Ultra’s milestone 25th anniversary was a definitive reminder of its greatness [Review]

14/04/2025 · Source: Dancing Astronaut ↗

The annual Sunday evening, late-March walk to the outskirts of Bayfront Park consistently leaves me with the belief that the past weekend spent in downtown Miami supersedes many that have come before it. And although some degree of recency bias involuntarily creeps in, that impression felt in the wake of Ultra’s 25th anniversary weekend held true more than ever.  For a milestone weekend that would celebrate the quarter-century mark of its flagship festival, Ultra crafted what many — including me — believed to be its strongest artist offering of the past decade or so, at least on paper. And while that lengthy collection of unmissable acts — 15 of which I wanted to specifically acknowledge ahead of time — would inevitably lead to more than a few stressful conflict decisions for myself as well as the 50,000 daily attendees, it translated into a fully fledged reality of unrelenting Ultr