So, I went to Ultra Music Festival this weekend. It was the 15th anniversary. Here’s a few pictures and highlights.
Day 1
Shayne & Eunique ready for the festival
Swedish House Mafia. And a pretty light painting of Axwell.
Friday night was all about Swedish House Mafia closing out the Main Stage. I would love to say that the girl in the picture on someone’s shoulders is me, but I don’t know how that’s possible, considering I’m pretty sure I took this picture. Although, I did scale a few different shoulders during their set. SHM is my favorite and they put on an amazing show–probably my favorite of the entire festival. I loved being in the middle of the crush with the enormous set and light show enveloping you.
Day 2
Live Stage and downtown Miami
Knife Party.
Deadmau5. That poor little mau5 is dead.
The more fireworks and explosions the better.
Saturday, we hopped between the Main Stage and Ultra Worldwide. We caught a little Knife Party–one of my favorite kinds of parties–including the end of their set where babes in gold writhed on the DJ booth as plumes of fire shot into the air. Then, it was Dirty South and Laidback Luke at Ultra Worldwide. Finally, we headed back to the Main Stage to catch the end of Kaskade’s set. Deadmau5 went onto close out the night, and I fulfilled a lifelong dream of watching someone DJ wearing a giant mouse head. Really, though, the mau5 put on an incredible, hypnotic set.
Day 3
#Selfie
One of my assignments for Société Perrier during Miami Music Week is to gather the 15 best #selfies of the week. They feel creepily like sexting the internet, but apparently they’re a thing. I guess I’m just accustomed to sending my “selfies” to one person at a time. Anyhow, I got in on the action and so did my festival partners in crime, Eunique and Galena. If you’d like your #selfie considered for the Société Perrier blog, feel free to email me directly at shayne@shaynebenowitz.com, send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @ShayneBenowitz, or Tweet/Instagram them with #selfie and #SPxMMW.
Kaskade fills in for Calvin Harris.
We met up Sunday and headed to the Mega Structure to catch Kaskade filling in for the big baby Calvin Harris who apparently couldn’t figure out how to book a flight to get him to Ultra on time. (Sorry, Calvin, love ya, you put on a great show, but that was your bad, dude.) Avicii went on, which gets me excited.
Snoop Lion!
But the draw of Snoop Dogg (and his newfound Rastafarian alter ego Snoop Lion) on the Live Stage was enough to tear us away. He played all the classics and we went crazy dancing and singing along. He closed his set to “Young, Wild, & Free.” It was probably the most fun we had the entire festival.
We made our way back to the Mega Structure for Tiësto and then Calvy came on for a mini set. He opened with “Bounce” and closed with “Sweet Nothing.” His set was great and I guess it was enough to make up for his tardiness. Finally, David Guetta closed out the night and did not disappoint. He played a lot of new stuff, and his mix of Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” made me lose my mind. He also played one of my favorites “Titanium” and closed with a rendition of “Without You” that felt very peace, love, harmony, and house music.
Finally, someone did a mix of Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop,” which was really cool, but we can’t for the life of us remember who it was!
Shayne, Eunique, Stephanie, & Galena. Ultra Friends 4 Life!
