Miami

bigtezza

Active Member
Just got back from South Beach Miami but we were with my 15m old son so didnt get the chance to experience any of the clubs but i was surprised they seemed to have some decent DJs on.

Was wondering if anyone on this forum has been (sure they have) and what its like outside of MWF which doesnt appeal to me at all. Needless to say it reinvigorated our desire to return to Ibiza after a 4 yr hiatus of doing the Openings every year. Ibiza may have changed a lot but the island still holds something i’ve been unable to find anywhere else in the world.
 
A Good irish posse there for the last 20+ years,mates from my home town.. they actually gave dixon his first US gig for an Off MMC gig at a dennys somewhere near little Haiti and Harvey was a regular staying at the house for few weeks at a time.ive seen some great pictures of Mano from the last few years too..ive been few times but not since nye 1999/2000'.
They were the first dhm:cool: and aquabooty party's..
1 Summer Madness by dhm by dhm mia #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/dhmmia/ep-recordings-vol-1-dhm
 
Miami is cool. South Beach is a bit wanky but there are some good small clubs. Bit higher up Miami Beach way there are a few decent places

Downtown / Wynwood there is a lot of better stuff going on.
 
Just back from Ultra here! It was decidedly a mixed experience, and a very different one from the past years when it was in the heart of downtown Miami. In the new location, the event was split in two: the main area with more main-stage and bass-heavy acts, and "Resistance Island" with their techno and house lineups. The two areas were connected by a walking path that was a good mile long.

People focused on the Resistance Island lineup were pretty happy with the weekend - lots more space, great line-ups, the return of the fantastic "megastructure", and chill-out areas with hammocks and such.

Things weren't so great over at the main stage side though. Space was tight, everything was paved (no green space) and there was terrible sound bleed. They had a new "Live" stage that was disappointingly small and basic, but somehow both the premier of deadmau5's Cube 3.0 and Armin's A State of Trance ended up there (ASOT was in the Megastructure in past years). There were also a few power outages, including one at main stage and one in the middle of the deadmau5 set.

On the positive side -- the great sets of the weekend were outstanding. Deadmau5 put on a fantastic show, and that new cube is an impressive piece of work. Armin ended up playing a 3-1/2 set at ASOT (after Eric Prydz had to cancel), and that was stellar -- including some techno in the first half -- and probably one of the best sets I've seen from him in years. The techno side at Resistance was solid as always, and friends at Testpilot said it was a religious experience.

Yes, transport back the first night was a disaster -- made worse by staff that didn't seem to know what was going on. However, to give them credit, they made incredible improvements in 24 hours and the next two nights were worlds better. It still took a long time to load 50K people into buses, but it was at least well organized and people knew what they were doing.
 
Also would be interested to find out more about the events outside of Ultra

Unfortunately Ultra ran later hours this year, so I didn't get to check out very much of the rest of the Miami Music Week this year. With the show going until 2:00am and then another couple of hours to get back by bus, there really wasn't much time to get to other events before they closed.

If you're curious about what shows were available, MMW events website has all the details. It's a bit like ADE, with events all over the Miami and Miami Beach area, in clubs, hotels, and warehouses. Though being Miami, there also are a number of daytime pool parties, so it's easy to book parties to go all day and all night. Also, being America, the lineups skew more to the main stage and bass artists -- though techno, house, and trance still get pretty good representation.

For what I did get to: I caught a bit of Drumcode on Wednesday (but couldn't stay through to Adam Bayer, who didn't go on until 7:00am!), and then went to the Above & Beyond show on Thursday, and the Ferry Corsten "Unity" show on Friday.
 
Very interesting, thanks for that. We were thinking of going this year but by the time it came to booking the only accommodation left was terrible and overpriced. However, we have promised everyone we are definitely going in 2020. Where did you stay in Miami when you went this year? Have you always stayed in the same location?

When we go we are hoping to arrive on maybe the Tuesday, do some tourist things and some other events and pool parties before Ultra. It seems that Ultra don't do single day tickets which would make it difficult to mix that with some other events from the Friday.

The Resistance Island lineup is where I would be more focused on as well I think. Was there a good atmosphere in the crowd with people friendly?
 
For me the Winter Music Conference as it used to be called died a death many many moons ago.. when puffy and the bling brigade hijacked it if I remember right..
 
For me the Winter Music Conference as it used to be called died a death many many moons ago.. when puffy and the bling brigade hijacked it if I remember right..

Or is it Diddy or plain old Sean. I quite enjoy doing a festival type thing where the events are dotted over the city, mixes it up nicely from the standard festival in the same spot all weekend.
 
Very interesting, thanks for that. We were thinking of going this year but by the time it came to booking the only accommodation left was terrible and overpriced. However, we have promised everyone we are definitely going in 2020. Where did you stay in Miami when you went this year? Have you always stayed in the same location?

When we go we are hoping to arrive on maybe the Tuesday, do some tourist things and some other events and pool parties before Ultra. It seems that Ultra don't do single day tickets which would make it difficult to mix that with some other events from the Friday.

The Resistance Island lineup is where I would be more focused on as well I think. Was there a good atmosphere in the crowd with people friendly?

It probably worked out for the best for you then, as I expect Ultra will have a lot of the rough parts of their new location better sorted out by next year.

I've always stayed in downtown Miami since I liked being walking distance to the old festival location, and usually at a Marriott since I stay with that brand often enough to get some extra perks like late checkout (very handy!). This year we were at the JW Marriott Miami Marquis, but only because I had enough points to stay for free; it's shockingly expensive otherwise. Most years we've stayed at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay, which usually has had more reasonable rates if I book early.

Of course, a lot of people stay somewhere in Miami Beach so they can enjoy the beach and the ocean views when not at Ultra. However, it can be a fairly expensive Uber trip back and forth, and the traffic between South Beach and downtown can be brutal at some times of day.

Whatever you do, avoid Airbnb's around Ultra and MMW. I've heard many, many stories of hosts cancelling at the last minute for some "excuse" (the reality is likely that they found someone willing to pay more), leaving the first people scrambling for another option and paying a lot more too.

You're right, they don't sell one day tickets -- the festival always seems to sell out with just three-day tickets for sale. You often can find scalpers re-selling partially used tickets if you just wanted Saturday and Sunday, but that's a dicey option especially if you've made a long trip to be there.

The Resistance Island side did have a good crowd this year, perhaps even more so because it was so far from the other stages that tend to attract fans with a different attitude. And the Megastructure where they have their biggest Resistance events is technically pretty amazing -- you'll feel like you're in a super club like Privilege.

BTW, a resource for Ultra info is this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/881843261952713 It's only "official" in that Ultra allows the group to use their brand name so long as they behave; otherwise it's run by a handful of fans (including me) who just wanted a place to help others have a good time and avoid problems.
 
Thanks for sending all that information across, it is really useful. I'll have a look on that group for more information and updates.
 
Back
Top