Ultra Music Festival Turns 15

Billing itself as “the world’s premier electronic music festival,” the Ultra Music Festival turns 15 this year and they are celebrating this anniversary with some big names. You will be able to see all of them over three days, from Friday, March 28 to Sunday, March 30 at Miami’s Bayfront Park (301 Biscayne Blvd.).

The first Ultra Music Festival event was organized in 1999 with just three stages. Since then, the event has grown exponentially. In 2005, the event sold out for the very first time, and this year they are slated to sell out once again. Ultra Music Festival has grown in terms of the number of performers as well. Three stages accommodated all of the artists for the first festival 15 years ago; for 2014 there will be eight different stages rotating DJs and performers across three separate days. Last year 330,000 people attended the festival, nine times the number of people from a decade ago. This was due to the expansion of the event to two separate weekends; Ultra will be scaled back to the normal one weekend this year.

The runaway success of Ultra Music Festival has spawned events in addition to the main one in Miami. The first Festival outside the United States was held in 2007 in Ibiza. Now there are similar events in Viña del Mar, Chile; Buenos Aires; São Paulo; Split/Hvar, Croatia; Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa; Seoul; and Tokyo.

The DJ headliners this year include some very well-known names not just in electronic music but also in mainstream pop as well. Perhaps the best-known “crossover” DJ is the French DJ/producer David Guetta, who will be performing as the second DJ of the day on the main stage on Sunday, March 30. Other well-known DJs performing on the main stage by day include: Tiësto, Eric Prydz and Diplo (Friday); Avicii, Armin van Buuren, Nicky Romero and Krewella (Saturday); and Hardwell, the aforementioned David Guetta, Afrojack, and Sander Van Doorn (Sunday).

This is such a well-attended event that the VIP package has already sold out! If you still want to attend, you’re in luck, because general admission tickets are still on sale. They cost $399.95 and they give you access to all the various stages on all three days of the festival. Since this is a packed outdoor venue, the festival is standing room only. You can purchase the tickets online at ultramusicfestival.com.

Partners for the 2014 Ultra Music Festival in Miami are Miami Music Week, Heineken, 7Up, Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Takis, Space Ibiza, Ultra Music, Digitally Imported, Aloompa, and WVUM 90.5 FM.

For more information, visit ultramusicfestival.com.
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Mike Halterman

Mike Halterman has been the editor of Hotspots Central since its launch in July 2016. He joined the Hotspots Media Group family as editor of Hotspots' South Florida magazine in June 2013. A former "40 Under 40" honoree in The Advocate magazine, Mike lives in the Tampa Bay area.

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