Ultra Music Festival 2014 received a LOT of attention this year, both positive and negative. In fact, Rumour has it that Miami city officials want Ultra Music Festival out of Miami.

Source: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/03/30/miami-city-official-calls-for-end-to-ultra-music-fest/

Thoughts?

It means there's hope for ASOT 700

meh... i lost all hope in festivals around the time Love Parade happened. Mediocre artists opening for Mediocre headliners

i've never been to a UMF seeing as how i live 100s of miles away, unless you count watching the last ever set of Swedish House Mafia via youtube as going to it. Nowadays i'm assuming its nothing but "epic"-style hardstyle drops. I hope they don't cancel EDC and Electric Zoo in NY.

Well, pretty much every major festival in America plays the same music...^ lol
It's a damn shame what has happened with Ultra. The crowd has gotten worse as far as people acting like animals. But, that is from the whole "EDM" scene that has obviously taken over. Everyone is high off their ass, majority of them don't even care about the music. When I first heard the news that a security guard was trampled by idiots trying to sneak in, I was disgusted. I really doubt the festival will be canceled though....but if it is, then yes, there is hope for ASOT 700 in Miami! haha. ASOT needs to get away from Ultra!!!

Back in the Early 2000's Ultra was epic. $99 for the weekend and some of the most amazing acts around.
Now, its over priced, has over hyped electro house / brostep artists playing all the same stuff, the people are a nightmare...basically it went from being one of the premier electronic festivals in the US to being a money grubbing crud fest.

I have wanted to go to ASOT for several years but with Armin being at Ultra, it always meant spending hundreds for just one day. Not worth it.

I may sound old.. but man... I really miss old school Global Gathering, Sensation White /Black and Coloursfest.

Originally posted by Itscaitlin

Well, pretty much every major festival in America plays the same music...^ lol
It's a damn shame what has happened with Ultra. The crowd has gotten worse as far as people acting like animals. But, that is from the whole "EDM" scene that has obviously taken over. Everyone is high off their ass, majority of them don't even care about the music. When I first heard the news that a security guard was trampled by idiots trying to sneak in, I was disgusted. I really doubt the festival will be canceled though....but if it is, then yes, there is hope for ASOT 700 in Miami! haha. ASOT needs to get away from Ultra!!!

Agreed, John o'Callaghan B2B Aly & Fila and Kaskade was the only sets i downloaded, as i said before everything sounds the same at this point,

Originally posted by R33

I may sound old.. but man... I really miss old school Global Gathering, Sensation White /Black and Coloursfest.

Yep, I miss Sensation White as well, but even more Mysteryland. Was my favorite festival for years, absolutely loved it! That was the highlight of the year for me! Till they cut off all trance from it. While sometimes they even had 2 trance stages before! Now from the 17-20 stages in total, nothing. Fuck ID&T. They killed it, just like Sensation and Trance Energy. And I'm sure they will do the same soon with Tomorrowland. Practically allowing only Belgian to enter was the 1st signal of it, going abbroad with TomorrowWorld (just like they did with Trance Energy in Australia) was the 2nd signal.

Global Gathering's line up this year is a joke. I was there last year and vowed never to go back. Unfortunately trance is the forgotten genre at some festivals nowadays.

Even with Coloursfest the last few years we have taken a back seat but thankfully they seen the light and given us our own arena which Subculture tore to pieces last year.

Lets hope Armada Nights can do the same this year.

Originally posted by Remco

Yep, I miss Sensation White as well, but even more Mysteryland. Was my favorite festival for years, absolutely loved it! That was the highlight of the year for me! Till they cut off all trance from it. While sometimes they even had 2 trance stages before! Now from the 17-20 stages in total, nothing. Fuck ID&T. They killed it, just like Sensation and Trance Energy. And I'm sure they will do the same soon with Tomorrowland. Practically allowing only Belgian to enter was the 1st signal of it, going abbroad with TomorrowWorld (just like they did with Trance Energy in Australia) was the 2nd signal.

Yea it is a shame what happened to ID&T... they were epic. One of the biggest names in Trance and really helped release amazing tunes / albums and hold some awesome events. Not to mention its where ASOT got its start.

Dont know why they went the route that they did, but its truly a shame.

Ultra has been spared the boot this year but is taking extra measures to avoid the brutal events of last year.

In addition to allowing only persons aged 18+ to enter the event, Ultra has now made a LENGTHY list of items prohibited from the festival:

-No Illegal or illicit substances, drugs, or drug paraphernalia
-No weapons of any kind including, but not limited to, pocket knives or self defense sprays
-No flammable items or liquids including aerosols and fireworks
-No markers, pens or spray paint
-No backpacks, purses, or bags allowed except bags made of clear plastic, clear vinyl, or clear PVC not exceeding 13"x17"
-No stuffed animals
-No facial masks
-No outside food or beverage including alcohol
-No bottles, cans, canteens, flasks, or coolers
-No opened over the counter medication or eye drops
-No opened packs of cigarettes or tampons
-No pacifiers, glow sticks
-No balloons, balls, inflatable balls, Frisbees or flying disks
-No umbrellas, chairs, blankets, sleeping bags or tents
-No bicycles, skateboards, scooters, or personal motorized vehicles
-No animals except for service animals assisting an individual with a disability
-No large chains, chained wallets or spiked jewelry
-No laser pens, laser pointers, or similar focused light devices
-No water guns, squirt guns, spray bottles or misters
-No musical instruments, noisemakers or air horns
-No whistles
-No professional cameras, flash cameras or video and audio recording equipment, or camera poles
-No poles, sticks, or "totems"

'No glow sticks', I love that new rule! You can always pick out the Americans at Dutch festivals with those ridiculous glow sticks hahahaha.

Originally posted by R33

Armin being at Ultra, it always meant spending hundreds for just one day.

And that is to me the main reason ASOT shouldn't be at Ultra. Way to treat your fans Armin!

The ASOT celebrations were with free entrance till 350. It was his gift to his fans as a thank you for their support. At 400 it went indoor for the first time and so they had to ask an entrance fee, but they kept it low with €10. Now it has turned into a commercial event as well, €55 in Utrecht. Of course it's probably the right price for an event this size, but it was not wat ASOT was about and like you said, with having it done at Ultra he 'forces' his fans to pay hundreds of dollars. Or maybe he doesn't expect his fans to go there and he just prefers the usual Ultra visitors. Seeing line-ups with mainly non-trance artists I wouldn't be surprised. Miami always gets the worst line-up from all ASOT events.

Originally posted by Remco

And that is to me the main reason ASOT shouldn't be at Ultra. Way to treat your fans Armin!

The ASOT celebrations were with free entrance till 350. It was his gift to his fans as a thank you for their support. At 400 it went indoor for the first time and so they had to ask an entrance fee, but they kept it low with €10. Now it has turned into a commercial event as well, €55 in Utrecht.

I converted that and the Utrecht event came out to $60 (as of this posting €1=$1.08).

That's about only 15% of what Ultra Miami is charging. (They are in the final stages of selling tickets which go for $450 or €415).

Europe has events that are just as massive as (if not MORE than) Ultra Miami, but yet it seems that European EDM events cost WAAAAY less than here.

As a matter of fact, Ultra expanded to have shows worldwide recently. Some of the international shows are in Croatia and Ibiza. The Croatia event only costs €139 or $150.

Originally posted by Remco

And that is to me the main reason ASOT shouldn't be at Ultra. Way to treat your fans Armin!

The ASOT celebrations were with free entrance till 350. It was his gift to his fans as a thank you for their support. At 400 it went indoor for the first time and so they had to ask an entrance fee, but they kept it low with €10. Now it has turned into a commercial event as well, €55 in Utrecht. Of course it's probably the right price for an event this size, but it was not wat ASOT was about and like you said, with having it done at Ultra he 'forces' his fans to pay hundreds of dollars. Or maybe he doesn't expect his fans to go there and he just prefers the usual Ultra visitors. Seeing line-ups with mainly non-trance artists I wouldn't be surprised. Miami always gets the worst line-up from all ASOT events.

So glad I got to go to ASOT 250 at Club Asta. That was an epic event and I still listen to the recording to it quite often. Free to get in and was just a lovely group of people there. I really miss that.

Originally posted by DJRANZ

I converted that and the Utrecht event came out to $60 (as of this posting €1=$1.08).

That's about only 15% of what Ultra Miami is charging. (They are in the final stages of selling tickets which go for $450 or €415).

Europe has events that are just as massive as (if not MORE than) Ultra Miami, but yet it seems that European EDM events cost WAAAAY less than here.

As a matter of fact, Ultra expanded to have shows worldwide recently. Some of the international shows are in Croatia and Ibiza. The Croatia event only costs €139 or $150.

True, Ultra prices are insane, I saw the fees. But for us the ASOT fees are now almost the same as festivals like Mysteryland and Dance Valley. It's a lot of money for our standards . Fees at Trance events at ADE for example are mostly between €10 and €25. 10 hours of Menno Solo, €15. Luminosity Beach Festival €35 per day with 11 hours and 2 stages of massive trance per day. Just to name a few examples.

Originally posted by R33

So glad I got to go to ASOT 250 at Club Asta. That was an epic event and I still listen to the recording to it quite often. Free to get in and was just a lovely group of people there. I really miss that.

True it was already indoor at Asta for 250, forgot about that one. Massive that you've been there! I wasn't following it as much yet back then and only read about it the day after and I was gutted! Still gutted I missed that one actually. It was practically in my back yard (only 15min drifing from my house). Was it also free entrance or just a small fee like at 400? Of course the size was much smaller and with its popularity nowadays no longer possible.

Btw, Asta closed it's doors about 2 years ago. Well, it's still called Asta and it has the same characteristic letters on the building, but there's a casino in it now It's where I saw Menno for the first time (playing after Tiësto) in 2006 and where I became a fan of him instantly. Sweet memories