Ok so today we were all pretty beat up from the insanity from the earlier two days so we didn't get to ultra fest until later in the day. Given our somewhat exhausted demeanor, we chose to just hang by the mainstage and see Duran Duran (surprisingly entertaining) Pendulum (very good but set was too long) a small set by Tinnie Tempah (literally saw him less than 24 hours before so no surprises) and TIESTO! (will comment more in a bit).
Thoughts on the festival set up as compared to last year: Pros/Cons
Cons:
- The park in which the festival was held was partially under construction, meaning even more people in even less space.
- The parts of the park that were not closed off were still pretty beat up , very rocky and dusty
- bathroom situation day 1 was horrendous, but they definitely shuffled things around for the rest of the festival
- the festival itself had unfortunately gotten very commercial. While the music and talent clearly had not, the crowd seemed really "commercial"....meaning essentially that it seemed like many of the "kids" there this year in their full neon gear, pacifiers, and LED gloves seemed as though they were probably still listening to hip-hop a year and had accidentally stumbled across an e-pill over the last year and now they're "hooked" and they "get it" and they "hear the beats even when the music stops" and "see the colors when the close their eyes" and they judge you for drinking a beer. I mean, to argue what came first the drugs or the music could turn into a 30 page dissertation, so that is not my point. Additionally, I love that electronic music is in the mainstream, because I think everyone should be exposed to it, so that is not my point either. My point is simply that motives behind going to events like these have unfortunately become somewhat skewed...these kids don't "get" the music - hell, they've only been listening to it for six months and now all of the sudden they've had spiritual awakenings and it's all they think and talk about...right - they care about the music so much they need to all pass out on top of eachother and rub eachother during some of the best DJ's in the world....right, of course, you guys get it.
Listen, I'm not saying I'm any kind of almighty power in the world of house music, and I'm not saying those kids aren't free to do whatever they want, and I'm not saying every show I go to, may friends and I are 100% sober (we're defintely not hehe)- all I'm saying is that I've been into the music way even before I ever had a drink. It's just a little disheartening to see SUCH an increase from last year to this year in that population of people which I just described...listen: do whatever you want to do to have fun, just do it maturely and don't act like it's your first time, everytime - dance, jump, smile, rage - don't sit, sweat, lay and rub - it's not a good look.
The Pros:
- water and beverage lines actually moved quite quickly
- every stage was absolutely insane
- the carl cox/ a state of trance arena was one of the COOLEST structures i have ever seen (a two story tent structure)
ANYWHO sorry about that little rant. TIESTO- he was....well....typical Tiesto....not playing a bad set by any means at all, but torturing his long-time fans by not playing any classics...surrounded by cameras, a very ego-filled Tiesto would not get off the microphone this year. I don't know if he's been hitting the Rosetta Stone because his English was, well, better - or at least he seemed to think so. All that aside, his set was still very, very good. Dropped all his bombs from Kaleidoscope, along with 076, C'mon, DirtySouth's "I'm coming home" (which was another ultra anthem), Awooga. I am very intrigued and excited for him to officially release what he referred to as his "experimental track" - the quality is terrible, but here it is. Additionally, it was really cool how he looped the "Tiesto's Club Life" watermark throughout his set, and his closing with the extended version of "Feel it in My Bones", themed green lightshow and music video complete with synched up FIREWORK display was probably the most emotional point of his set, and the reason why as much as I hate him, I love him. View that video here (around 2:45) No matter how much you frustrate me Tiesto, you can still give me goosebumps.
After a horrendously long time, we finally got a cab back to South Beach - we hit up the No Sugar Added party at Nikki Beach around 2am and it was pretty beat so we decided to just call it a night.
No comments:
Post a Comment