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Ultra Music Festival Brings Music Lovers to Downtown

Posted on: Sunday, 26 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By Michael Hamersly, The Miami Herald

Mar. 26--A more effective layout helped this year's Ultra Music Festival crowd warm

It was a chilly Saturday night in South Florida, especially for late March. But tens of thousands of dance music lovers at downtown Miami's Bicentennial Park were oblivious to the unseasonal weather at the eighth-annual Ultra Music Festival.

Party people had dozens of DJs to choose from at this signature Winter Music Conference event, spinning every conceivable style and spread out across the sprawling bayside space in tents and on specialty stages.

This year's Ultra -- moved from last year's labyrinthine Bayfront Park setup -- ran much more efficiently; it was well-laid out with easy access to all tents, and the acts were on-time.

And usually, festivals such as Ultra save the best for last. Not so this year -- world-renowned DJs Danny Howells, D:Fuse, David Waxman, DJ Rap, Darren Emerson, Junior Sanchez, Seb Fontaine and Robby Rivera all finished their sets long before dark.

After the sun went down, Roni Size heated up the drum 'n' bass tent as a large, enthusiastic crowd shouted joyfully in response to an MC urging, "When I say Roni, you say Size!"

Meanwhile, Carl Cox's intense tribal house and techno provided a trippy soundtrack for dozens of people swirling rainbow glowsticks while their flashing neon sunglasses, lollipops and necklaces pulsed along with the laser light show.

Outside nearby, John Ender Rios was spinning electro-house, representing Puerto Rico at the Caribbean Ultra tent and thrilling a sparse but lively group. At the Breakbeat Arena, Meat Katie's evil jungle beats sounded like Aphrodite with an electro-techno touch, while DJ Hell was pumping out manic rhythms at the Techno Stage.

Adding to the circus-like atmosphere were devilish female dancers with batons on fire putting on a sizzling show at a small, gated grassy area at the top of a hill, while wicked breakbeats blasted from the speakers.

Over at the main stage, headlining DJ Paul Oakenfold effectively mixed progressive house and trance, though the speakers sounded a bit thin and distorted.

The Killers, Spin Magazine's Band of the Year, offered a welcome rock alternative with hits including Somebody Told Me and Mr. Brightside, though the night's other headlining band, British big-beat snarlers The Prodigy, wasn't nearly as impressive.

The first 20 minutes of the show were alarmingly unremarkable, demonstrating why we haven't heard much from The Prodigy since 1997's groundbreaking album Fat Of the Land, featuring hit anthems Firestarter and Smack My B---- Up. The newer songs are empty, unnecessarily profane and misogynistic, sounding quite a bit like Zack de la Rocha-era Rage Against the Machine -- only if the politically motivated singer suddenly had nothing to say.

Compounding The Prodigy's problems were the three-minute waits in between songs -- a seemingly interminable gap at a festival where there were dozens of options to enjoy nonstop beats.

Ironically, the group repeatedly shouted, "Are you f------ ready Miami!?" during the breaks, as many of the crowd filed out in search of something more reliable.

Much more interesting was Junkie XL, aka Tom Holkenborg, on the other main stage. The infectious Amsterdam DJ had the crowd whooping and hopping up and down -- matching Holkenborg's obvious love of the music -- for a delirious hour of progressive house epics.

After his set, fellow Dutchman Sander Kleinenberg explored funky, experimental house while slinky dancers in feather boas and not much else prowled the stage.

Organizers had hoped to sell close to 50,000 tickets, and judging from the absolutely massive crowds -- it was impossible to even approach the entrance to the huge House Tent when Bad Boy Bill was laying down manic, squelchy beats -- they topped the mark.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

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Source: The Miami Herald

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