The 10th Annual Ultra Music Festival on March 28-29, 2008 was a swarm of music lovers and relentless beats coming from multiple stages while a dazzling light show transformed downtown Miami into the world’s biggest nightclub.

From a distance, it must have sounded like a chaotic symphony of noise. You had to approach a stage to finally be fully consumed by the grooves of Underworld, Paul van Dyk, Tiesto, Moby, JES, The Crystal Method, The Bravery, Carl Cox, Armin Van Buuren, Second Sun, Rabbit in the Moon, and many others. There were literally a dozen or more acts on each of the stages, seamlessly keeping the beats going.

Attending Ultra is like going to school to learn about electronic music. It traditionally closes out the Winter Music Conference, where performers on the rise learn about the biz and how to make their mark. Thanks to our friends at Travelworm.com, who sponsored Savvy’s presence at WMC and UMF, I was able to learn a few things myself.

Previous to last week, my only real exposure to electronic music had been hearing DJs in nightclubs or as the background music in rave scenes put into movies. It was quite thrilling to hear the song Born Slippy .NUXX from the Trainspotting soundtrack performed live at Ultra. I also enjoyed watching Moby, whose own music has brought a lot of mainstream attention to the genre.

The rest was a pure joy of discovering House, Techno, Electro, Breakbeats, Trance, Drum and Bass, and other various styles of electronic music. The artists on stage had some pretty good competition in terms of getting all of the attention, for it was nothing less than a lifestyle on display, balancing superstar glitz with underground hipness.

Pacing the crowd at Ultra were kids who might be in middle school on a weekday along with grown up professionals letting their hair down. Noticeably absent: anyone old. This was definitely not a place for the Lawrence Welk crowd. Two days later, my ears are still ringing.

Hippie-chic mixed with fluoro-clad kids all clutching cells or the point and shoots that seemed to be the uniting flavour of the festival; t-shirts with messages too profane to repeat here kept any crowd-watcher amused. Long shadows cast upon the ground at Bicentennial Park from the four skyscrapers across the street. Directly across the water, several modern ocean liners cast out to sea – the vacationing families on board no doubt wondering what all of the ruckus was about.

Everywhere you could see, it was a type of folk show with laid-back attitude on display. On the stages, some of the performers used instruments like guitars, others sang to prerecorded music and still others mixed and blended sound sources using computers and turntables.

People danced with a certain fearlessness that wasn’t born out of drinking buckets of beer or swallowing any other substance, but by a shared conviction that it was okay to just let the music flow through your body. This was a modern day Woodstock with its own stylish, hip take on peace and love where it was cool to live and let live, unleashing your inner freak to a bit with deserved spectacle but no real judgment.

As far as outdoor music festivals go, Ultra has to be one of the best anywhere. As for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed getting schooled about the sounds and depth of electronic music.

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On the Web:

http://www.ultramusicfestival.com/

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Note: Savvy owes thanks to TravelWorm.com for sponsoring our presence at Winter Music Conference 2008 and the Ultra Music Festival. Founded in 1993, TravelWorm Inc. has been a leading online provider of casino and leisure travel, as well as event and tour tickets at premiere vacation destinations, for the past 15 years. Be sure to check out their special package destinations or call 1-888-770-8342 to get away from it all without a hassle.