Featured | Why Oliver Heldens’ Bus Tour Is The Perfect Pre-Festival Season Warm-Up
Posted by Tay on February 18, 2016
While many industries learn from its past or repeat themselves year after year, the music industry, specifically dance music, typically functions cyclically. Every year, the beginning of the new year marks a time for new releases, as both superstar artists and up-and-comers unveil the tracks, EPs, and albums that they’ve been working on for the last couple of months. This wave of new releases in January usually paves the way for artists to embark on a quick, month-long tour in February, before festival season really gets going in March with the kick-off of Ultra Music Festival. Summer marks the second season of the year for releases, as artists that were on the road and playing festivals get their first opportunity to hit the studio before setting off on tour again until the close of festival season in November.
These February tours are special because they mark an unique opportunity to catch your favorite artist in an intimate, club setting, where they are more willing to push the creative boundaries of their set and try their hand with tracks that they’ve been working on in the studio, before they are thrown into the monotony of playing festival sets month after month. This year, some of dance music’s biggest artists, like Hardwell, deadmau5, and Oliver Heldens, are all setting off on tours that culminate with shows in Miami during the Winter Music Conference, and these smaller shows, like the ones on Oliver Heldens’ bus tour, are the perfect festival season warm-up to get the year off on the right foot.
Events | Ultra Music Festival 2013 — Weekend 2 Recap (Or, If I Never Hear “Clarity” Again, It Will Be Too Soon)
Posted by Spice on April 9, 2013
“You know, the mainstage doesn’t look that awesome this year. In fact, it kind of looks smaller than it did last year.”
I was sitting on a friend’s couch drinking a lukewarm Bud Light and watching Nicky Romero’s Weekend 1 set on a Macbook. We didn’t have the good speakers plugged in because someone was napping upstairs, so the sound was tinny and easy to talk over. The TV mounted to the wall was tuned to NCAA basketball with the volume off. It was early on Friday evening and I was in the process of getting over bronchitis. A bag of Doritos was making the rounds.
“Shit guys. This stage is bullshit.” I grabbed a fistful of Doritos and gestured at the computer. “Look at it. It’s just sitting there, being purple. God, the mainstage is going to effing suck this year.” My friends nodded sagely. I leaned back, satisfied that my point had hit home, and turned my attention to the basketball game.
Of all the things I’ve been wrong about in my life, this has got to be top three.
Events | Ultra Music Festival Phase 2 Lineup Announced
Posted by Middy on January 28, 2013
In case you missed it over the weekend, after announcing the first phase, Ultra announced the phase 2 lineup of the talent laden festival, adding 100s of names to its ridiculous bill. So imagine just about every Dj ever minus Daft Punk and add Snoop Dogg (Lion?). That is what Ultra is looking like this year with 100s of artists lined up over 7 stages over 2 weekends with Winter Music Conference packed in the middle. There is something for everybody here at Ultra. I could start listing them off, but it is pointless because everybody is there, so just check it out below to see the daily schedule for each stage and start the UMF countdown with 46 days left until Friday weekend one. Phase 3 will come shortly with Toolroom Knights and John Digweed’s Bedrock Records, so house fans be on the lookout for that.