Moving on to the second day of Ultra madness!!!
Awesomely, I opened day two by running into the Vacay boys in line to get in. I could not have been more happy to run into these guys and get a chance to vacay with them. We quickly made our way to catch the end of Fake Blood’s set on the live stage. We only caught the last little bit and it was still rather sunny and hot so I didn’t really get into Fake Blood’s set, which is a shame since I was really looking forward to it. After Fake Blood came the always raging Steve Aoki playing to an increasingly enormous crowd. It was everything I have come to expect from Steve, champagne spray, lots of yelling, climbing stuff and general mayhem. It really amazes me how crazy everyone goes for him but I guess it is simply because he is going ten times crazier than anyone in the audience. The highlight of the set for me was definitely hearing turbulence on a giant system. It was just as good as I imagined it would be.
Next we headed over to the Tower Of Ultra to catch some of Skrillex’s set. Once again it was packed tighter than a can of sardines and it was impossible to get into the actual tent, and as I mentioned yesterday the sound outside the tent was total garbage. I really tried to get closer to the stage but it was nearly impossible and I soon gave up. Other than the sound problems Sonny sounded good, although somebody should really tell him about sequence matching its the only thing he is missing.
Next it was off to watch Dada Life in the UMF Brasil tent. Before I talk about Dada let me tell you that they had jungle gyms in this tent and it was just about the coolest thing ever. There was even a huge twisting ladder arcing over the stage leading to a little platform for dancing, although there wasn’t anyone climbing it at the time I was there, and I don’t think they were letting random people climb it. Anyway back to the music, Dada Life fucking killed it just like I knew they would with their dirty dirty sound (Way better than Tiesto, lol). The coolest thing was when 4-5 people got up on the catwalk behind the stage and took out laser pointers to make a custom laser show for Dada, and then people in the crowd pulled out their laser pointers and joined in. It wasn’t as mind bending as Deadmau5′s light show but it was a lot cooler since it was a group effort.
We departed the jungle gym funland of UMF Brasil to book it back to the Live Stage for a solid dose of Beardyman. It was even more amazing to watch him craft music out of only his voice and one keyboard in person than it is just listening to it. I honestly would have watched him for hours but unfortunately his set came to an abrupt end just after he got into drum and bass. But my sorrow at the end of his set was quickly wiped away by the arrival of everyones favorite canadian electro duo. I speak of course of Mstrkrft.
It has been a few years since I have seen the boys from the great white north, since Rothbury 2009 to be exact, and they have grown a bit since then. They blasted, seriously, one of the best sets I have seen in a long time kicking the filth up a notch. I sat upon the hill and watched as the entire area in front of the stage was filled with people and the people raged it out….hard. Sometimes being in a position to see the entire crowd is the craziest way to watch a show, you can really see the impact that the DJ’s have on the crowd en masse a perspective that is much different than being in the thick of it. Mstrkrft played a bunch of stuff I didn’t recognize (new tracks?) and stayed away from pretty much all of their old material so the set was fresh and hot. I cannot say enough, GO SEE MSTRKRFT THIS SUMMER!!!!!
And now it was finally the ultimate Ultra moment, for me at least, it was Chemical Brothers time! I have honestly been waiting to see The Chemical Brothers for the better part of a decade and I was absolutely giddy to see the boys break it down. I was nearly salivating as they came onstage and lowered their crazy light string tube (pictured above) and prepared to start melting brains. They opened up with Galvanize off of Push the button and the light up tube started going. As the song built up a few of the lights flickered on and as it dropped the huge LED map screen behind them lit up with the first of a series of song specific visuals.
At the end of the day the Chemical Brothers’ show was much much cooler than that of everyones favorite deceased rodent. It was much more nuanced, building up as the show went on adding more and more of the screens and lights and lasers as the music progressed. Every single song had its own visual that was linked up to the song which not only linked the set together very well but it is much more visually intriguing than random mouse people dancing around. To make a desperately boring minute by minute account of an entire Chemical brother show quick and easy I will say that it was perfect from start to finish. The sound was amazing and the visuals/lighting was amazing. The only thing I was disappointed in was the fact that they only played the hits from “Dig Your Own Hole” and “Push The Button” (closing with “Block Rockin’ Beats”). To be honest I really wanted to hear that old stuff, it is why I love them and I was a little sad that they didn’t play a bit more of it. Either way it was one of the top five shows I have ever been to, and if you have a chance to see The Chemical Brothers DO IT!!!
Well that was my Ultra experience. Next year I am going to do it bigger and harder but most importantly I am staying down by the action.
