it was a beautiful day on my second ever return to Bayfront Park for Ultra this year. i was so primed for this one...i have not been out to the clubs in a while...i have got to stop that bad habit...i go to miami every day for work now, after all... anyway, I was ready for Ultra to bring it this year, with whatever it had to deliver (i was sick last year and had to leave early). And Ultra did deliver. It's a tough call to say which was my favorite...loosing myself on Bad Boy Bill's smooth mystical ride in the Subliminal Sessions tent, or throbbing with the fullest force of the Ultra crowd at the ampitheater, with Paul Van Dyk bringing it home with the incredibly apt "Time of My Life." My friend Natasha and I arrived at the festivities around 1...we took our time coming down from Broward. We kind of bumbled around in the bright sunshine for the first hour, taking in the outrageous and whimsical outfits, beauty of the park and ocean, and strains of music from everywhere. We wandered over to the Ampitheater and were inadvertently drawn in to Infected Mushroom's set. It had strong driving force and multi-dimension...engaging vocals and house rhythms. Our next stop was the Subliminal Sessions tent, to arrive before Bad Boy Bill took the stage. Jorge Jaramillo had a strong command of the tent already...the schedule was already running way over. BBB eventually assumed the decks and his sweet mystic energy began pouring out. His set seemed a bit more subdued than his other one I had seen at Crobar. Maybe he was trying to match the time of day...either way, I loved it...gorgeous mix of synthesizers, bass and percussion...he gave me an early rush...the crowd was surprisingly on the light side but I could tell people loved it...a small breakdancing circle formed on the back corner of the wood dance floor, with one extremely talented guy who could execute head spinning very well. Later, we headed over to the Breaks tent to try to catch Baby Anne, who I had seen last fall at Voodoo Lounge and was blown away. Unfortunately, we didn't see her. She was scheduled to go on at 6, we arrived at 6:15. I am guessing that what we actually say was Icey's set, which I did not particularly care for. There was too much interruption of the music just for the sake of shouting and plugging the audience. We ended up waiting all through that set, thinking Baby Anne was going to come on afterward, but we waited in vain...as a result we also missed Paul Oakenfold. I was pretty bummed about that. But then we headed back over to the Ampitheater and caught the tail end of Junkie XL's set. They were keeping the Ampitheater on a very tight schedule aiming to end precisely at midnight because there was an afterparty you could attend from 12-6 am, for an extra $30, which we did not attend. Once there, we heard from others that Moby had been insane... So Tiesto kicked off precisely on schedule for his two hour set. He was introduced as the number one DJ in the world and given props for his recent performance at the Olympics. I give Tiesto credit...he has a nice mellow vibe and it is intoxicating. But after getting to know his style better after this Ultra, I find him less interesting than some of the more adventurous DJs, like Paul Oakenfold or Paul Van Dyk. I find that others explore many more ranges of emotion, atmosphere and tone than Tiesto... I found in Paul Van Dyk's set what I had been missing in Tiesto's...the exhilerating builds and releases, rhythm and sound that seemed to penetrate deep into the soul of the audience...some people shouted out in joy....there were some rapturous moments there, under the gleaming white moon which rose higher and higher, and the green rays emanating from the stage, as clear eliptical balloons floated in between, catching the brilliant hues and seeming like green molten metal in mid-air... I was thinking that PVD would probably play "Connected," which I had come to greatly enjoy from the radio. As his last song came due, I waited in anticipation...but "Time of My Life" played instead. "It's certainly appropriate," I remarked...a girl vacationing from Pensacola I had just met turned around and smiled in agreement. The song really did do the night justice...it was the final reward after climbing the mountain of the day, and bound us into the glory of the moment...realizing how sweet life was at that particular moment, at the pinnacle of Ultra...making us feel so young, alive and free....and the song has an incredible melody as well. As I walked back out the gates, I was already longing for when Ultra takes over Bayfront Park again...all that I have seen and heard today is still resounding strong in my head...and probably still in my dreams tonight...
