We’re Back – Ultra Recap

To sum up the experiences of my weekend in some kind of nutshell, Ultra Music Festival exceeded my expectations by miles and miles of rediculousness.  Impressive to say the least, given that my expectations for this weekend were higher than Cheech and Chong after superblunt madness.  Had I been lucky enough to see each individual performance I probably would have melted, but given that I had to pick and choose each day, I think I did quite a job on my body and my brain with the sets, the people, and the partying.  I can still hear the ringing of my ears which is my final souvenier from Miami, yet I couldnt be one of those tools wearing ear plugs during anyone’s set, that’s an insult.  First off, I was shocked to see how many artists played or dabbled with dubstep.  Dubstep was a part of Benassi’s, Laidback Luke’s, and even Deadmau5’s sets.  Rusko was completely insane and deserves a spot on the main stage next year.  To make this more efficient given my body needs an unsurmountable amount of rest, I will give you a top 10 sets with some description as well as a little present at the bottom, can you imagine if there were some live sets on deck?

TOP 10 UMF SETS:

1) DJ Tiesto – This guy did nothing less than put his DJ dick into each and everyones ears at Ultra.  He played with the crowd with music and a lightshow that could have caused seizures in half the crowd.  He played new songs, classics, and some of the best hits of this year.  If I could choose to relive any moent during the weekend it would have been Friday night, he was truly amazing.

2) Armin Van Buren – There’s gotta be a reason that he’s the number 1 DJ in the world.  Lucky for me I saw Armin twice.  His Saturday set after Kaskade was unreal and his set in his state of trance tent was min-blowing, literally.  I was in the middle of a crowd of at least 4000 people dancing their faces away.  He was excellent with the crowd and killed it with his love for house.

3) David Guetta – What a performer.  Saturday night, as promised, Guetta brought out Flo Rida, Afrojack (who is always wasted on stage), Will. I. Am. and Sidney Sampson.  Guetta’s light show was also incredible.  He remixed “When Love Takes Over” and Afrojack’s “Turn It Up”, and people went wild.  He also played both tunes “On the Dancefloor” and “I Wanna Go Crazy” with Will. I. Am,

4) Rusko – I’ve never seen a DJ moving so quickly.  He is always either dancing on stage or talking to the crowd.  Almost like he chased his Red Bull with a shot of adrenaline and some love drug.  He played his new single “Everday” and a bunch of other shit that I was too busy dancing too to even concentrate.

5)Benny Benassi – Not only did he show the crowd “Cinema”, playing the Skrillex Remix as expected but this guy played dubstep, what a joker.  He had a string of two or three dubstep songs where the whole crowd blew up!

6) Laidback Luke – Same as above, played “Till Tonight”, “Turbulence”, and “Timebomb”.  Also dabbled into the dubstep later in the set.  I may even be able to get you that, read on.

7) Afrojack – For some reason everyone was surprised with Afrojack’s set.  I thought it was standard Afrojack, he came out drunk, excited the crowd, babbled some words, and played his tunes while keeping everyone dancing.

8) Kaskade – White balloons and dance music, turned everyone that was partying into playing a volleyball match.  Half the people were dancing, half the people were playing with 1000 balloons, and one Asian dicided it was smart to take all of his clothes of and start running around.  He ran from security.

9)Avicci – Avicci made an effort so everyone was able to see him. He played all 3 days and each day was amazing.  I saw his set on the Main Stage where he showed off his new release “Penguin” as well as ending with a little Pendulum.  Regardless, this young talent captured everyone’s attention at ULTRA.

10) Dada Life – Lucky for me Armin was playing right next to Dada Life or else I would have totally forgot to go to this stage.  Dada Life played their new release “White Noise, Red Meat”.  They had a smaller venue at the festival, meaning that everyone poured inside the tent leaving no room for air.  Their were people dancing on stages and throughout the set they had inflatables and champagne being thrown around the crowd.

I’d like to give a shout out to Witte, Charles, Lukauske, Weider, Rich, Jasper and crew, Kay and Tash, Gruss and Nuss, Jules and crew, and anyone else that helped make my Ultra experience more than amazing.  Send me those videos and pics so I can show the world!

Present:  Here You Go, some but not all the great sets.  I will do my best to retrieve the other good ones. I encourage you to download these, as I hope they give you the same pleasure I got/still get when listening. Click Song Name to Download, have fun!

Avicci – Live Set ULTRA 2011 [audio http://boxstr.net/files/7245302_eznkn/Avicii%20%20Ultra%20Music%20Festival%20Miami%20%2025032011.mp3]

Laidback Luke – Live Set Ultra 2011 [audio http://boxstr.net/files/7245309_auno5/Laidback%20Luke%20Ultra%20Music%20Festival%202011.03.28.mp3]

Afrojack – Live Set Ultra 2011 [audio http://boxstr.net/files/7245305_s69vf/Afrojack%20%20Ultra%20Music%20Festival%20Miami%20%2026032011.mp3]

Benny Benassi – Live Set Ultra 2011 [audio http://boxstr.net/files/7245307_qxyyq/Benny%20Benassi%20%20Ultra%20Music%20Festival%20Miami%20%2025032011.mp3]

Kaskade – Live Set Ultra 2011 [audio http://boxstr.net/files/7245308_t87pf/Kaskade%20%20Ultra%20Music%20Festival%20Miami%20%2026032011.mp3]