Ultra 2013: 99 things they didn’t show on the live stream
This year’s Ultra Music Festival may be over, Bayfront Park may have returned to it’s normal self and everyone’s ears may have finally stopped ringing, but the memories are far from fading. Though the live stream enabled fans around the world to listen in and live vicariously through the film crew, the true Ultra experience can’t be fully transmitted through a camera lens. Click below the break for 99 things not shown on UMF TV.
1. What the festival grounds look like from the street.
2. What a Metrorail car looks like packed with anxious-borderline-obnoxious festival-goers.
3. How far the bass reaches down Biscayne.
4. People dancing as they wait to get in.
5. The feeling of not knowing which beat to dive into first.
6. How vacant the grounds seem in the early afternoon.
7. Just how big the Main Stage is.
8. Just how small the DJs look from the back row.
9. Cedric Gervais playing “Molly” on the stage where Madonna famously referenced it last year.
10. The thousands of people standing outside the range of the film crew.
11. Everyone redefining “personal space.”
12. Artists catching their peers’ sets from backstage.
13. The lawyers, teachers, engineers and volunteer firefighters that made up the crowd along with the college and high school students.
14. Richie Hawtin taking minimal to the max with the help of the Carl Cox Arena’s massive speakers.
15. The set change music at the Live Stage making people rage.
16. People making new friends to replace the ones they lost.
17. The fact that hands go up because there’s no room to put them anywhere else.
18. The lone hammock strung up between the trees at the Main Stage.
19. Couples kissing during “Clarity.”
20. Confetti fluttering around long after it was blasted.
21. Steve Aoki making do on a smaller stage with pyro shooting robots.
22. Krewella’s Yasmine and Adventure Club’s Leighton doing a Weekend 2 surprise back-to-back set on the Live Stage between Major Lazer’s and Snoop Dogg’s sets.
23. The artists buzzing around in golf carts.
24. The despair of choosing between Kaskade and Tiësto.
25. People kicking away a layer of cans, bottles, and cups to have foot space.
26. Boys Noize unveiling his skull booth for those of us who missed his live tour.
27. The fact that “free water” meant a three-spout water fountain.
28. The moments shared by strangers yelling “ohhh!” when their favorite tracks dropped.
29. The Ultra app alerts causing fans to book it to the action.
30. Cazzette’s and Kerli’s mini 20 minute sets.
31. Tiësto telling the crowd “It’s fun to go back in time” before unleashing “Adagio for Strings.”
32. Fans literally running to the Live Stage to catch Infected Mushroom during Weekend 1.
33. The way those sweet handwritten signs look not so cool when you’re behind them.
34. Bambi spinning as the first opener for her beau.
35. The hundreds of instances of kandi trading.
36. The ground shaking when DJs yelled “jump!”
37. Zeds Dead getting “Ratchet” at Drop Zone.
38. The screens on the ceiling of the Mega Structure.
39. The pockets of people laying on the grass, woodchips and concrete.
40. Rukes snapping Bassnectar’s Weekend 1 family photo.
41. Nari & Milani discreetly dropping their huge “Atom” at the Bayfront Stage.
42. The artist tattoos on the bodies of diehard fans.
43. The goosebumps from “Raise Your Weapon.”
44. The wall of bodies trying to get past the Ultra Worldwide stage.
45. Skrillex and Porter Robinson crashing Alvin Risk’s set during Weekend 1.
46. Artists taking cell phone pictures of their crowds.
47. Sleigh Bells’ Alexis Krauss saying she had a feeling her crowd would have no problem dancing with her at the Live Stage.
48. The Daft Punk frenzy egged on by a video display just off Biscayne.
49. Afrojack playing unreleased music as Nick van de Wall.
50. The moments of PLUR.
51. The moments of not PLUR.
52. People actually crying during “Save The World.”
53. The glitter that rubbed off strangers onto every possible body part.
54. Half naked girls gnawing on massive turkey legs from the food stands.
55. People dancing in, on, and around the seats at the Live Stage.
56. Datsik managing to DJ with CDs when his laptop fell victim to the Miami heat.
57. The joyous squeals of reunions with lost friends.
58. Nervo charming the Main Stage.
59. People singing to songs without words.
60. Above & Beyond projecting “We’ll Never Forget You Miami” onto their Group Therapy screen.
61. People unsuccessfully vying for attention from the camera crew.
62. The fans in wheelchairs having a ball despite not being able to see, and having an even greater ball in the moments they could.
63. Zedd joining Tiësto, Armin, Martin Solveig and nearly everyone else in playing “Clarity.”
64. Parents waiting for their kids at the gate.
65. People actually walking across the bridge to South Beach after the fest.
66. Thomas Gold delivering arguably one of the best sets of the weekend.
67. The ridiculous number of people wearing artist shirts.
68. The conversations struck up because of those artist shirts.
69. Security personnel dancing.
70. Adventure Club playing their last set before the Ultra recap clip shot them to fame.
71. People saying “I hope that was water.”
72. How high up the acrobatic dancers are suspended above the stage.
73. R3hab joining Quintino on “Chasing Summers” at the Jacked Stage.
74. The split-second feeling of falling the crowd gets when a build doesn’t drop.
75. The Bloody Beetroots and their Weekend 2-only Live Stage set.
76. The consequences of charging the same price for Red Bull and water.
77. The outfits, or lack thereof, of the 80% of attendees that weren’t shown on UMFTV.
78. Sven Väth helping the crowd find music as a religion in the Carl Cox Arena.
79. The frenzy of artist meet and greets in the merch pavilion.
80. Benny Benassi reminding everyone why “Cinema” is eternal.
81. The heat pyro gives off.
82. The way the Main Stage fireworks look from the Live Stage.
83. Diplo joining Dillon Francis for his Trapped Stage headliner slot.
84. People getting blasted with nitrogen.
85. The constant streaming of bodies between stages.
86. Boys Noize popping in on Snoop Dogg for “Got It.”
87. The crowd surging impatiently during the gap between sets at the Main Stage.
88. Mark Knight’s Toolroom Knights stage bringing Ibiza to Miami.
89. The steam from the rain on Day 4.
90. The gritted teeth of people shoving past in attempts to make the next set.
91. Friends arguing over whose set was the best as the walk out of the grounds.
92. Bauuer sharing a set time and “The Harlem Shake” with David Guetta.
93. How the Trapped stage got down on Day 5.
94. The 11 straight hours of ASOT600.
95. Icona Pop proving it’s not just the men in Sweden who’ve got “it.”
96. The apparently heat-resistant fans wearing penguin, hotdog and tiger costumes.
97. The ridiculous, adorable, and downright questionable poses for group photos.
98. The feeling of going through all those photos on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday…
99. How it felt to have months, weeks, and days of anticipation come to a head before starting all over again Sunday night for next year’s festivities.
Categories: Music