six continents and more than 300 million viewers streaming the event, has taken place in the greater Miami area for more than 20 years.  It also notes the event generated $168 million and created 1,834 jobs in 2018 alone.

Ultra Music Festival, which has held its flagship event in the greater Miami area since its first edition in 1999, announced May 8 it has voluntarily terminated its license with the city of Miami calling its inaugural experience at the Virginia Key location “simply not good enough.”

“After listening to feedback from many of you (including over 20,000 fans who took our post-event), it is clear that the festival experience on Virginia Key was simply not good enough,” organizers said in a statement. “This is Ultra Music Festival, after all, and our attendees expect us to deliver on our commitment to excellence. Being committed to excellence not only means constantly striving to become better, it also means being willing to change things when they are not working.”

Organizers said they are now finalizing another South Florida location to serve as a new permanent home, with full event details and ticket information forthcoming.

“On one hand, we’re sad to see this event leave the city after its first year on Virginia Key,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the Miami Herald. “On the other hand, we saw Ultra had significant logistical issues at that site.”

The first incarnation of Ultra at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park & Miami Marine Stadium on the small island of Virginia Key faced transportation issues on the first night, prompting a wave of criticism from fans.

After the closing sets from Marshmello and Infected Mushroom, among others, on Friday, March 29, Complex reported that more than 50,000 fans waited for buses to transport them off the island, as ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft were not allowed at the festival.

And fans waited. And waited. Many complained the lines were not being properly organized or maintained and at one point a tree caught fire, which according to Spin caused a brief stampede.

After growing tired of waiting for buses, thousands of fans decided to make the nearly three mile walk back to the mainland.

Billboard reported that the local Brickell Home Owners Association filed a lawsuit against Ultra three weeks before the festival was staged, claiming the island was an inappropriate location for the festival and would cause environmental damage and terrible traffic.

Ultra is quite possible the most global festival brand, having staged events in Mexico, South Africa, Croatia, India, China, Brazil, Peru and many other locations. This year has already seen Ultras in Australia, South Africa and now the U.S., and will see editions in Ibiza, Singapore, Korea, Japan and Croatia.

The Miami edition featured Marshmello, Martin Garrix, The Chainsmokers, Infected Mushroom, deadmau5, Armin Van Buuren, Illenium, Zeds Dead, Jai Wolf, Galantis, Odesza, David Guetta, Zedd, Tiesto, Alesso, Armin Van Buuren, Odesza, Griz, and Afrojack.

Pollstar reached out to Ultra for comment but hadn’t heard back at publication time.