Hi UMF. Congratulations on your 14th year! You’ve stayed in Miami, gone from 1 day to 3 and people from all around the world come to dance and party with you. That’s pretty awesome. Before this year, things were awkward. Well, it’s still awkward but in a good way. Your weirdness makes the party better but, in the past, things were hard to ignore. Congrats on reaching maturity and finally filling those extra large shoes.
Everything about this year’s Ultra Music Festival in Miami was better. It wasn’t bigger, the artist lineup was pretty standard and the vibe from the crowds was just like previous years but in a huge way, things were so different and it was amazing to see this festival mature from my first time in 2004 to 8 years later. In 2004, the festival actually felt pretty put together but, the growth was huge and, each year, it felt like things were getting worse instead of better. There were more cops, more power failures, more artists going over their set times, last minute lineup changes, issues with lasers blinding the crowds and nearby hotels and the constant feeling that things just weren’t going well. You wanted water or to find a bathroom or even go through security to get in and you felt like it was pointless and that things were being run by a group of high schoolers. It’s not all UMF’s fault. It’s a combination of a group with very little festival experience that literally learned as they went and the explosive growth that Ultra suffered through each year.This year, I think UMF knew they were going to sell out and they knew the head count and they worked tirelessly to accommodate that for 50,000 daily attendees and they did it well.
I only had three issues with UMF this year.
1. Camera Policies which I wrote about.
2. The HUGE and painful bottleneck of crowds going from the main entrance to the live stage. This bottle neck was painful and idiotic because there were fences setup by UMF on each side and, for many, they thought this was the only want to the live stage and it was grid-locked foot traffic for 12 hours every day to move from stage to stage there.
3. The stages and tents are STILL too small. There’s no way to fix this. Miami’s two largest parks have hosted Ultra and, each time, they aren’t big enough. The ASOT / Carl Cox tent had half of the crowds jamming from outside of the tent. There was no way to fit everyone in there that wanted to see the shows. The smaller Brasil / Korea / Worldwide tent had 30% of the fans also spilled out on the outsides. Finally, the Live Stage during headliners had people everywhere and still couldn’t hold everyone. It was awe-inspiring and very frustrating at the same time.
The 2nd issue was probably not foreseen from a planning perspective and the 3rd is unfixable. UMF literally can’t make their stages or tents any larger. This is as big as they can go without moving away from Miami which I hope never happens. Aside from Orlando, there’s no place in Florida with the hotel capacity for Ultra’s attendance and Miami’s downtown IS walkable and the majority of people stay downtown. In addition, a vast number of attendees are locals that go every year. They’re built-in ticket buyers every year and, moving to Orlando would hurt attendance for a few years. I think Miami is where UMF will always be so I don’t see the issues I documented being fixed aside from the pesky camera policy.
Enough about what Ultra did bad. Let’s talk about the good because what was outlined above wasn’t actually that bad. I’m going to use bullets as it keeps me from rambling
- Fantastic iPhone app and Foldable brochures that showed set times and artist Bios. The iPhone app wasn’t perfect but it was great for it’s purpose and was very easy to use
- UMF TV was live every day from Miami and broadcasted on YouTube. This was very very cool. I watched an hour of it on a day that I was too tired to arrive right when the gates opened. This looked like a professional production.
- There were no power failures, light show hijinks or late performances. Every production aspect was flawless except for Madonna asking everyone if they’re on Ecstasy, what a loser.
- Security was friendly and courteous even if they knew nothing about cameras and the lines to get in to Ultra went very fast every day I was there.
- I only saw ONE ambulance at UMF. It’s not that I don’t think kids were overdosing and going to the hospital, but for some reason I didn’t see dozens and dozens of paramedics running around like previous years. Why? It’s weird but the danger of UMF didn’t really hit me this year. it felt VERY safe. This is a big deal.
- When I needed water or food or a bathroom, there was one available. I never waited more than 2 minute in line for any of those things. Amazing.
- Shirts didn’t sell out even on the last day. They NEVER have shirts on day 3 available to buy. I went up and bought two XL shirts (because American Apparel is 2 sizes too small BEFORE you even wash it) and they had them! Wow.
- There were plenty of places to sit. I don’t think you realize how big of a deal this is. When I wanted to sit and relax, getting to a seating area was easy. There was one near every stage.
- Nudity was kept to a minimum. I didn’t see any sex and only one girl I saw had her boobs out. This was great! I hate seeing nude people and am glad that it was kept to a minimum this year.
- Undercover cops were everywhere. They were actively arresting people selling drugs but hands off on people casually doing drugs. This isn’t the best in my opinion but it’s a huge step up from previous years.
Overall, there were so many great things about UMF this year. Everything I listed seemed basic but these are all things that are better compared to last year. It was bad last year and the year before. This year was better and I can’t wait to go to UMF next year.
Worth it.