Alesso and Avicii also had strong showings, and while they had to contend with the aforementioned rain, somehow, it made their sets all the more magical. Alessandro ran through everything from his classic remixes (“If I Lose Myself”) to his biggest hits (“Under Control,” “Sweet Escape”). Of course, his new tracks (“Tear The Roof Up,” “Cool”) made their way into the set as well. Alesso rarely, if ever, disappoints, and his performance here was definitely one of the festival’s more memorable sets.
Avicii, meanwhile, kicked off with some classics (“Levels,” “Silhouettes”) and mixed in more than a few songs off True (“Wake Me Up,” “Hey Brother”) before switching gears and filling the last portion of his set with new music from his upcoming album Stories, which saw him play his Chris Martin collaboration, “Heaven,” among others. While I felt that the momentum was lost a bit once Tim made the transition from old to new, it was still a nice welcome back for the producer after he had to cancel last year’s set due to health reasons.
Also worth mentioning in regards to the main stage are Dash Berlin, who brought a powerful and emotional mix of music to Miami, David Guetta, who went a bit darker than usual and subverted crowd expectations, Hardwell, who had a high-energy set that included his upcoming collaboration with Dannic (“Survivor”) and of course, Skrillex, who played a dizzying array of music that had the crowd on fire the entire time. Sucking all the remaining energy right out of us as the closing act of the festival, the EDM god put on an absolute clinic, all while bringing out special guests like Kiesza, Diddy, Diplo and Justin Bieber, among others.
Headliners aside, there was still much excitement to be found elsewhere on the festival grounds. The live stage had an excellent display of talent throughout the weekend, with acts like Porter Robinson (absolutely nailing his live show, complete with his own vocals), Kygo, Krewella and Bassnectar all putting on show-stopping performances.
In particular, Kygo had a stunning Ultra debut, premiering several new songs (one of which you can see below) and putting the crowd under his tropical house spell as he played live piano lines as we all sang along to his classic remixes.
Krewella also stood out at Ultra, showing off their powerful live vocals and hard hitting music while delivering one of the festival’s most energetic sets, even if it felt like they were stretching themselves a bit too thin by trying to cover too many genres at some points. Overall, it was a strong performance from the girls and was exactly what they needed after all the fire they’ve come under lately.