I think I enjoyed last year's a little more, but it was still a fantastic time.

Seemed like it took a little longer for things to get going. At least for me, it was a few hours before I saw Dj's I really enjoyed.
The Basswalk Records stage got moved, so people were confused about that. Also, the Progressive Arena wasn't opened until at least 6 pm or so.
It would've been nice if the DJ's followed the schedules that were listed - there were at least a few last-minute changes, and even if the correct order was followed, the DJ's almost always started late.
There were at least a handful of times when the sound system had issues, on some of the stages.

The weather was great though. Not too hot, and it didn't rain. There was a full moon at night.

On the Basswalk Records stage, I (doing everything with Mindy (spacechica)) caught excellent sets by Luke Fair and Johan Gielen. Gielen was supposed to start at 3:30 pm, and he was there, but didn't play then. I then heard he would play at 11 pm, but luckily I stopped by at 4:30 pm, when he was on (and appearently started 15 minutes before).

On the ULTRA Sound Stage, first I heard Perry Farrell do a bunch of not-so-great mixes (great tunes though),
Way Out West didn't come on when they were scheduled, so I missed their whole set when I came back.
Tommy Lee (yes, from Motley Crue) also performed on that stage. I've heard he's trying to get into EDM (like P.Diddy), but it was kinda random.
I caught the last hour of Sasha and Digweed (doing a 3.5 hour set, as a "Collective", with James Zabiela and Infusion). Great stuff, though the style put me to sleep a little at the beginning. At the beginning of that hour, Zabiela was on, and it looked like he was doing a whole of bunch of stuff with effects)
Afterwards, Ferry Corsten came on, drove the crowd nuts. I left early to get a place for PVD, and had to fight through quite a crowd just to leave the Sound Stage area.

On the main stage, I saw a little of each: Cirrus, Deepsky, Pete Tong (who really had the crowd going), Sander Kleinenberg, Junkie XL. I then saw all of Tiesto's set, and left a few songs into Oakie, who came on right after. I came back for the last 20 minutes of the Chemical Brothers, followed by PVD.

Did anyone catch the beginning of Tiesto's set, where the music suddenly cut out? Did anyone know what happened? I think he may have pulled the needle off the record that was currently playing, but I'm not sure. Things were much better after that though.

PVD's set on the main stage was wundervoll. Seemed to be one of the best I've heard from him. The crowd seemed to like it too. I guess with only an hour and a half, there's a lot less time for repeats or fillers. I didn't see any NYTA's there though. Was anyone there for that? Overall, I saw fewer NYC people this year than last year. Maybe they were all there, and we just didn't cross paths.

also, PVD rocked at Space the night before - he seems to spin quite well there, at least for this time and when I was there last year ...
things started not too auspiciously for me, as my arrival time into Miami was delayed by 4 hours - first by fog, then by the plane having mechanical problems. My plane left Newark an hour and a half after I was scheduled to arrive in Miami.
After a half-hour wait in line at Space, I got in at exactly 3 am, and PVD dropped Flight 643 soon after. Marco V came on at 6 am, but it seemed that many people left at that time, I guess to get ready for ULTRA. Pete from "MTV True Life: I'm a Clubber" was a few places in line in front of me.

Jay had so much fun on the terrace after PVD's set, grooving to Oscar G (or whoever was on at that time), that he was asleep thru half of ULTRA.

Last edited by wallflower on Mar-08-2004 at 16:54

this is my review...

i was a lucky motherf*cker for getting a parking space. i'm a small town boy and miami was a bit crazy for me. got my ticket quick and got through the gates quick. with as well as they searched you going into that place i could have snuck in a bazooka.

walked in to see johan gielen spinning. he was into it and playing some good tunes. danced for a bit. made my way over to see pete tong spinning. i really enjoyed his set but with those stupid girls would get off the stage. they're hot, but i hate that shit. junkie xl was pretty sick. he started with his red pill blue pill track, which i really hate. anything with matrix doesn't do it for me. but the rest of his set was solid and i enjoyed it. tiesto was up next and he started off alright but totally fucked up and hit a setting on his mixer, causing the music to cut off for a couple seonds. oh well. when he dropped solid globe's sahara, i was very satisfied and the rest of his set wasn't too bad. after that i made my way to sandra collins were she was rockin out hard. she played and excellent set. went over to see sasha and digweed. those guys are badass, digweed dropped a bomb of a track at the end which ended it good. ferry kicked some serious ass, although he played too many of his own tracks. you have to expect that though, these guys are used to spinning 4 hour+ sets, they really can't do much with an hour and a half. for the most part everybody dropped some goood tunes.

the main thing that really chapped my ass, and no offense to anybody out there, but there were way too many people on pills. i hated watching ferry spin and looking around me and seeing people starting off into space and rubbing each other all over the place instead of enjoying the music. i left early because of it. i don't know why people can't enjoy the music like its meant to be heard.

anyways enough with my preaching. everything went really well and i enjoyed myself a ton, although i can't move my legs today

yo wallflower, we were on the same flight into miami. that shit SUCKEEEDDDD. fucking 5 hour delay... god damn. at least we finally got there

___________________
*can't imagine it feelin' much better...
i wish it would just last forever.
and so, to feel like that?
i'd pay any price just to get that back.*

In retrospect, Miami was awesome in every respect.

PvD at Space34 on Friday night was one of the best experiences of my life. Nuff said. Thanks to everyone that made it such a memorable night.

Ultrafest was a bit slow to start at first, but the vibe was spectacular nonetheless. I was starting to groan about many trivial things like bathroom lines and $5 bottled tap water (Dasani), and no running water, and people stepping on my stuff, but when Tiesto came on, it was like an awakening. The main stage was already pretty packed by then- there were massive "hands-in-the-air" moments which were just mind-blowing. I was feeling lethargic and moody before Tiesto's set, but afterwards, I was on a natural high. TI-ES-TO! A few highlights from the night: Luke Fair, DJ Tijs, and I gotta take a breath to say the amazing time I had at S&D and Zabiela-- these guys are superstars. We were able to catch 1.5 hours of the Zabiela, Sasha, and Diggers trio. Zabiela came on and smoothed things up for us, then Sasha came on with a few mood-setting tracks. I think I nearly fainted when Diggers came on- the aural and visual excitement was too much for me to handle. Sasha and Digweed tag-teamed for the remainder of the set and can I say Oh-My-Good-Lord, what a tease. Phat tracks one after another, these guys demand respect and own any audience they manage to grace their presence with. Then Ferry came on and seamlessly transitioned into one of the most energetic, uplifting, happy sets I've ever heard. It's a shame we weren't able to catch all of Ferry, but there's always next time. My only qualm with the lineup at Ultra was that there was not much going on during the day, and you couldn't catch everyone you wanted to with the simultaneous headlining going on as the night progressed.

What more can I say... PvD threw it down with a hard, banging, uplifting, positive, wide-reaching, impressive influential set. Another one of those never-to-be-forgotten moments, especially with the phat sound system and lasers, and the whole crowd jumping up and down in unison and clapping in appreciation for the man. PvD is awesome

It was so much fun meeting all those wonderful TAs-- Brianna, Indy, Jay, Michi, Overseas, DJ Tek & Baby Tek and Lunasea & Co. and a few of Wallflower's friends from other messageboards and the NY area. Michi and Indy were sporting very fashion-worthy "Van Dyk" Von Dutch-inspired baseball caps. It was definitely a time when Global TAs united and rocked the world over under the warm, starry Miami night skies.

___________________
bring back Planter's PB Crisps!
ear candy
awesome show

Last edited by spacechica on Mar-08-2004 at 03:40

I should add that the prices at Space were kinda obscene

Door price was $60 when we arrived for PVD at 3 am. I was lucky to have gotten a ticket for that night (not the passport), during the few days there were for sale - I paid $37 for that.

It was $40 when I came for Tiesto, at 10:30 pm, but they probably increased it later on in the night as well. Does anyone know whether that was the case?

also, how easy or hard was it for y'all to catch a cab afterwards?

was quite tough for us (and last year, I walked all the way to Space to get a cab), but was it perhaps a mistake to follow the herd as they walked out?

Last edited by wallflower on Mar-09-2004 at 08:15

Ultra 6 was fuckin incredible.. by far the best outdoor edm festival in the States.. the whole prouction was done almost flawlessly.. only thing that was 'off' were the time slots for djs which was all messed up[who knows, djs not showing up, technical difficulties.. etc] and the confusion of the Progressive Area and the House tent... the Prog area werent ready til like 7pm so some of the djs scheduled to play in the Prog area spun in the house tent.. whatevers tho i frequently checked both areas to see who was spinnin where...

we walked into Ultra around 1:30pm to see Corvin Dalek banging it the fuck out..lol in the Bass Walk records area.. walked around for a bit checked out the whole park and went up to the Amphitheater to catch Sander spin.. he started off pretty slow.. and like 10 mins into the set, he accidently touched the master volume of the mixer and the sound decreased dramatically.. obviously Sander didnt notice cuz the monitors were loud as fuck.. eventually he realized and turned it back up.. by that time i got sorta bored with his selection of tracks so we went back down.. Luke Fair was playing in the Bass Walk area and had the crowd going with some nice prog and tech house.. i was diggin his set..[i need to checkout IHWT 3..] Akko thought he was maad cute.. heh.


Around 4/5pm or so went in the house tent and Chris Fortier was on.. good stuff.. stayed til the end of his set and James Holden came on next.. he was good but the tracks were too slow and lacking energy for an outdoor festival like ultra.. some tracks work in clubs and some tracks work outdoors.. james was throwing down a lot of club style tracks.. anyway we left the house tent and walked around, got a bite to eat and caught Johan Gielen on the bass walk area.. he had the crowd going nuts especially when Sosei was played but had to fuck it up with a pretty ugly trainwreck.. i felt bad cuz up until that point, his set was very hi energy[although he played few cheese, it still made u dance..] after the trainwreck, we left that area.. went to checkout WOW live but since the schedules were all fucked up, they werent on yet..

WOW live was very good.. the singer[forget her name] can really sing.. aint no studio only type of singer.. she sounded sweet live.. with the WOW's heavy rounded basslines and crisp snares.. it was more a listenable set tho.. not too much 'makin u dance' oriented...
after a little bit of WOW, we went back up to the Amphitheater and Dirty Sticky Floors was playing.. what mix ? lol.. JXL's of course.. oh man... JUNKIE XL was definitely the highlight of this year's Ultra.. 130bpm tracks never moved me so much for so long like JXL's did.. his live performance was fuckin awesome.. and is a very animated artist.. the remake of Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right couldnt have came on at a better time.. it was just perfect.. perfect crowd, perfect atmosphere, perfect track.. and listening to Beauty Never Fades on a 60,000 watts system was just insane... maaaad respects to yet another Dutchman.

After Junkie's set Tiesto came on which meant, it was time to leave amphitheater.. lol we went back down to the progressive area and guess what, Steve Lawler was behind the decks, just workin it... and wtf ???? Lawler playing MELODIC PROGRESSIVE TRANCE ???? haha i couldnt believe my ears... whatever the fuck, he was on point.. dope ass basslines and fresh synths.. i wish i came down earlier but couldnt shit on Junkie.. after Lawler it was Miss Sandra Collins.. heard little bit of her set we left to the Ultra Sound stage to see Infusion playing their last track.. fuck !!! missed out one of the main acts wanted to checkout.. all good. next time... after them it was James Zabiela.. his stuff was funky as usual what was ill was they had a fashion by AX during JZ's set.. about 50 models came out in pairs.. that was HOT... so around 9pm or so, we go back to the prog area to catch one of my fav. djs, Dave Ralph... he was waiting for Sandra to finish just standing around.. i approached him and bitched to him about all the r-factor releases that are loooong overdue... he looked a bit emabarrased and told me the labels put everything on delay but it should be out soon..

Dave Ralph spun a dope ass set.. only thing was that there was some sound trouble during his set.. it was due to them rushing to prepare the prog area.. all good tho besides that the flow and the material in dave's set was fantastik.. after dave finished Gabriel & Dresden came on.. played their usual stuff.. i asked Josh if he can play Depeche Mode - Here Is The House[G&D bootleg mix] and he dropped it as the final track.. thank you Josh ! during G&D's set i got to talk to Sadra Collins for a long time.. about an hour.. she is definitely the coolest professional dj ive ever had the chance to talk to.. very friendly like a girl next door and funny as hell ! very good sense of humor.. chatted about this n that, told her her new mix compilation was off the hook[especially disc 2] and talked about a certain record we both owned.. she was complaing about the booth set up how she couldnt hear well hehe. it was cute how she was defending herself when i didnt even question anything.. she hung out for a while and left.. then it was Satoshi Tommiie.. didnt get to listen to his set much.. but i did mention to him that i loved his style of production and the new Chab release on SAW...

so we leave ultra around 12am tryin to catch a cab before it got too hectic.. we still ended up walking around for about an hour to catch one.. all in all very sick and amazing night[once again] and this year i learned alot more about the industry.. cant wait til next year.. peace to everyone i met in miami.. John, Michelle, Tom, Lisa, Brianna, Jay, Arturo.. you guys rock.. another memory stored that will never fade.. Beauty.

___________________
NIC FANCIULLI @ STUDIO B [Brooklyn] w/ Dany Veltri, Chris Luzz & Tae Seol -Fri. June 20, 2008
RHODE KILL 2 @ THE RANCH [RI] -18/19/20 July 2008
WEBSITE-MYSPACE-[email protected]

Last edited by dj tek on Mar-11-2004 at 17:05

JUNKIE XL STOLE THE WHOLE SHOW AWAY FROM ULTRA THIS YEAR!

___________________
I PUT TRADEMARKS AROUND YO MOTHAFUCKIN EYE
JUST ME N YOU

quote:

Originally posted by kid nyce JUNKIE XL STOLE THE WHOLE SHOW AWAY FROM ULTRA THIS YEAR!

wtf man?? why didnt i see you at space on friday, nor at ultra on saturday? was you hidin'? dj of Ultra for me was adam freeland. i went there not expecting to be blown away... but he did just that. incredible set. typical freeland though, which means rocking it the FUCK out!!!!!!

___________________
*can't imagine it feelin' much better...
i wish it would just last forever.
and so, to feel like that?
i'd pay any price just to get that back.*