Now that I’m back from my long weekend at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, I can say that I’ve checked many things off my bucket list. And I didn’t even know I had a bucket list. But now that I do know, these are the things that can be removed:
- Survived 3 days at Ultrafest: Check
- Saw Duran Duran in concert for the first time: Check
- Walked through the actual ghetto: Check
- Was told by a cab driver “not to walk through the ghetto” after I already walked through the ghetto: Check
- Successfully smuggled a 2-hour energy bottle in each bra cup 3 days in a row: Check
- Cried because my boobs are small enough to smuggle 2-hour energy bottles: Check
- Ordered a pizza that never came: Check
- Learned that a Dirty Sanchez is not what I thought it was: Check
- Saw a girl barfing by our car as we were leaving Miami: Check
- Thought the girl barfing seemed an appropriate send off: Check
For those of you who may not know, Ultrafest is a 3-day techno music festival. The festival has a bunch of different stages of different sizes (maybe about 7 of them?) and each stage has a lineup of artists that will play there. The artists are different each day and play for about an hour or an hour and a half depending on how “big” they are.
Main Stage had most of the bigger acts. Deadmau5 was the last act on Saturday and Chemical Brothers was the last act on Sunday.
This was Live Stage, I think.
There were “smaller” stages too. Moby played at this one – the Carl Cox tent.
Hopefully that background helped out a little because otherwise it’s just gonna look like I attended a weekend long freakshow. 
Friday morning, the hubs and I drove down to Miami with our friends Pete and Becky. We stayed at the Springhill Suites which turned out to be a nice hotel in the middle of You-Might-Get-Shot Town.
Here’s a little photo montage of the weekend:
Getting ready to head out for Day 1.
We met up with our friend Joe who drove separately.
We waited in long lines to get searched by strangers before we could enter. This was the “line.”
We saw Duran Duran. “Ordinary World”…not a crowd pleaser at a techno show.
We saw Deadmau5 (best show of the 3 days) and I was surprised I knew 90% of his songs. Score one for Paula!
Tommy Lee was there to drum during 2 of Deadmau5’s songs. No matter what Pete says, that was cool.
We watched people get entertained by other people wearing illuminated gloves.
We saw interesting (*cough*creepy*cough*) costumes.
We saw a little bit of Miami.
The hubby hooped.
And got to wear his Warrior Dash hat again.
Dirt got into everything. Including my drinks.
Still drank it.
By the way, everything was $10. Mixed drink? $10! Slice of pizza? $10! Five pieces of chicken on a stick and called a kabob? $10! Good thing the bottles of water were “only” $5.
We saw a little bit of sky writing. Even though we could read it, it still didn’t make sense. I was not proposed to by Simon LeBon or John Taylor like I thought I would be.
Pete and I got photo bombed by the hubs.
I could film a mini-series with those roots. (Get it?)
A few random pictures of my friends.
Becky telling me what she really thinks and Pete having one of my “boob” 5-hour energy bottles.
Group picture. I like to swirl hair around my face and wear it that way.
If you like festivals like this, I think some of the best advice I got before going was:
- Bring ear plugs, because the music is LOUD
- Wear comfortable shoes. You’ll be standing. A lot.
No exercise this weekend but I did wear my running skirt.
- Bring anti-bacterial hand gel
- Bring travel Kleenex (thank you Becky!)
You’re gonna need that Kleenex cuz you will not find toliet paper here:
Oh, and the bathrooms were just a huge cluster 90% of the time. The festival really needs to revamp this shoddy idea. The first day we stood in line (one that looked like the one to get in but more packed) for probably a good hour.
Well, that was a long weekend. It was fun but I am glad to be home. Sorry about any drunk tweets comparing Miami women to Orlando women but that’s what you get when you mix alcohol, me, and a smartphone.
What’s the last concert you went to?
