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Another Decade-wide Experience

Sunday, March 30, 3:37PM

(Ultra Music Festival: Decade Edition: Day 2)

In my last review, of Ultra’s first day, I might have blown it up way out of proportion. I talked about how I’d dismissed last year’s first day as a mere, low-key “buildup” to the main event, Day 2, and this year’s Day 1 exceeded all my expectations and equaled several past single-day Ultra events.

I’ll say it again…boy, was I mistaken.

Don’t get me wrong, Day 1 was amazing and incredible. After witnessing the madness of Day 2, let me correct myself: Day 1 was still a build-up to a much larger main event.

There’s not much more I can say here that I haven’t already said in my earlier review, or Mike Hamersly’s print review, but I will add in my own two cents.

Personally, I thought the lineup on Day 2 was, overall, better. Of course, Tiesto, Eric Prydz and the like were great on Day 1, but Day 2 featured Miami favorite Erick Morillo, Paul van Dyk, Underworld (who actually surprised me with their style – I was certainly grooving to it), Sander Kleinenberg, and of course, Moby. Of course, this is all based on personal taste, and you may completely disagree with me here.

But the vibe seemed….different. As if the crowd was so much more plugged into the festival and the DJs than on Friday. As I made my rounds from Armin van Buuren (excellent set) to David Guetta (who, to put it bluntly, sucked – he just wasn’t into it that much, and neither was the audience) to Erick Morillo (who is absolutely insane live) to Moby (needs no explanation) to Dirty South (this man is going to be big one day. Trust me) to Underworld (surprisingly amazing), to Sander Kleinenberg (great set, but his trademark “This is Miami” song was conspicuously absent, at least for the time I was there) to Paul van Dyk, and finally Benny Benassi, who closed his set with an absolutely incredible remix of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Other Side” and his own “Satisfaction” (and I don’t mean the Rolling Stones’ song. I mean the song from the club scene in “White Chicks,” which is also played very frequently in clubs).

By the time Benny’s set was over, it was time to follow the exodus of partiers to the exit and try (with absolute futility) to catch the train or hail a cab. Eventually, though, we made it back so I can write this review, for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.

(By the by, my only complaint was the fact that the VIP “air-conditioned, private, studded in diamonds, etc” bathroom had just as much of a line as the general admission toilets, and was absolutely filthy. I witnessed more than one partygoer find out, the hard way, that the toilets were severely overflowing. I opted instead to use the General Admission toilets. So much for “VIP” treatment)

Now, the countdown begins. 365 more days until Ultra Music Festival 11…

-Jay Rooney