OK, so we’re not really that excited about Britney Spears’s hot new album Femme Fatale. Or her 11-city North American tour. Or even her local gig at the American Airlines Arena. The multiple exclamation points were gratuitous and cheap. But when a former pop tart goes bonkers, flashes crotch at…
Rachel Goodrich The Stage March 25, 2011 Better Than: Drinking Jim Beam and getting arrested for kicking and breaking a glass door. This reporter (and the rest of the world) loves you so much, Rachel Goodrich…
Yesterday, the great nation of Ultra Land was 150,000 pookie heads strong. And yet today, it’s just an enormously empty concrete expanse peppered with mangled pacifiers, rolling tufts of yarn hair, and discarded furry boots. The DJs have all gone home. The cleanup crews are out. But we’re still here,…
[jump] But again, it’s not too surprising considering his God-like status, so I will try to shut up about it. (But seriously, if I got elbowed by one more bloody-eyed 15-year-old who looked like she just stepped off planet Seratonius, I was going to have to clock someone.) Van Buuren…
Crystal Castles Ultra Music Festival’s Live Stage March 27, 2011 Better Than: David Guetta at Ultra’s Main Stage. Alice Glass is so adorable. She’s so damn cute and Canadian I just want to pour maple syrup all over her skinny indie frame and eat her up like a mountain of…
Halfway through the Chemical Brothers’ Ultra-closing set Sunday night, when a skyscraper-size screen repeatedly flashed the words “Don’t Think,” complying was a given. The British duo’s live performance was an all-encompassing sensory experience so powerful in its force, any thought was quickly crowded out by lights and sound. …
Last night, MSTRKRFT performed for an enthusiastic group of dancing fans at Ultra Music Festival. It was after ten o’clock and the crowd was in full effect. They played a range of deeply textured electronica and ended with a mix of “It Takes Two” that an older crowd would have gone batshit…
For any Internet bellyaching that goes on, Ultra is at its core a homegrown festival. Organizers continue to recognize that by slotting in plenty of local DJs and acts — many of which are virtually unknown out of their microscenes. This year, there were two stages, the Eco Village stage…
Steve Aoki Ultra Music Festival’s Live Stage Bicentennial Park March 27, 2011 Better Than: A Benihana chef’s onion volcano. If you’re a sucker for hibachi like I am, then you probably already knew that Steve Aoki comes from Japanese Steakhouse royalty. His old man, the late Rocky Aoki, founded the…
Ultra’s third day was intense. Things were getting real Mad Max out there in the field, what with the stranded, tired, and simply out of their minds wandering around in the swirling dust bowl that surrounded the outer tents. Still, the party didn’t stop in its final stretch, and day…
BT is difficult to pinpoint. He’s a Grammy-nominated producer, remixer, musician, singer, engineer and composer. But he also moonlights as software creator, mobile app maker, and TV producer for the sad (but true) reality show Tommy Lee Goes to College on NBC. Yeah, who knew Tommy Lee actually even went…
While you were all home nursing your Ecstasy hangovers, you missed out on the best feel-good show of Ultra — and possibly the year. !!! (or Chk Chk Chk) played to what singer Nic Offer noted was about 50 people. Truly, though, the performance wasn’t just a total hit with…
How are you? Tired, dehydrated, out of drugs … Yeah, this debauched free-for-all so innocuously called Ultra Music Festival can really run you down. Somebody should’ve totally warned you, huh? Oh, that’s right — we did with our five-item Ultra fest survival kit. And you shoulda listened ’cause we feel…
Like 100,000 little rats that’d just found a trash bag full of back-alley speed, a massive mob of Mau5heads flooded the huge concrete field in front of Ultra Music Festival’s Main Stage last night. They were wet and sweaty. They were screaming. They were all hyped up to meet their…
So is drum ‘n’ bass dead or what? Unlike previous editions of Ultra Music Festival where the sizable jungle-heads were out in full force and their superstar DJs would get top billing, the representation was a bit slim at this year’s fest. In fact, hipster Brooklynites who came out to…
There is no arguing here. Best. Ultra. Performance. Ever. Most were foolishly duped into checking out Underworld and Deadmau5’s performances on the Main Stage. But you foolish punks missed out on one the best moments in the festival’s entire history.Only once have we felt such a rush of energy, knowing…
“Drive boy, dog boy/Dirty numb angel boy … She was a lipstick boy/She was a beautiful boy.” So says Underworld’s 1995 hit “Born Slippy.” The song launched the duo to massive fame after landing on the soundtrack for the classic cult film Trainspotting. And ever since, Karl Hyde and Rick…
When Moby took over the pixelated DJ pod in the Carl Cox and Friends Mega Structure last night, I wonder if he was saying to himself, “This audience is going to fucking love my set tonight… whether they like it or not!” He immediately began egging the crowd on, pumping…
Maybe it was the unbearable heat at their last Ultra performance, but Cut Copy seemed rather reserved this time around.Still, with pop gems that would make Depeche Mode jealous, the Aussie band gave the kids what they wanted: polished songs with unbelievably catchy hooks. Seriously, we had their sophomore effort,…
Sunday, a day typically reserved for Jesus. And if I were a praying man, I’d probably throw on a pair of kakis and confess that I was involved in a massive seaside dry-hump last night. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Over the course of seven hours, this indie…
You tweetcasted from the port-a-potty. You got goofy and sunburned with Simian Mobile Disco, Boys Noize, and a middle-aged, glowstick-wielding paramedic at Day Two of Ultra Music Festival. And then (so long as you didn’t overdo it and pass out in a trash pile behind the Tower of Ultra) your…
Sure, you could have been at the Fool’s Gold party at Grand Central — a decent enough choice. But you would have missed out on the next-level shit. The Overthrow and Trouble & Bass’ Black Magick party at the Overthrow Castle surely had a darker vibe than other festivities last…
