Hi weirdos,
Happy first birthday to my blog! What a fun year it has been with you, I would like to thank you for all the constant support and engagement. Also, Happy Valentines day for the 14th. As you may have seen I am planning a giveaway, it’s quite a big one, so keep on the lookout for that. Last Friday was the 5th Ultra music festival in South Africa. I was not going to buy tickets after my previous experience at the Green point stadium last year that you can read about here. I had my gripe with the venue already but I actually won tickets and thought, well why not?
I tried to keep an open mind, but unfortunately this review is not going to be positive. It’s not just the venue I have qualms about, the sets the international DJ’s played were so underwhelming I left the festival early. While I am quite the trance snob, I have attended enough international festivals while living in the United States. Its quite difficult to not compare the performances by the artists.
Having experienced many sets from many different DJ’s in the states on a number of occasions in Washington D.C. I’ve seen most of the international artists at Ultra Cape Town a number of times before; I cannot help but think they take South African fans for granted.
I attended a number of festivals in 2013 and 2014. The DJs happened to be playing the same sets and drops since then. I have tweeted about this and many people agree, a few people messaged me as well to say they are in total agreement. The mainstage DJS seem not to care about the fact that they play the same dance songs with the same mash ups. At the international Ultra festivals there are many stages so fans can choose what they want to listen to however it is not the case with the 3 small stages present in Cape Town.
It got to a point where I could predict the next song they will play along with the drop that would be used. It was generic to the point where I could not enjoy the performance. I just walked away. Why do international DJs underestimate the South African audience? This is not the first time I felt this, I felt this about the Axwell x Ingrosso set at the 2015 Ultra Cape Town as well. However, at this Ultra every set was disappointing. I understand that others may enjoy the music, but maybe try bringing in newer faces such as Deadmau5 to diversify the experience.
Now that I have explained my annoyance with the DJ’s lets get into the rest of the festival details…
I have to admit that setup this year was a lot better than last year. The lines were shorter and entering the festival was quite easy. I am someone who hates waiting so this was a pleasure. The top ups for the wristband for the festival were seamless and I cannot fault it.
The bar service was quick and there were a number of bars as well as food places. There were enough food places to cater even to a vegetarian like myself. The double Red Bull & Vodka was R70. The toilet facilities at the stadium were more than adequate to deal with the large crowd. Overall the logistics of the venue are to be commended.
I did not enjoy the Resistance stage in the parking lot because it was way too crowded. This stage had better performances, however there was no space to enjoy it. The mobile Bridges for Music stage was fun but way more could have been done with it. I am one of the biggest electronic music fans and if I have to be blatantly honest, I will never pay to attend Ultra Music Festival at Green point stadium. The line-up could use some improvement and the limitations of the stadium are also quite pronounced. The event is on a Friday which means people need to take the day off, it also ends at midnight which is quite early for an EDM music festival.
Ultra Music Festival is a well known festival is a great brand that could improve by moving back the Ostrich farm or somewhere that suits the audience better as well as the line up. At the end of the day, I do think not the performances were up to scratch which is why I will not pay to attend it in future.
Here is my Ultra makeup look:
If you attended for the first time, I am sure it would have been fun. If not let me know what you thought of it?
Until next time,
xx Miss Dhanusha
Never Been to a Ultra music fest. Think Im getting to old for it 😂😂😂😂Use to go to smaller ones years ago.
Ah never too old. I have heard the Joburg one is better than Cape Town
I did not attend this year’s festival but i did attend the previous 3. I have always found it strange that they would pick the stadium for Ultra, it presents so many limitations. I could never see that fully working out. I have always enjoyed Nasrec in jhb as a venue because of the space. In terms of the sets, i have to agree there. It can become quite frustrating because i do feel like they hold back so much when they play in S.A.
Yup no one seems to like the stadium as the venue. But the sets are even more disappointing
I do agree about international artists generally disrespecting the South African or even broadly the African audience. I would rather have them not come at all than come and give us lower grade performances.
So true. The sad part is we don’t get to see them often and then they disappoint us
My heart sank reading this. How disappointing, especially as a fan! Thanks for this post hun. I sure hope that those who were unhappy made it known and that it improves from next year onwards.
It is actually. I was so looking forward to seeing Armin and even he was not good. Thanks for reading and always supporting me..❤
Myself and wifey attended capetown ultra this year. We are huge trance listeners.Too cut the story short we left early. The sets were seriously of low quality. They had black coffee in the resistance stage he was the only shining light out of most of the sets on offer.I will not attend again.Waste of money and time.
I totally agree. I saw him as well but that stage was so packed it was hard to enjoy.
great article, will need the info next year!