With sequins and flags, Ultra fans follow event to its new site
Early morning showers made way for sunshine early Friday afternoon as electronic dance music fans from across the country — some dressed in equally bright sequin-covered get-ups that left little to the imagination — huddled in vibrant snaking lines and hopped onto one of the 230 air-conditioned buses headed to Virginia Key Beach.
As the Ultra Music Festival moved for the first time in seven years from the skyscraper-surrounded Bayfront Park to a more intimate spot just across the Rickenbacker Causeway, fans were directed to three pickup locations across the metro area: lots near the Omni, the AmericanAirlines Arena, and Vizcaya Gardens. A ferry also took people from Bayfront Park to the Key.
Luis Vera, 29, wore a teal-and-red watermelon pattern on his T-shirt and shorts.
He said the separated stages at Ultra — main stage and Resistance Island — served as a buffer between mainstream fans and those with a more nuanced taste in electronic music.
Moving away from the concrete jungle to an idyllic setting, and sharing the new experience with strangers aboard the same bus, excited him.
“I think it’s a lot better,” he said. “At festivals, you want to be a little more secluded.”
The roughly mile-long trek between the glitzy, radio-ready Main Stage and the more desolate, hypnotic Resistance Island caused some complaints among Ultra visitors, although techno fans said sequestering Resistance Island assured that those who made the walk were more invested in the throbbing, hard-core techno music played there.
Mosquitoes were a constant nag on the Resistance Island, forcing Ultra to provide bug repellent.
At both venues, the music was blasting loud enough to feel the bass in your chest — and it was audible at the nearby Miami Seaquarium.
Police and fire rescue patrolling the venue wore ear plugs.
Chris O’Neal, who flew in from Texas, wore an American-themed sombrero and attended the festival with friends. He said the new transportation methods made the festival seem like more of an adventure