Day 2 began at noon, displaying another sunny portrait of meteorological perfection. We arrived at Bicentennial to find a sold-out venue—apparently the 100,000-person capacity had actually been reached. Scalpers were selling Saturday-only tickets for up to $400 (originally a 2-day past cost only $140). Planning ahead never felt so good. Our first stop of the day was Diplo at the Bayfront Live Stage. One half of Major Lazer, which had a separate set later in the day, Diplo aka Wesley Pentz is clearly a man who knows his craft. Dressed in a Major Lazer t-shirt, the unflappable Pentz mixed and mashed a variety of different samples and syncopations, including the absurdly infectious hook from Major Lazer’s “Pon de Floor,” while infusing it all with his characteristically bouncy Floridian vibes.
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Ultra Music Festival 2010 |
Bicentennial Park
Miami, FL
March 27, 2010
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In the process of mobilizing for the Damian Marley/Nas set over at Main Stage after Diplo’s set, I was suddenly struck motionless as the opening vocals of the song blaring over DJ Steve Aoki’s speakers: it was “Circle of Life,” as in that marvelous opening song from The Lion King where Rafiki holds baby Simba up in the sky at the tip of Pride Rock and all the lions cheer (I was thus inspired to look up the lyrics—apparently they are “Nants ingonyama bagithi baba, sithi uhhmm ingonyama” which means “There comes a lion, oh yes, it’s a lion.” You learn something new every day). The Circle continued with a charming remix stratified with jungle beats that had the crowd going wild, but my troops were on a Marley mission, so I had to bid farewell just as the Kid Millionaire was launching into a spontaneous head-banging dance and screaming in a sinister way over a pre-mixed track—a good time to move on.
At the Marley/Nas show, I was most delighted to find that the unrelenting flag-waver I remembered from Damian’s concert circa 2007 was still waving in full force. If you’ve ever seen a Damian Marley performance, you know what I’m talking about. Marley’s affable mix of Jamaican charm and scintillating rhymes effortlessly arranged over reggae and hip-hop harmonies provide the perfect soundtrack for a sunny day in Miami. Nas’s hard-hitting urban eloquence adds another pleasing layer to the Marley marvel—the comrades’ musical and cultural solidarity shined brightly throughout their performance, inciting further anticipation for their long-awaited collaborative album Distant Relatives, due for release later this month.
The next stop of our meandering musical journey was the tiny Day-Glo Arena, which advertised the world’s largest paint party. Clearly, I needed to get involved. We spent the next half hour dancing madly to the house beats of various smaller-name DJs as armed performers in plasticine suits sprayed us with neon paint. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Once we were thoroughly doused in Day-Glo, we headed back over to the main stage to check out neo-electro dance DJ Benny Benassi, where it was easy to see why he is such a sensation. The epileptic revelry of throbbing beats and screeching synthesizers—particularly in hit single “Satisfaction,” with its “Fitter Happier”-inspired computer voiceovers—really epitomized Ultra’s overall atmosphere.
I spent the next few hours over at my beloved Biscayne stage, where a series of back-to-back dubstep sets was already in full-force. A London-based offshoot of U.K. garage that employs elements of drum'n'bass, techno, and dub, dubstep offers a dark but thrilling intensity that really cuts to the heart of EDM greatness. The line-up progressed from Benga to Caspa to Glitch Mob to Skream! to Rusko, and while I tended to drift in and out of these performances, there was something special about the cohesion of the crowds that gathered for these sets. From the hill next to the stage, I had a perfect view of all the tightly-packed bodies jumping in unison with their hands in the air as the Miami sun began to set, flooding the sky with rose gold.
Next on the Main Stage was progressive trance DJ Armin Van Buuren, another Netherlands native with worldwide acclaim, whose sprawling compositions and breathtaking lightshow seamlessly carried the frenzied masses from day to night. Van Buuren and Tiesto share a number of similarities, and collaborated in the past with the hit “Eternity"–a connection in full force throughout the course of his performance.
Soon it was back to Biscayne for more back-to-back goodness. First up, Bassnectar, self-described as “A free-form project that merges music, art, new media, social involvement, and community values; dedicated to a constantly evolving ethos of collaborative creation, self reinvention, and boundary-pushing experimentation." That statement may contain some bullshit, but with his trademark waist-length dreads and exuberant head bobbing, Bassnectar is a force to be reckoned with and a personal favorite of mine. His quirky mix of tripped-out ambience and hard-rocking techno beats stands out even in this sea of other talented electronic music-makers.
Ultra’s quick turnaround between artists was both consistent and admirable. Accordingly, as soon as Bassnectar shuffled off the stage, a bunch of new people jumped on. This motley crew of costumed dancers came to start the all-out dance party featured on Major Lazer’s set. This newly established digital reggae/dancehall project has received much critical acclaim and indie cred since their 2009 release Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do. Comprised of DJs Diplo and Switch, Major Lazer features Gorillaz-esque cartoon characters complete with an absurd back story (something involving limbs lost in the secret Zombie War of 1984), and mixes a range of Jamaican musical elements with tight beats, catchy refrains, and a slew of guest vocalists, from Santigold to Mr. Lexxx. Their set was a paradigm of pure fun, with vocalist Skerrit Bwoy and a troop of female dancers infusing an extra layer of personality. Oh, and the snappy hook featured in “Pon de Floor” is still stuck in my head.
Finally, we entered Ultra’s final hour featuring Deadmau5, Paul Oakenfold, Ghostland Observatory and Carl Cox, who were all performing at the same time on different stages. Tough decisions had to be made. I started out with Deadmau5 on Main Stage, where the entire area was so packed that oxygen seemed like a luxury. So, I took the lack of oxygen and the Mau5’s underwhelming intro as an excuse to round out my trifecta of Ghostland Observatory experiences and headed over to the far more breathable Bayfront Live Stage at the other end of the park. Ghostland Observatory did not disappoint, despite a seemingly brief set (no sign of “Silver City,” a personal favorite). Roguish frontman Aaron Behrens lived up to his Freddy Mercury/Prince associations as he shrieked and gyrated amidst the smoky technicolor of a laser light show spectacular enough to rival those featured on much larger and infinitely more populated stages. The layered perfection of thumping bass, crunchy guitar riffs, and silky synth hooks featured in “Midnight Voyage” extended into a full-on electo-jam session, held down by producer/drummer Thomas Turner in his requisite floor-length cape ensemble. Ghostland’s vivacious performance was a perfect amalgamation of all the various subgenres that Ultra promotes and a preview of the places EDM can and will go as it continues to develop. In other words, their set was a perfect way to end an incredible weekend.
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