Ultra Music Festival 2024: A rain-filled collection of surprises, highlights, and music fans

For the 24th time, the electronic music community turned its full attention to southern Florida as the Ultra Music Festival delivered the 2024 edition of the event. Despite some frustrating interruptions due to heavy rains Friday night, the 3-day festival still managed to deliver an unforgettable experience.

Friday

When the gates first opened at Bayfront Park for Ultra Music Festival 2024, fans were confronted with moderate rainfall as puddles formed and the music began. Unfortunately, due to the construction of the Main Stage, the weather also began to be a problem for performers struggled with the condensation throughout the day, eventually forcing Tiësto to cut his set short Friday night and the promoters ending the festival early for the first time in the event’s history. This impacted the rest of the weekend’s schedule as highly anticipated sets from Hardwell, Amelie Lens, and Chris Lake & Fisher’s Under Construction would be rescheduled or canceled.

Saturday

While this unfortunate turn of events led to officials scrambling, the grounds were tended to and the gates eventually opened at 4 pm on Saturday with a revised schedule that saw some artists bumped from the day while time was made to ensure Hardwell took the stage. While there was no doubt some frustration over communication with fans over the start time, the now clear skies made Saturday an ideal way to return to the music. Hoping to make up for lost time and deliver a ‘thank you’ to the many fans who made the trip to Miami, Ultra Music also extended the program into the night, keeping the party going well into the early hours of Sunday.

Day 2 provided some of the biggest highlights of the weekend’s festivities. With a reworked slate of performers, most people were focused on the iconic run of legendary DJs who would take over the Main Stage. Following mid-afternoon sets from Steve Aoki and Gryffin, Hardwell was able to take the stage, reminding those on-site and streaming at home why he has so often earned the title of the #1 DJ on the planet. A hard act to follow on any day, the incredible shift to Excision and his bone-shaking dubstep next may have been the only way to navigate the evening’s itinerary.

Sunday

With the chaos of weather and scheduling out of the way, Sunday was able to proceed with only minor schedule adjustments. The sol-out event once against a was packed grounds navigate the stages, taking in some of the best the electronic music scene has to offer musically while viewing some of the most advanced and visually stunning stages ever produced by the Ultra team. Unsurprising to any fan of dance music, Armin van Buuren largely stole the show as the Trance legend continued his endless exploration of other genres while also bringing a few guests to the stage. Fans no doubt reveled in excitement as ARTBAT and Gryffin both took turns joining the Dutch DJ but it was the appearance from rock icon Jon Bon Jovi that truly caught everyone by surprise.

Closing out the night would be one of the most globally popular names in electronic music, the one and only Calvin Harris. Following an 11-year sabbatical from the Miami festival, he returned in 2024 to close out the Main Stage and deliver tracks from his massive catalog of chart-topping singles. Much to the dismay of the home audience, Harris opted not to have his set displayed on the live stream, but he would later upload it to YouTube following a social media interaction with a fan criticizing his performance.

Recap

Despite the unfortunate weather interruption on Friday, the organizers, artists, and fans all came together to ensure that the 24th edition of Ultra Music Festival was as legendary as the previous 23. Beyond the Main Stage acts, fans at Bayfront Park were able to witness many legendary moments and festival debuts. Peggy Gou made her first stop at the RESISTANCE Stage, and Alison Wonderland has now been forever enshrined in social media lore for getting caught with a cigarette on the livestream while hanging out for Dimension’s set. Elsewhere, RL Grime and Knock2 made sure to leave everyone wanting more and even brought ISOoxo onstage to debut the brand new ISOKNOCK x RL Grime collaboration. Other highlights include the first-ever live set performed by Madeon and San Holo, two of the scene’s most beloved producers and artists, and the live debut of Kill Safari as Kill The Noise and Bro Safari also shared the stage.

Every March, Ultra Music Festival sets the agenda for the year in electronic music as the unofficial beginning of festival season and one of the premier events on the planet. As fans continue to reflect on the magic of 2024, next year’s event with mark the 25th edition of Ultra Music Festival, and no doubt the promoters are working hard to deliver an even bigger experience than this year.