ULTRA History
Ultra Music Festival was founded in 1999 by business partners Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. The first ever Ultra Music Festival was held as a one day event at the end of the Winter Music Conference in 1999 with performances by Rabbit in the Moon and DJ Baby Anne. The event was held on South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida, and was a major success. In March of 2000 the festival returned to South Beach as a one day event, the festival was met with even more success and was renewed immediately for a third year.
Ultra celebrated its 10th anniversary March 28-29, 2008 with performances by Tiesto, Underworld, Justice, Paul Van Dyk, Carl Cox, Armin Van Buuren, MSTRKRFT, Deadmau5, Annie Mac, Eric Prydz, Ferry Corsten, Calvin Harris, Moby, The Crystal Method, Boys Noize, Benny Benassi, David Guetta, Jes, Enur, Pete Tong, Jackal & Hyde and Rabbit in the Moon. With estimated attendance over 70,000, the festival set a new City of Miami record for number of tickets sold at a single event. The eleventh annual UMF occurred March 27-28, 2009, the lineup including more crossover acts and live bands like The Black Eyed Peas, The Prodigy, The Ting Tings, Santigold, Crystal Castles, The Whip, and Perry Farrell. The twelfth annual UMF took place March 26-27, 2010, with headlining performances by Tiesto and Deadmau5, as well as performances by David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Orbital, Little Boots, Sasha & Digweed, Above and Beyond and The Bloody Beetroots. Each stage was accompanied with visual arts provided by VJsVello Virkhaus, Psyberpixie, and Cozer. The festival sold out for the first time with over 100,000 attendees, where it was announced that the 13th annual event would take place over the course of three days in March 2011.
Ultra celebrated its 10th anniversary March 28-29, 2008 with performances by Tiesto, Underworld, Justice, Paul Van Dyk, Carl Cox, Armin Van Buuren, MSTRKRFT, Deadmau5, Annie Mac, Eric Prydz, Ferry Corsten, Calvin Harris, Moby, The Crystal Method, Boys Noize, Benny Benassi, David Guetta, Jes, Enur, Pete Tong, Jackal & Hyde and Rabbit in the Moon. With estimated attendance over 70,000, the festival set a new City of Miami record for number of tickets sold at a single event. The eleventh annual UMF occurred March 27-28, 2009, the lineup including more crossover acts and live bands like The Black Eyed Peas, The Prodigy, The Ting Tings, Santigold, Crystal Castles, The Whip, and Perry Farrell. The twelfth annual UMF took place March 26-27, 2010, with headlining performances by Tiesto and Deadmau5, as well as performances by David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Orbital, Little Boots, Sasha & Digweed, Above and Beyond and The Bloody Beetroots. Each stage was accompanied with visual arts provided by VJsVello Virkhaus, Psyberpixie, and Cozer. The festival sold out for the first time with over 100,000 attendees, where it was announced that the 13th annual event would take place over the course of three days in March 2011.
As the world’s most famous outdoor electronic music event, Ultra Music Festival has won “Best Music Event” by the International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and “Best International Dance Music Festival” by the Ibiza DJ Awards in 2008. In 2011, ULTRA drew over 100,000 attendees coming from 71 countries & territories and all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, making it the first ever 3-day music festival of its kind to completely Sell Out 150,000 tickets almost two months before the event. The 2011 edition featured more than 300 artists performing on 27 stages over a three-day period. Originally created as a pure EDM (electronic dance music) festival in 1999, ULTRA has grown through the years to present not only the genre’s hottest, biggest and best headline artists but also crossover headline bands that incorporate EDM elements in their music and have a history or new beginning in the EDM community and culture.