Ultra was mostly a great time with a few issues. Production design wasn't quite as amazing as past years -- both some cost cuts due to loses from the pandemic (they were one of the first big shows to cancel back in 2020, and this was their first time back), and the city has reduced the time they have Bayfront Park before the show for setup. The Resistance stage also had some technical problems that significantly reduced music volume the first day. Outside of the festival, a lot of the pre-parties and after-parties were cancelled because of a curfew in South Beach following a couple shootings earlier in the week, attributed to the spring break crowd that's also there.
Still, it was an excellent time with no regrets on my part. The weather was pretty much perfect, and the location by the bay under the palm trees is about the best there is for a big festival in the USA. ASOT was pretty great -- the rest of the lineup was pretty standard, but Armin played really good sets (both solo and a special b2b with Reinier Zonneveld), and he saved his cheesy tracks for his mainstage set on Sunday.
Lots of good sets for the rest of the weekend too, like Sofi Tukker on the live stage (first time seeing them, and a lot of fun) and my guilty pleasure John Summit. The biggest surprise was the return of Hardwell -- not that he was there (that was the worst kept secret ever) but what he played -- mostly a techno vibe and even the classic trance track "Godd" from Marco V. Traditional Hardwell fans hated it, but everyone else seemed to think that his "mainstage techno" sound is a great change.
And relevant here: Hardwell announced a tour including one date at Ushuaia (August 14). If you're going to be in Ibiza then, you might want to check out his new sound from his Ultra set:
My weekend started with this, the rest of it will be the usual uni work and spoiling my Mum on Sunday. Looking forward to next weekend though when it’s Bristol with the girls! Covid permitting of course 
