Ultra Music Festival

[Ardentbiscuit]

Does anyone know when they usually announce the line up?

I've noticed over the years many artists playing that are usually in the Sahara tent.

[J~$$$]

Who are the artists for this year?

[Ardentbiscuit]

They haven't announced it yet....

I was just wondering if anyone knew when they usually announce it.

For 2006 and 2007 a lot of artists playing Ultra were at Coachella in Sahara.

[betao]

thats because for the most part, its an EDM festival, with pretty much the same lineup/DJs each year.

I'd love to go.

[Ardentbiscuit]

I'd love to go and tickets are cheap for 2 days!

I would skip the Winter Music Conference leading up to it though. I don't need to see a panel with Deep Dish or watch a guy DJ in a hotel lobby.

[orbit]

You should go to the WMC instead of the Ultra. During that week, you can go to some awesome parties in hotels, clubs, mansions, etc. In fact, pretty much djs/producers come from all over the world to the WMC, not the UMF. Some labels throw pretty nice parties, and there are also some festivals during those days. Take a look at the breaksfest lineup or future sounds of breaks.

UMF has the same djs every year. Look at the lineups 8 years ago, and you will see that almost 80% are the same acts than recent years,

[Ardentbiscuit]

Yeah, the winter music conference does look good. I was just trying to talk myself out of it because it's so expensive to stay in Miami for a week. But yes I do want to eventually go to the WMC and the Ultra.

I did notice that, the Ultra does book the same acts. That's why I would only go once.

[Michelle]

yes, i am also curious as to when to expect a lineup. coachella is usually announced at the end of january, so i'm guessing the end of december???

[betao]

last year they had The Cure headline.

out of place maybe?

[miseducation]

I would skip the Winter Music Conference leading up to it though. I don't need to see a panel with Deep Dish or watch a guy DJ in a hotel lobby.

Okay, okay. Good thing you vocalized this here. I think you have the wrong idea about WMC.

Sure, there is an actual WMC conference, but I don't think I've ever even known anyone to go see a panel or even go to the hotel it is held at. WMC is very similar to SXSW, except entirely focused on electronic music. For the duration of that week - pretty much from Tuesday to Saturday - amazing, amazing DJs are playing at just about every club we have.

Club Miami is relatively small, so it's pretty easy to get around. Miami Beach is like 2 square miles of clubs and Downtown Miami (right across the causeway from the beach) just barely 1 square mile, including the Festival grounds.

Ultra Fest is fun but it should not be your whole trip - if you stay somewhere that isn't South Beach, you can definitely afford to stay longer than you would've. Of all my years of attending, I've never had any event at Ultra be the best part of the week. Unless Underworld is performing, I can pretty much guarantee you'll be disappointed if you just go there.

Best parts of Ultra this year: Tiesto, MSTRKRFT, Carl Cox, Boys Noize, Fatboy Slim.

Best parts of WMC this year: Booka Shade, Richie Hawtin, Justice, Digitalism, Boys Noize, M.A.N.D.Y, Busy P and Sebastian, MSTRKRFT (much better show), John Digweed.

Ultra also has the world's worst, rudest and most unpleasant crowd of all time. Everybody is rolling and nobody gives a fuck about you. The Miami kids who don't give a fuck about music and just come to take drugs pretty much ruin it for all of us.

I recommend going to one club every day before the show (Should run you about 100 per person for 3 nights of clubbing - minus drinks). If you plan it using the right guides online - you should find something awesome for every single night. Eating in Miami Beach can be back breakingly cheap also - just eat Pizza Rustica (there's one every 4 blocks) all the time.

[Ardentbiscuit]

From description the WMC sounds pretty good.

I had a feeling the crowd for Ultra would be terrible, people like that show up at huge events in LA.

[betao]

or large electronic music events in general.

i went to go see tiesto do a big outdoor show last sept in DC, in front of about 8,000 people. some of the girls showed up in what looked like homecoming dresses - wtf?

but what can you expect from cheesy trance music?

i want booka shade.

[idrive1life]

I only went in Day 1 this year.

Best of Ultra Music Festival '07: The Cure, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Digitalism, Sander Kleinenberg
Worst: Tiesto, Shiny Toy Guns

[betao]

yeah, shiny toy guns aren't anything special. i saw them back in august, and wasnt impressed.

[idrive1life]

But then I did not see this ->

Ultra also has the world's worst, rudest and most unpleasant crowd of all time.

What I saw and met are some of Miami's/world's sexiest/hottest & nicest trance/electronic/new wave music fans.

Among all the festivals I've attended this year, Edgefest 16 and ACL are tied with having the worst, rudest and most unpleasant crowd.

[miseducation]

What I saw and met are some of Miami's/world's sexiest/hottest & nicest trance/electronic/new wave music fans.

Maybe because Day 1 was less traditionally dance music and had The Cure and all that. Day 2's Van Dyk/Tenaglia/I haven't listened to new dance music in 5 years crowd was flat mean and ugly (thanks to them all having e-face)

The club crowds were much nicer to me this year. But nothing beats a Coachella crowd.

[Michelle]

agreed. nothing beats a coachella crowd. lolla has had the worst crowds for me, and ACL's wasn't anything great either. my theory is always the further people have to work to get to the music, the better the crowd. that (the people and the atmosphere) is what makes coachella so magical and gives it a vibe.

enough about that... so no idea on when i should expect a lineup????

[miseducation]

enough about that... so no idea on when i should expect a lineup????

Well, by last year we already knew the headliner - I remember there being fliers saying only "The Cure" on them when I walked into Bang! in November.

My guess is they don't have some big departure act to announce yet. I can only hope this means they're trying damn hard to convince Underworld to come again.

LCD Soundsystem played that year too, so they're not really that out of the question either - but I really doubt these boring UMF motherfuckers would do that.

The only two surer that sure certainties are Paul Van Dyk (he always closes) and Armin Van Buuren (He didn't play last year and DJ mag named him #1). I say we get something by New Year's.

[Sidenote: As much shit I give people for ranking DJs, it's really not that different from what us music nerds do this time of year by making EOY lists. As long as they update the list every year, it's not really that farfetched a thing to rank DJs according to how excited you are about them.

Now giving them shit for voting the same people year after year, that's still fair game.]

[orbit]

What are the chances of Smashing Pumpkins or Kanye playing as headliners? I wouldn't be surprised if some of them get to play.

[betao]

seems fairly possible given The Cure headlined last year.

[miseducation]

I didn't watch The Cure (because they bored me to tears last time I saw them live) but the pamphlet said they would be playing a "special dance set" to fit in with the vibe of the event.

[idrive1life]

The Cure > all Day 2 artists combined *giggles*

I'm predicting Duran Duran or Smashing Pumpkins will headline Day 1 in 2008.

[miseducation]

The Cure > all Day 2 artists combined *giggles*

Agreed - but I get pretty damn sick of waiting till the encore to hear a single fucking hit song. Also that self-titled release was horrible.

[xbnmx]

agreed. nothing beats a coachella crowd. lolla has had the worst crowds for me, and ACL's wasn't anything great either. my theory is always the further people have to work to get to the music, the better the crowd. that (the people and the atmosphere) is what makes coachella so magical and gives it a vibe.

enough about that... so no idea on when i should expect a lineup????

You people are fucking out of your minds. The crowd at Coachella is an aweful mix of pretentious indie scenster and image oriented LA schmuck along with whatever mainstreamish rif raf the headliners bring in. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of cool, diverse, interesting people there, but as a whole the crowd in Indio is low on my list of people to party with. I feel like a good number of people on this board don't play outside of the indie scene.

[Alchemy]

You people are fucking out of your minds. The crowd at Coachella is an aweful mix of pretentious indie scenster and image oriented LA schmuck along with whatever mainstreamish rif raf the headliners bring in. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of cool, diverse, interesting people there, but as a whole the crowd in Indio is low on my list of people to party with. I feel like a good number of people on this board don't play outside of the indie scene.

Nobody is dictating music taste to you over at Coachella though. Don't be stupid. The point is that the Coachella crowd is, for the most part, well behaved and considerate.

I want to point out that another reason that Coachella crowds are probably more tame and normal is that alcohol remains in the drinking tents. People trying to squeeze through crowds while juggling three cups of beer accounts for about 75% of the douchebaggery in other festivals.

[miseducation]

You people are fucking out of your minds. The crowd at Coachella is an aweful mix of pretentious indie scenster and image oriented LA schmuck along with whatever mainstreamish rif raf the headliners bring in. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of cool, diverse, interesting people there, but as a whole the crowd in Indio is low on my list of people to party with. I feel like a good number of people on this board don't play outside of the indie scene.

I'm not really looking for people to party with - just people I can talk to and won't be rude as hell. Most people say "excuse me" at Coachella. People won't steal stuff from your tents. Nobody gets into fights (or at least there is a very small amount ratio of them for the people there.)

I think most of the people on this board settled on the indie or electronic scene because it championed good taste above any kind of weird code of machismo or loyalty. I'll take our elitist attitudes over whatever rude bullshit comes with punk, hip-hop, reggae or metal scenes.

[xbnmx]

I don't partake in any of the above, I just think that the crowds in the jam and burn scenes are by far in a way preferable to those of the indie scene, as well as those in facets of the EDM scene.

[miseducation]

I found this in a forum today. They usually update their website after the flyers are out so this looks legit. Not a bad day one lineup at all.

[TeamCoachellaHellYeah]

where is this at?

[miseducation]

where is this at?

It's in Miami during the Winter Music Conference.