Ultra Music Festival 2018

Ultra Music Festival 2018

Photo: Sergi Alexander/Getty Images

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Ultra Music Festival Moves To Bigger, Better Location In Miami For 2019 Event

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The dance music event will celebrate its 21st year in its new home in Virginia Key
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 16, 2018 - 5:52 pm

On Nov. 15 Ultra Music Festival announced their flagship festival will officially move to a new, larger location in Miami, Virginia Key, following approval from the City of Miami. The 21st edition of the huge electronic dance music event will take place on March 29-31, 2019, following Winter Music Conference and to close out Miami Music Week.

Virginia Key is an 863-acre freeway-accessible island in Miami home to the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park and Miami Marine Stadium Flex Park, the festival's new event space. Ultra explains the new ocean-side location is significantly larger than their former venue at Bayfront Park, located in downtown Miami. The new, bigger space has allowed Ultra to increase their attendee capacity and offer more tickets than in prior years, as well as extending the event end time until 2:00 a.m. each day.

"We are excited to announce that the City of Miami has agreed to a deal to relocate Ultra Music Festival to the beautiful and historic Virginia Key," Ultra said in a statement. "The new venue will allow the festival to evolve into its new, larger home, ultimately creating a more enjoyable experience for all festival attendees. We look forward to a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with our partners at the City of Miami and Historic Virginia Key Beach Park as we commemorate keeping Ultra in the City of Miami."
 
Ultra also acknowledged the "cultural and historic significance" of Virginia Key Beach, which was a safe gathering place for Miami's black population during the dark times of segregation, and has committed to honor the location's history and take care of its natural environment. The partnership with Ultra and the city will allow around $20 million to be set aside for the county's first African American Museum.

Emilio Gonzalez, Miami City Manager, said the agreement "keeps this world-renowned event in our global city, while providing operating funds for a long-desired African American History Museum at Historic Virginia Key Beach."

Ultra Music Festival began in 1999 in Miami when now-President/CEO Russell Faibisch threw the first event with the late Alex Omes. It began as a celebratory event in March the weekend following Winter Music Conference, as many world-renowned DJs and producers from around the world were already in town for the conference. As both events grew and the festival gained more and more loyal fans and performers, Ultra grew to offer spin-off festivals worldwide, under the Ultra Worldwide brand.

The company announced last year that they had purchased the conference, streamlining all events as part of Miami Music Week. The revamped conference, traditionally geared towards those working in electronic music, will now include two segments: an educational segment for music consumers to learn about the industry in addition to one aimed at industry professionals.

More info and tickets for Ultra Music Festival are available on their website.

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Ultra Music Festival 2018

Ultra Music Festival 2018

Photo: Sergi Alexander/Getty Images

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Ultra Music Festival Will No Longer Be Held In Miami

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"We are now finalizing a new South Florida location that will serve as an incredible and permanent home," reads a statement from the festival
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
May 9, 2019 - 1:18 pm

Yesterday, March 8, Ultra Music Festival announced via an official statement that they will no longer be holding their flagship event in Miami and are "finalizing a new South Florida location."

The now-global electronic music company wrapped up its 21st annual fest in Miami on March 31, this time at a new location in Virginia Key, a small island a few miles from Miami proper, accessible by causeway.

Following the event, as reported by the Miami Herald, the contract allowing Ultra Music Fest to take place at Virginia Key would be automatically renewed for 2020 unless either Ultra or the City of Miami revoked it within 60 days after the event had ended. The Herald says that on Wednesday, Ultra delivered a letter to the city stating they would be withdrawing from their partnership, a day before City of Miami commissioners were scheduled to vote on the matter.

Ultra's public statement explains they came to the decision after listening to feedback from the most recent event, writing; "the festival experience on Virginia Key was simply not good enough." The event suffered from transportation issues when the majority of attendees tried to leave the island at the same time.

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The letter to fans explains the organizers are working on finding a new home for the 2020 fest, taking it out of Miami County for the first time, but keeping it in Southern Florida.

"We are now finalizing a new South Florida location that will serve as an incredible and permanent home for Ultra Music Festival," the statement continues. "We are in the process of putting the finishing touches on the final details that will ensure that this new location allows us to deliver the incredible experience that our loyal fans expect and deserve."

Paavo Siljamäki At Miami Winter Music Conference

In 2018, Ultra Worldwide acquired Winter Music Conference, Miami's longtime electronic music industry event and the place where the first Ultra Music Fest began in 1999, originally as a supplemental party to the event that has brought big-name DJ/producers to Miami for decades. The housing of WMC under the Ultra umbrella was envisioned to realign the two major electronic music events, with 2019 once again seeing the conference lead into the festival weekend. It is unclear how the festival's new home will affect the timing of these two big events.

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CRSSD Festival Spring 2019

CRSSD Festival Spring 2019

Photo: Felicia Garcia

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CRSSD Fest Fall 2019: Hot Chip, Yaeji, Kaskade, FISHER, Portugal. The Man & More

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KAYTRANADA, Richie Hawtin, Amelie Lens, Eli & Fur, MK, Shiba San and Walker & Royce are among some of the other artists bringing fire to the bi-annual San Diego festival
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
May 29, 2019 - 7:35 pm

Today, CRSSD Festival announced its phase one fall lineup, which includes GRAMMY winners Portugal. The Man, GRAMMY nominees Hot Chip, FISHER, and Kaskade. Beloved beats maestros Yaeji and KAYTRANADA, techno heavy-hitters Richie Hawtin and Amelie Lens and house music favorites MK and Eli & Fur will also perform at the event, which returns to its scenic oceanside home at Waterfront Park in San Diego, Calif. on Sept. 28–29.

Since its launch in spring 2015, the bi-annual fest has earned a reputation as being one of the California's top electronic music events, bringing a solid mix of rising and established talent in the house, techno, electro-pop worlds.

This year, dance music legend and festival favorite Kaskade will be tapering down his EDC-level production for a special edition of his Redux show, where he offers deep cuts and a more intimate club-inspired vibe. Dirtybird Records labelmates and tech house performers Shiba San and Walker & Royce will be playing a collab B2B set, while Chicago underground house trailblazers Derrick Carter and Mark Farina will also be doing a B2B show.

In addition to the beautiful California coast music festival experience CRSSD offers, they also take over San Diego with "CRSSD By Day" and "After Dark" parties that will keep the world-class dance music bumping all day and night.

Tickets go on sale Tues., June 11. More info, including the complete phase one lineup, can be found on CRSSD's site.

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Swedish House Mafia at the GRAMMY Awards, 2013

Swedish House Mafia

Photo: Steve Granitz/Getty Images

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Swedish House Mafia Shock Ultra 2018 As Surprise Headliner

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The legendary trio resurfaced as Ultra 2018's surprise closing headliner, their first official gig together in five years
Brian Haack
GRAMMYs
Mar 26, 2018 - 12:18 pm

The five years since Swedish House Mafia closed out Ultra Music Festival 2013 – capping off the final show date of their "One Last Tour" and closing the chapter on what was ostensibly to be their final show together as SHM – have seen vast changes in the landscape of dance music.

Much of the melodic, up-tempo and trance-inspired sounds of progressive house that once universally dominated festival mainstages have been largely replaced by aggressive breaks, dissonant chopped vocals and hard bass drops more akin to turn-up trap music and American dubstep. "Raging" has fully replaced "raving," as some of us might say about the current state of the scene.

So when rumors of an SHM reunion began to quietly circulate about the industry over the past months, then more fervently throughout Miami over the past week as Miami Music Week and Ultra Music Festival 2018 began to kick into high gear, there were certainly questions of how the group's sound would stack up for a new generation of festival goers in an era when the sound of a scene can evolve dramatically in just five years.

Swedish House Mafia's Miami poster campaign, 2018

Posters teasing SHM's return on the streets of Miami
Photo: Nate Hertweck/Recording Academy

But as fans walking the streets of Miami this past weekend began to notice sly posters incorporating SHM's trademark three circles artwork interpolated with a variety of major brand logos, it became increasingly clear how much rising excitement there was among the gathered crowds over the possibility of seeing Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Steve Angello once again standing next to each other onstage under the banner of Swedish House Mafia.

And on Sunday night, as the lights came up on the mainstage after an extended production break setting up the unbelievable displays of high-definition video, lasers and choreographed pyrotechnics, all doubts were washed away.

In an unbelievably high-energy set weaving through every major hit from SHM's remarkably deep catalogue, alongside key productions from all three members' solo careers, the trio also managed to deliver a lesson in deep-cut big room house that festivalgoers will very rarely see on modern mainstages.

From updated  renditions of classic SHM tunes like "Leave The World Behind" to a surprising nod to trap music courtesy of a bombastic new remix of the Knife Party-collab track "Antidote," the boys showed that they may have gone their separate ways over the past years, but they certainly have not gone away. In the hours following their closing set – complete with huge sing-alongs of their GRAMMY-nominated tracks "Save The World" and "Don't You Worry Child" and a final encore of the Pharrell Williams-featuring "One (Your Name)" – social media was afire with tweets and posts from DJs and fans around the world lauding the return of the sound of progressive house, and soon #SwedishHouseMafia was one of the top global trending topics on Twitter.

As Axwell proudly announced during the opening chords of "Save The World": "This is not just about Swedish House Mafia getting back together. This is three friends who have not seen each other in five years! …It's Swedish House Mafia for life this time!"

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Coachella 2019

Coachella 2019

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella

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Report: Coachella & Stagecoach 2020 Rumored To Be Postponed Due To Coronavirus Concerns

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Riverside County, home to the fests' famed Empire Polo Club, has already declared a public health emergency following the first locally contracted case of coronavirus last week
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Mar 10, 2020 - 1:39 pm

Amid the rampant spread of coronavirus fear, more domestic cases and the cancelation of Ultra Miami, SXSW and a growing number of events, rumors abound over the possible cancelation of Coachella 2020. At the time of this publishing, Goldenvoice, the organizers behind Coachella and Stagecoach (which is also rumored to be in the works for postponement) have not officially canceled or postponed either event, although many outlets have spoken to sources who claim that a plan will be announced soon.

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Over the weekend, Riverside County, home to the fests' famed Empire Polo Club, officially declared a public health emergency, following the first locally contracted case of coronavirus. A total of three cases are currently reported in the county, while the California total has hit the 174 mark. According to Billboard (dated March 9), conversations between Goldenvoice, local Riverside officials and artists' talent teams began this weekend in an attempt to save the fest.

The outlet alleges that the two-weekend event, currently slated for April 10-12 and 17-19, may be rescheduled to Oct. 9-11 and Oct. 16-18. Stagecoach, which is slated for April 24-26, may be moved to Oct. 23-25. According to sources, organizers hope to make a final decision by tomorrow, March 11, around whether the event should be pushed to the fall or will need to be canceled this year.

Other outlets, as well as users on Reddit and Twitter, have also widely reported on this rumor over the past 12 hours or so, including the music writer who claims to have broken the rumor in the tweet above.

In the case of both Ultra (and the adjacent Winter Music Conference in Miami) and SXSW, which were canceled on March 6, both events were previously still slated to occur later this month until local officials declared a state of emergency. Coachella Valley news outlet Desert Sun notes that while the county has declared a state of emergency, as of today, local health officials are not urging for cancelation of either Coachella or Stagecoach, as scheduled for April. While Coachella has not issued an official statement on the event's status yet, they have been keeping a winking eye on the Twitter talk.

Frank Ocean, Rage Against The Machine, Travis Scott, Calvin Harris, Lana Del Rey, FKA twigs, Flume, Thom Yorke are all are on the bill as major performers at Coachella 2020. Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett and Eric Church are slated to headline Stagecoach 2020. Whether the events continue as planned or are rescheduled or canceled, it is not yet known who will perform. At the time of this publishing, no artists have officially dropped out of either event.

A growing number of artists, including Madonna, Khalid, BTS and many others have postponed or canceled some of their 2020 tour legs and/or other shows due to all the uncertainty around the coronavirus and ability to travel and gather in large crowds.

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