Does the 2010 Ultra Music Festival lineup deserve EPIC status? In our opinion, so far the lineup looks very promising – GREAT status – but it could use a couple more headliners (hint – Daft Punk, Justice, even Lady Gaga would do it for me, she has a killer show) to get my EPIC vote. Even so, we have to give it to UMF for the lineup thus far, the talent is super strong and all the acts are very solid. We can’t wait to find out who they add to the lineup during the next month.
Here is what our friend Richard had to say about the lineup…
There are no epic acts listed thus far. I have seen Deadmau5 3 times in 2009 and it has basically been the same sets, sticking to his produced tracks. I saw Groove Armada in Ibiza and they were just alright for me, definitely not epic.
Hopefully, Ultra is just sending out teaser information and list will get deeper with A list talent. Everyone wants Daft Punk, and that would be EPIC, but will the band even tour in 2010? I agree that Lady Gaga would be fun, but she is touring Australia right around Ultra. Acts like Sneaky Soundsystem, Justice, Empire of the Sun, Phoenix, Cut Copy and Miike Snow would be huge additions to this lineup. You want epic? How about Deep Dish make a return on the main stage? Or how about Sven Vath bring his Cocoon entourage and invades Miami? Or Ricardo Villlalobos even sets foot in America??!
What about the Minimal Tech super stars like Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Loco Dice, M.A.N.D.Y., Tiefschwarz, Marco Carola, Magda, Paco Osuna, Guy Gerber, or Damian Lazarus? There is nothing to support the best in electronic music, in my humble opinion.
The best “act” they have listed is Tiesto simply because his showmanship and lights are impressive on the main stage. Also his sound-system and engineers are unparalleled. – Richard Iavarone
We took the liberty of breaking down this years lineup into three categories to show just how solid the lineup really is.
GOOD (Excited. It’s worth the $140 just to see these guys.)
Carl Cox, The Crystal Method, Disco Biscuits, Faithless Sound System, Armin Van Buuren, Crookers, Bloody Beetroots, Steve Aoki, ATB, Glitch Mob, Diplo, LTJ Bukem, A-Trak, Rusko, Skream and Eddie Halliwell, Rabbit in the Moon, Will.I.Am, Infected Mushroom, Plump DJs, Adam Freeland, Felix Da Housecat, Pretty Lights, Green Velvet, Lotus, Alex Metric, Bassbin Twins vs. Uberzone, Evil Nine, Afrobeta and Kevens.
GREAT (Amped. Going to blow my mind.)
Tiesto, Eric Prydz, Dirty South, Above & Beyond, Swedish House Mafia, Ghostland Observatory, Major Lazer, and Bassnectar.
EPIC (Can’t sleep! Hands down best festival of the year.)
Deadmau5, Groove Armada
18 Comments
Daft Punk isn’t going to happen. They’ve denied rumors they’re touring in 2010 multiple times:
http://www.chartattack.com/news/77127/daft-punk-not-touring-in-2010
Right now I think the big act will be Basement Jaxx. He has a new album and is touring right now.
The first phase of the lineup has me STOKED – I mean honestly, it will probably reach epic factor once they release phase 2 of the lineup. All the people knocking the lineup right now make me laugh – it’s seriously stacked and the big names haven’t even come out yet!
Props for breaking it down to those 3 specific categories. Really, when it comes down to it, this truly is what goes through festival goers’ heads.
Great is what I would rate it. Even though, as Richard mentioned, there aren’t many Great acts, the variety in genres and names is there and big number of the Ultra favorites are there.
Comparing the first phase of other years, this line looks promising in my opinion.
I think the lineup is overall ok like Jessica said still the big names hasn’t come out, but I would love to see the dutch djs, some of them have being doing big in the USA and other part of the world and are not well feature in WMC, like DJ CHUCKIe, Ryan Marciano & Sunnery James, Gregor Salto just to name a few that have being doing amazing things and getting bigger as we speak
Richard Lavarone is a blithering idiot. Wading through the dross of his writing, it’s become painfully obvious to me that he does not know anything about electronic music. he considers Tiesto the best act because of his showmanship and….lights? Are you kidding me? Lights?! In my humble opinion Richard’s time and money best be spent at home, rolling watching the visualizations on the Xbox 360′s media player with his set of over-priced Bose headphones. However, that might be a stretch, a hipster would probably own Beats by Dr. Dre. I want my five minutes back. Terrible article.
Nothing new here. Pretty much the same headliners as the past few previous years. There’s too much new talent out there to keep having the same headliner’s year after year. I will not be attending.
In response to “hates himself” Aaron…The conversation is about the truly epic acts of Ultra. I would say that presentation adds to the value of an artists music when performing at a festival for 50,000 plus people. We are not talking about the purity of music or even the technique. Are you saying that when Daft Punk plays with their 100 ft. glowing pyramid that is not an epic act? One of the best parts of festivals is the lighting and sound. Tiesto is not even close to my favorite artist, but of the DJs listed now the one most worth the $140 price tag.
Of course, what do I know? I am a blithering idiot says Mr. Personality himself.
Peace
Ultra NEEDS some Dutch house artist!!! CHUCKIE, AFROJACK, KID KAIO.
AND THESE ARTIST: Dash Berlin, Chocolate Puma, Bingo Players!!!
I think we could use some Deep Dish,Gabriel and Dresden,Sander Kleinenberg,and Daft Punk of course but thats not gonna happen!! what about Mstrkrft????
This writer is very silly indeed, How are rusko, pretty lights and the crookers only good. They put on a far better show, with more talent than tiesto does. Why does he hate on deadmau5 too? and then he talks about a tiesto light show. Why was Lady Gaga even suggested?
I think that they will really step it up in phase too. We need big, unique (but Plausible) names such as Aphex Twin, Justice, Basement Jaxx, Calvin Harris or Fatboy Slim
We also NEED Soulwax, Sub Focus, Vitalic and Boys Noize.
Royksopp, Proxy, RJD2, MSTRKRFT, Modeselektor, Chase & Status, Fake Blood, Flying Lotus, Danger, DatA and Mr. Oizo would be awesome additions.
I think the acts I mentioned are the ones we need. We have enough trance and mainstream bullshit.
DJ CHUCKIE, GUETTA, AFROJACK, MIIKE SNOW, AVIICI, BENASSI, SINCLAIR, DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE, SASHA, DIGWEED, PRYDZ, MASTIK SOUL, ABEL RAMOS, DIRTY SOUTH.. AND OF COURSE, SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA!!!
just over a year ago, i had the pleasure of being at Amsterdam Dance Event… and one of the highlights of the whole event was A Critical Mass (feat. Henrik Schwarz, Ame, Dixon) performing/remixing live at Melkweg. Minimal Techno needs a solid representation in Miami, and who better to bring it in than these guys!! I don’t believe they’ve brought the act here yet, but it’s about time!
LINE UP IS GREAT BUT …..WE NEED JEROME ISMA-AE !! IT’S ABOUT TIME !!!
In all honesty I’ve never been to Ultra this is my first year going and I’m very excited. BUT looking at previous years lineups waiting for the 2010 one got me really excited, until it came out. YES I’m still excited as hell to go and see Deadmau5, crookers, bassnector, pretty lights, tiesto, armin, THE BLOODY BEETROOTs, ect. but I would REALLY love to see Justice, Le Castle Vania, Lies in disguise, Autokratz, digitalism, pendulum, ect.
So far the lineup is pretty awesome, I’m excited. But it def. isnt at epic status yet.
Will benny and paul van dyk show up for the phase 2?
THERE IS NO MINIMAL !! TECHNO !! DEEP?!?! K PASO I WANT RICHIE AND DUBFIRE AND LOCO DICE OR LUCIANO RADIOSLAVE ALEXI DELANO BEN KLOCK HELLOOOO DJ HELL OR SOMETHING !!!
How could you place Ghostland Observatory in the “great” category and have the Disco Biscuits under “good”. For those of you who have never heard tDB, def catch their set. they will probably only get a short time slot so they are going to kill it from start to finish. Trust Me. Wait for the first jam out of the chorus of a song and you will see why they have such a huge fanbase. Very excited to see who gets announced in Phase 2. Any rumors? I would kill for Markus Schulz :)
Lets all pray for Daft Punk, Justice and MSTRKRFT. Those three added would be sick!!!
so far, great.
Pendulum made 2009 epic, but they are more likely to drop in for the 2011 round-up and hopefully get a main stage spot.
I bet Basement Jaxx and Sub Focus are added in the 2nd Phase. That would bump up my grade.
The xx is booked. too bad.
I'd be amazed if they got Tomcraft, but perhaps he's a personal choice and rarely comes to the US.
How about Orbital? They haven't played in the U.S. in ages, sounds pretty epic to me lol.