As I waded through knee-deep puddles leaving Ultra’s flooded Bayfront Park grounds on Friday night, I’ll admit I had my doubts about whether the show could go on. Mother Nature had just delivered a devastating one-two punch, forcing a complete cancellation of opening night after severe thunderstorms, high winds, and tornadic conditions made it too dangerous to continue. My Ultra wristband was soaked, spirits were damp, but little did I know the festival was about to overcome this adversity in epic fashion.
When Day 2 dawned, the skies had cleared, but much work needed to be done. Crews could be seen spread across the park, zamboni-ing the pools of brown rainwater off the stages and walkways. My friends and I exchanged photos of the daunted workers, wondering if they could possibly pull it off. The answer came that afternoon with a simple tweet from Ultra: “We are working hard to prepare the site before opening the doors. We will be dancing again soon.“
And boy did they ever deliver on that promise. As I re-entered the grounds around 6 pm, you’d never know Ultra had been a mud-soaked swamp just 24 hours earlier. The main stage had been reset with its ear-splitting speakers, trippy laser light shows, and fireworks ready to go. More impressively, the biggest players whose sets were zapped by storms, including Hardwell, Martin Garrix, and David Guetta, had been rescheduled.
Then the magic began unfolding. Hardwell stepped up to make up for his lost moment, dropping hit after hit during his rescheduled slot as the Miami crowd cheered the triumphant comeback. Garrix kept the momentum going, and by the time Guetta took the stage, Bayfront was in a frenzy.
More was still to come on Sunday’s closing night. A breathtaking drone light show choreographed to the beats lit up the sky during an unforgettable sequence. And despite not being streamed for the guys at home, Calvin Harris brought down the house as Ultra’s 2024 grand finale.
While the mud-soaked start easily could have been Ultra’s downfall, the ability to rapidly regain its footing and create one of its most memorable weekends is what music festival dreams are made of.
Sure, there were some minor communication lapses and hiccups along the way as Ultra rescheduled. But considering the logistical nightmare they faced after opening night, the fact that they served up an unforgettable experience over the final two days has to be considered one of the greatest Ultimate Miami Music Week “hold my beer” moments ever.
All I can say is: pour me another lemonade bartender because that’s some serious ultra-level lemon-to-lemonade turnaround I just experienced!
