FL, Miami - March 22-26th 2005, WMC all events listed **REVIEW**

[Zaixon]

I had the time of my life a ultra, def goin back next year!
We had no trouble with lines or anythin cause we didnt get there till like 5:45. My friends that were there earlier got their camera's and glowsticks taken away at the entrance. But i just walked right through with a whole bag of stuff and they didnt say anythin to me, we brought in our own water, cameras, glowsticks, etc. Just dancing around in some of those tents was insane! The lights and everything about it was amazing. I cant wait for next year's. We had our tickets since december haha.

we didnt attend the afterparty, I want to kno if its worth going to as to for next year. what were some of the good and bad things about it?

 

[cravNbeets]

def a long weekend to remember... or not remember as it were:D

no need to blather on about the everything i did so i'll just mention the highs and lows:

high points

getting to meet some new bluelighters:

trixee, neomagic (ever briefly), dj snaz, kasper, GerrUT, and sugafist. curses if im forgetting anyone but im sure if you saw me @ any point during the trip you'll understand

josh wink's set @ ultra:

that may have been the best set i saw all week. props to the organizers of the "carl cox and friends" tent, it was a really nice change of pace from a lot of the other crap that was goin on that day.

dj heather @ beach plaza hotel:

somehow i ended up on the list for this patio party with heather and like 100 people in attendance. danced and sweat my ass off but it was well worth it.

call a cabs from wet willy's:

mixing grain alcohol and fruit punch icees never seemed like such a good idea by far the best value on anything anywhere @ conference.

low points

~the fact that i bought 200 dollars worth of tickets to space and never went

~ THE FUCKING HEAT!!! seriously i'll take a rainy, drab, and dreary portland over hot and hazy

~waiting in line for nikki beach for 90 minutes and still being nowhere near the entrance

all in all this was an amazing week. always great to meet new people with whom you have instant rapport (namely trixeee and sugafist).

regarding ultra, you guys have to understand what it is you're getting into. first off to tk who just wants to bitch about the price of events and not attend, did you know that if you bought early enough tickets are as low as 35 dollars? im lazy and indecisive so i paid 83 at the door and it was well worth it.

secondly, the running water and the vending.... are you kidding me??? first of all you KNOW everything is gonna be taxed. i dont think that 5 dollars for water is bad considering it was between 7-10 in many clubs. AND if you were aware of your surroundings you didnt have to pay for a damn thing bc there were water tents all over the place where you could fill up (and yes wash your hands off) for free

i really do feel bad for those of you who paid for vip. if you would've asked most people who have paid for that in the past they would've prolly told you to save your money. thats one of the biggest dick outs in town. you get absolutely nothing in return for your 250 or however much they charge. pretty messed up.

anyway thats all i can muster now.... i'll post pics soon.

 

[TriXieee]

I have loads of pics that I'll gladly send to those who want them....or I might just upload them somewhere, just let me know. I was able to get my digicam into Ultra on the sly :D Oh yeah a review is to come soon I guess when I'm not feeling so lazy

 

[oneworld]

cravnbeets

Well maybe I wasn't aware enough of my surroundings, because I didn't see any water ANYWHERE. Someone mentioned earlier there was water under the spiral staircase. Well I walked in that area but not underneath it. If water was there, it wasn't obvious.

I know the promoters want to maximize profits. I didn't mind buying fresh water or soda. What I had a problem with, was not being able to wash my hands after using the portolets.

After using one portolet, I walked up to one soap/water dispenser, and it was shut off. I could not get any soap or water out of it. I expect better treatment than that for $83. That's all.

 

[Hypnotik1]

Oh yeah... I figured out the South Beach diet.... no sleep... lots of red bull.... walking from 22 to nikki beach and back... and dancing till 5 am. That will drop the pounds like nothing else.

hahah no shit........

I think i ate maybe once and walked 10 miles a day......i must have lost 10 lbs

 

[DJLA]

def a long weekend to remember... or not remember as it were:D

no need to blather on about the everything i did so i'll just mention the highs and lows:

high points

...i'm not mentioned anywhere...
low points

...i'm not mentioned anywhere...

wow. well, for the record andy and i saw eachother for the first time in well over a year at jerry's famous deli. unfortunately we never did hook back up but soon enough...

First i'll mention that i wasn't gonna go but was tortured by friends until we decided to drive down circa 8 pm wednesday night. miami is 18hour drive away.

mostly it was like living within 10 blocks of all your friends, restaraunts, the beach, and a buncha parties... we'd sleep late, then a round of cell calls would go out, people would get together, eat, then start roaming between parties and hotels and the beach. it was a really neat way to vacation.

Overall i had a great time although i can't say that i'd like to make that drive being the *only* driver again. I learned some other things too about how to *do* miami and learned a lot about people (and cars, thanks ben )

Our trip was way shorter than most folks 'cause we didn't even decide to leave until wednesday night, but it was like this:
thursday - left town about 11a and drove.
friday- still driving 'till around 6 am. slept about 3 hours then got up and ate at Jerry's Famous Deli and hooked back up with cravn then hooked up with NateFX, boof, trent, etc at the Fairwind for $20 all you can drink (with re-entry allowed) then headed to the Miami Botanical Gardens for an awesome day-party featuring Slater Hogan, John Larner, q-burns, trevor, miles maeda. it was a DOPE party venue, we roamed around the gardens...nice. after that it was back to hang out a bit, shower, eat pizza by the slice, then head to a FANTASTIC party called RubDown at BATH. the venue was rocking, the walls were crawlin, the music and sound were top-notch. we had a blast. High points: Heather was PHENOMENAL, Jason Hodges, Sneak was cool but we were too tired. and whoever was on the patio early in the night was BANGIN!
saturday- woke up originally to briscoe and sam making beats (or *not* as the case may be at 7 am ) then went back to sleep until around 3. Ate lunch at ministy of pizza (owned by ministry of sound) then headed to the beach for a bit. Bounced over to White Law when we were done, chilled on the couch (couches on the front porch are a GREAT idea) then met up with tim fusion for awhile... went to the lil party with tim and sam for a bit... Desden was AWESOME. the rest of the night was uneventful, there was a crew of us who watched the games, hung by the pool, watched TV, etc and just kinda played it cool.
Sunday- slept a little, drove tim all the way up to north beach which was pretty, met up with ben and head to eat, then chilled in the lobby waiting for the lady. dropped ben off at the airport (bastard) around 3 and began the lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn g journey home. got caught in GA with the tornado so we spent the night (it was great to be in a bed) got on the road about noon yesterday and rolled into town around 9:30.

In conclusion, the music was AWESOME everywhere we went...the vibe was overall wonderful. and as always, KY rolled DEEP into SoBe... we had at least 30 people we knew just at Bath. i got to see donovan and briscoe again which was wonderful and got to enjoy a new setting with the regulars.

Marea and Head made great travel buddies... our soundtrack included : Digweed (fabric 20), Steve Bugg (2 sets), Jay Tripwire, De La Soul, Crescendo, Headnockah, Meat Katie, Beastie Boys(2 albums) , Derrick Carter, Boo Williams, Luke Slater, ISS, Ryan Mack, Ben Wu, some mix CDs, and a few we picked up at conference....

Highlights of the drive: driving 90+ mph at 4 am in FL without a soul in sight...the fastest i've ever driven. and the smell of honeysuckle that greeted us the first 100 miles of our trip in that damn state... also TN is full of beautiful driving...and running into people everywhere- especially you, andy.

Major misses: autumn, chris, terry, tuesday, ron, nort, oli and mendy...next year

Good time guys next time we're flying.

 

[TriXieee]

Got in Tuesday around 6pm. Went right over to Wet Willies right after getting into the hotel for some drinks! Mmmm. That night decided to stay in and sleep while everyone went over to Space.

Wednesday went to the hear Tomorrow party at the Shelbourne. Caught most of STS9. Started POURING rain and the music had to stop for a little over an hour while everyone waited around for the rain to stop. Sugafist and Sarah show up, which is was awsome. Finally LTJ Bukem goes back on for a short while then it rains again! Luckilly there was a nice lounge/bar area inside the hotel to hang out in while we waited for the rain to stop. Then LTJ goes back on and finishes up with no more rain. I stayed for Dieselboy, John B and part of whoever came on after John B then headed back to my hotel to meet up with cravNbeats We change and get ready to go out to the Fatboy Slim party @ Nocturnal. Met up with Gerr UT at his hotel when I get a call from a friend who went over to Nocturnal and found out they aren't open all week because they STILL don't have all their permits to open up! So Fatboy Slim got moved to Crobar instead. Go to Wet Willies for some Call A Cabs and go on over to Crobar. That place was packed out. It was rediculous. junkie XL was awsome. Fatboy Slim was ok but we got bored and left in the middle of his set. Went over to the beach for a few hours which was nice.

Thursday was pretty chill. Later on went back to Wet Willies then over to the World of Drum and Bass at the Warehouse. I wasn't feeling that party at all. It was too dark, too loud and too crowded, and we ended up leaving rather early.

Friday went over to Nikki Beach with cravN & dj snaz & some others and ended up waiting on line for over an hour and being no where near the entrance and extremely hot, decided to leave. Went back to my hotel to shower and sleep. Later on went to the free Porterhouse party at State but Steve Porter wasn't on yet so we left and went back around 2am. It was really crowded in there and the music was decent but didn't stay for too long. Debated on going over to Space for Sander K but neither of us felt like dealing with over crowded clubs, so we had some fun silly times back at the hotel instead.

Saturday was Ultra! Was able to sneak in my digital camera which I am VERY happy about. But the bitch at the gate made me throw out my sunblock! I had a great time at Ultra though. My favorite part were Sander K's & Josh Wink's sets. Good times on the grass next to the DnB tent. RITM was eh, only went by the main amphitheatre for all of 5 minutes all day/night. Most of my time was spent at the Soundstage.

The afterparty was a bunch of BS. I didn't even want to go but had alread bought a ticket in advance so ended up going for about an hour and 15 mins or so. Then I had to leave for my fun filled 7am flight back to NY!

Many thanks to cravNbeats for being my partner in crime on this strange yet fun-filled trip. Also to Sugafist, its always great seeing/partying with you all day at ultra and at the Shelbourne!

 

[MusicMaker]

wow..... I think the cloud had finally lifted from my head. What a hell of a week that was. I met tons of unbelievable people and the constant sound of great music was great.
Wednesday (day): Stacy Kidd and Harrison Crump and the other house guys from Chicago rocked it soulful style at Whitelaw. Amazing! Loved our drunk friends we met from Ireland!
(Night): Steve Lawler once again banging that dirty gritty set at State. Never can go wrong with Lawler. The crowded poser people sucked but most of them left by about 3:00am ... thank goodness.
Thursday: day and night from hell. Next year I will remember never to count on guestlists, even if God himself puts me on it. Went to B.E.D. to have some chick tell our group once we got to the front of the VIP line that she has now decided to close the freakin guest list. Oh well. Lesson learned for nxt year.
Friday(day): Nikkie Beach was insane. We got there early to avoid any b.s. and I'm glad. We ended up having to get some friends through the back when they showed up late since there was about 5500 inside and 1500 waiting in line. Very cool place though. Can't beat dancing in the sand to good choons.
(Night): Steve Porter rocked my world!!!! damn. It was abosolutely off the hook in there.
Saturday (day): Spleen record party at Hotel Astor was great. Lots of really great people from the industry and Porter himself even showed up. Very cool people and music indeed. I hope they do another one next year.
(night): VIP style for Carl COx at Crobar and thank god. That place was crowded! Dark, hard pounding tech-house. Amazing!!!! I loved it. Wasn't expecting much but we were blown away.
Definently an amazing week for me. Met lots of great contacts in the industry and heard constant great music. Not use to that here in Indiana! I will be back for sure next year.

 

[MusicMaker]

oh yeah... and my clothes are all too big on me now. 6-8 miles of walking a day, barely eating, and dancing at least 10 hours a day, wendisoul and I have got the south beach diet down!!

 

[chrissie]

fatboy slim was boring? blasphemy!

I see you all talking about walking a lot. Can you get around OK without a car? I dont drive and if I went down with my brother or anyone else I dont think Id be going to the same events as them. Im definitely planning on going down next year though!

 

[x_calibur]

I myself dont mind the walking. But in my silly little mind I thought that it would be a good idea to get a pair of sandles. Man was that a big mistake and I have the blisters to show for it

 

[cravNbeets]

fatboy slim was boring? blasphemy!

I see you all talking about walking a lot. Can you get around OK without a car? I dont drive and if I went down with my brother or anyone else I dont think Id be going to the same events as them. Im definitely planning on going down next year though!

you can get around w/0 a car a lot better than you could w/ a car. from 12am to 5 am collins was bumper to bumper. pretty stacked during the day too actually. cab rides are the way to go if you have people to share the cost with. i think the most expensive rides we took were only a little over 20-30 at the most and that was from southbeach to downtown.

 

[x_calibur]

I wonder when there will be a word on the final attendents numbers for WMC and Ultra....

 

[TriXieee]

hahah no shit........

I think i ate maybe once and walked 10 miles a day......i must have lost 10 lbs

^^^I hear that! I consumed about one slice of pizza each day, and walked and walked and walked all day long. God the walk from my hotel to the Chesterfield and Wet Willies is a bitch....but soo worth it! Mmmm Call A Cabs. I decided to bring my flip flops from last summer that I NEVER had problems with and they never hurt my feet, but this time they decided to give me MAJOR blisters on my feet...I was in pain everyday My total blister count was 5...icky.

 

[scottlitch]

Om Records at Mansion-
Awsome club. A large, old theater. Collete was spinning when we arrived. next up were the Greenskeepers. They were a live act playing funk and house on guitars and keyboards. Pretty cool. The girl rubbing cream over herself and the lead singer got a little messy and weird at the end. The live element was different and cool. Next up was Kaskade. Dope! Best set of the evening. Started really deep and worked quickly to a funky house sound. Mark Farina was forgetable to me. The energy at 4am should have been pumpin but wasn't... Thank god for Marquis Wyatt jumpin on at 4 and finishing the night off right with some funky house.

Ultra-
WOW! I've never been to anything so massive. Great sets by Rabbit In The Moon, Carl Cox, Danny Howells, POTD, and especially Erick Morillo! He was my favorite act. Awesome vibe in the Subliminal tent. I took my mom and dad to this, both in thier 50's, and they had a great time. Everyone was really respectful and nice. Thanks for reprazenting. It really showed them how the media's spin on our scene is wrong. They even made a friend while I was dancing to Morillo. Stephen, thanks for recommending the pizza place whee you work. We ate there on Monday. Great food. I wasn't sure they could take the whole festival, but they stayed right till the end. My dad told me he felt like a kid again.

 

[TriXieee]

p.s - Gerr UT PM me your address, i never got to see you the rest of the trip and i still owe you for that party

 

[cravNbeets]

a few pics

heather beatin it up @ the beach plaza patio party

gang of us @ the creek motor lodge

my friends from portland and meself

ummm initials...

 

[Gerr UT]

Well what can I say, except for a great 11 days spent in Florida. Oh yeah, and one hell of a lot of cash spent. Hopefully by next year I will be working a sallary job and have plenty of cash saved up.

Anyway, on to the parties. Wednesday I already had bought presales to "Hear Tomorrow" and due to some unforseen circumstances was not able to make it there. Then on to the cancelled Nocturnal party. What a bunch of shit, probably the most unprofessional thing I have seen from a club lately, cancelling the day of the show and then attempting to move the party to Crobar which was already packed from their own party. Started off there with Trixieee and CravNbeets, although I lost my friends and ended up leaving after about 2 hours, way too crowded anyway. Thursday night @ Mansion, great party, great lineup, great sound, great venue and it was actually not too crowded for once. I agree that Kaskade was one of the better sets. My highlight was blazing a phatty front and center during the greenskeepers set. Lowlight of the night was when one of my girls was drugged by some piece of shit putting unknown substance in her drink, which I suspect was 5meo-dipt(Foxy) which might have been fun for me, but seeing as she has never used any drugs she had to leave with her friends. I still can't understand how pathetic someone must be to do that to a girl.

Friday, started partying @ about 8am after sleeping for an hour and then @ 10am took a cab to Nikki beach, already an hour wait. It went by pretty fast because my crew and some English crew were getting wasted in line. Once inside the wait was well worth it. ABSOLUTELY one of the best places I have ever seen or been to. Great music, atmosphere and the most beautiful crowd I have ever seen. It was funny when Pete Tong even brougth Kelly Osborne up and introduced her. Planned on Space for that night but I didn't win the lottery so I ended up at Wet Willies for some Call a cabs. Back to Nikki beach to end the night, great night.

Saturday, Ultra was awsome, although the main stage was way too crowded. Carl Cox rocked it, Danny Tenaglia rocked it, RITM rocked it, PVD, Tiesto, and POTD rocked it. Decided the after party would be too much and met some friends and went to some beach bars. Ended the night with best friends, and my brother watching the Easter sunrise with other late night people. Probably the best sunrise I have ever seen, perfect turquoise water and perfect pink sky. I will post pictures soon. All in all great trip. Although, for next year I am planning earlier to get a bigger, cheaper room. Until next year.

 

[DJLA]

^we were both in miami. and still didn't meet. again.

 

[The Funky Ferret]

What was up with Nikki's beach? It was suppose to be free but by the time we got there they were charging admission! I bribed the doorguy 20 bux for each of us and got in..no wait. Can you say beautiful people everywhere...I bet you can!

It seems that the message of PLUR is lost. Ultra was off the hook but it seems that there was a huge group of meatheads there just to pick up women. The afterhours party was a joke. I got approached several times by these meatheads askin me if I had any rolz! WTF? Just cause I dress funny and wear sunglasses at night doesn't mean I'm a drug dealer! If that was bad enough, they had to crowd my dance space to stand and hawk girls that were dancing nearby. Common people, wheres the Peace, Love, Unity, RESPECT???

Besides the over BS, I had a blast! Met a bunch of cool people I hope to see again.
Whats the word about Ultra in New York? Does anybody know?