OUI: Cedric Gervais at the new Story. (Seth Browarnik/WorldRedEye.com)
If you thought three days of the world’s greatest DJs performing on outdoor stages in Miami was enough of an electronic dance-music bender, you were wrong. This year’s Ultra Music Festival (ultramusicfestival.com), celebrating its 15th anniversary, will offer two long weekends of shows — March 15-17 and March 22-24 — at Bayfront Park. Basically, on seven different stages, every DJ you’ve ever heard of (and loads you haven’t) will be performing at some point over the six-day run.
Deadmau5, David Guetta, Tiesto, Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia all play both weekends and provide just a taste of who’s spinning. Festival co-founder Russell Faibisch promises that attendees “will see technology so cutting-edge that it has never been used in any outdoor music festival.” Does this mean we should expect more than dancing robots and confetti guns? He demurs on divulging details but adds, “Each weekend will be a different experience. You might see the same artists, but the concerts they put on will be very different.”
Much as Faibisch is bullish on Ultra, he acknowledges that it’s 11 days of ancillary parties that help make this time in Miami really special. Known by the boring-sounding sobriquet Miami Music Week, March 14-24 is an opportunity to see your favorite DJs at some of the country’s coolest night spots.
“Ultra impacts Miami like the sun impacts planet Earth,” says David Grutman, operating partner of super-club LIV and the new and even bigger DJ destination Story. One LIV highlight for those with adventurous ears will be Laidback Luke’s “Super You and Me” on March 20. It’s a superhero-themed bash that features up-and-coming talent. It’s where Afrojack, Calvin Harris and Skrillex all played before they were famous. “Every big DJ comes here to see who the hot new DJ will be,” Grutman says. “If a bomb goes off [in the club] that night, there will be no more superstar DJs.”
Hoping for the best, we’re also looking forward to Steve Angello (March 15) and Tiesto (March 21) at LIV, where you look down on the dance floor upon walking in and descend a staircase to make the entrance of your dreams. Story, Grutman and Chris Paciello’s massive new spot, which features tables tiered right behind the DJ booth — make your way past a massive bodyguard at the booth’s entrance and you’ll be shoulder-to-shoulder with your favorite beat mixer — could cause the street to close for David Guetta’s F*** Me I’m Famous (March 22), Armin van Buuren (March 24) and Miami S*** Show with Cedric Gervais (March 14). That last one will be “Miami Vice”-themed, complete with inebriated midgets jet-skiing in a kiddie pool.
The Opium Group’s venerable mega-club Mansion — you’ll know you’re there when you see half-naked women doing acrobatics over your head — will feature Porter Robinson (March 15), Hardwell (March 21) and the incomparable Afrojack (with some prominent surprise guests, if recent history is any indication) wrapping things up on March 23. Opium’s newly renovated Set, an intimate boîte with just 14 tables (available only by referral) and booze bottles delivered via zip-lining couriers, debuts on March 15 with Brazilian superstar Tatiana Fontes. One week later, Bob Sinclar headlines for an elite and international crowd.
Not to be outdone, Miami’s top hotels step up with big nights of their own: At the Gale South Beach’s Rec Room, which has been designed to resemble “a porno basement from the 1970s,” Jelly Bean Benitez will throw a Studio 54 party — brought up-to-date with appearances from Diplo and Jillionaire (March 20). Step below the giant disco ball at the Delano’s Euro-style FDR where Nicky Romero, Nervo and space-suit wearing Manufactured Superstars will turn the entire club into a dance floor on March 21. Inside the W South Beach’s loungey Wall, it will be a Swedish extravaganza with Axwell (March 19), plus Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso (both on March 22).
The music will start during the day all over Miami, with hotels putting on sexy pool parties starring Bingo Players (Shelborne, March 19), Steve Aoki and Felix da Housecat (Raleigh, March 21 and 22, respectively) and Size Matters featuring Steve Angello, AN21 and Max Vangeli (Fontainebleau Ocean Lawn, March 21). There’ll be a rooftop party with brunch and DJs including Pillow Talk and Paul Woolford (Gale, March 19-21), and Luciano heads up the 10-year anniversary bash for Cadenza Records (Delano Beach Club, March 21).
As of now, tickets for many shows remain available online, but the hottest entries are going fast. What do we do if we want to get into a big event after it sells out? Grutman advises, “You better have a big table reservation [which could cost anywhere from $2,500 to $6,000] or be a hot girl.”