Ultra Music Festival made its triumphant homecoming to Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami last March, welcoming 165,000 attendees from 112 countries to the sold-out event. The weekend commenced with a custom light-up drone show announcing that Ultra Music Festival would host its 23rd annual edition from Friday, March 24 – Sunday, March 26, 2023, with Swedish House Mafia headlining.
Ultra has now unveiled its star-studded Phase 1 lineup for the 2023 installment, reaffirming the festival’s legacy as a world-renowned curator of genre-crossing talent.
Swedish House Mafia leads the lineup as Ultra’s flagship headlining act, returning to the festival after their historic unannounced Main Stage comeback in 2018. The trio has spent the last few months showcasing their Paradise Again at arenas across North America, and will continue performing throughout Europe this fall.
Legendary Dutch producer and DJ Hardwell will headline Ultra 2023 after ending his four-year-long hiatus with a surprise closing set on the festival’s Main Stage last March. Having teased a majority of his new studio album ‘REBELS NEVER DIE’ during his unannounced Ultra performance, Hardwell toured the LP across the world before finally releasing the full 14-track album earlier this month.
Ultra will welcome a handful of debut headlining performances that encompass the vast spectrum of electronic music, helmed by Kaskade and deadmau5’ super-duo Kx5. The pair’s debut Ultra performance follows the release of their first two Kx5 singles ‘Escape’ ft. Hayla and ‘Take Me High’, and with the inaugural Kx5 album slated for release in 2023, fans can expect a performance brimming with exciting new music.
In addition to his back-to-back with Kaskade as Kx5, deadmau5 will perform as his techno alias Testpilot alongside Oliver Heldens’ techno moniker HI-LO in a never-before-seen world debut. The HI-LO and Testpilot projects have each garnered widespread respect amongst the underground community, serving as vessels for Oliver Heldens and deadmau5 to vaunt their deepest and darkest records.
Eclectic electronic-pop artist Grimes will also make her Ultra debut with a special DJ set to showcase her futuristic discography. French trailblazer CloZee will bring her highly-anticipated live show to mark her inaugural Ultra Music Festival performance. The classically-trained artist has quickly risen through the ranks of electronic music with her worldly bass sound and organic instrumentation. Representing the bass music genre, Ganja White Night and Subtronics will each make their long-awaited inaugural Ultra performances at the 2023 event.
Marking another first for Ultra, Dutch producer Oliver Heldens and French producer Tchami will take the stage together to fuse their signature house sounds. This back-to-back performance follows the pair’s inaugural collaboration ‘LOW’ with Anabel Englund from earlier this year. Both Tchami and Oliver Heldens have remained a vital part of Ultra’s programming over the years with Heldens recently performing at ULTRA Japan and the upcoming ULTRA Beach Bali event.
Ultra’s esteemed underground concept, RESISTANCE, will once again present a bevy of house and techno’s most in-demand acts across two stages: The Megastructure and The Cove.
RESISTANCE programming will feature Eric Prydz, who will present his highly-rare, technology-driven HOLO show in the Megastructure for the first time, dazzling fans with state-of-the-art visuals and mind-bending light effects. The coveted, holographic experience pushes the boundaries of light and audio technology, allowing fans to fully immerse themselves into the sounds of Eric Prydz.
The RESISTANCE Megastructure will also welcome back Carl Cox, who has remained an indispensable part of Ultra Music Festival since performing at the event’s third-ever edition back in 2001. The iconic British producer and DJ has helped shape Ultra’s legacy with each event. Ultra’s 2022 edition saw Cox debut his live-hybrid performance concept with a mesmeric, three-hour headlining set. The Megastructure will additionally host the return of Afterlife leaders Tale Of Us, who delivered a mesmerizing performance at the 2022 festival.
Over at The Cove Stage, West Coast-based underground label Dirtybird will host a stage takeover fronted by label boss himself Claude Vonstroke.
Armada label boss Armin van Buuren will also host a stage takeover from his global radio show A State of Trance, marking the 11th anniversary of curating performances from the genre’s most prominent talents at Ultra Music Festival. The Grammy-nominated Dutch producer/DJ has been a fixture at Ultra since his inaugural festival performance back in 2008, and holds the record for most entries in the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums Chart, with 21 entries.
In addition to Armin van Buuren, Ultra will welcome world-renowned headliners like Dutch superstar Martin Garrix, who made his Ultra debut in 2014 when he was only 17 years old and has headlined every edition of the festival since then (besides 2018.) The STMPD RCRDS founder recently took center stage at ULTRA Worldwide events like ULTRA Korea and ULTRA Japan, and finally unveiled his critically-acclaimed debut LP ‘Sentio‘ earlier this year.
Three-time GRAMMY award-winner and multi-platinum artist Zedd will return to Ultra’s Main Stage for the first time since 2019. The globe-trotting artist has topped Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart multiple times and boasts billions of streams across platforms. Zedd is hot on the heels of his colossal ULTRA Japan set, during which he brought his ‘Follow’ collaborator Martin Garrix on stage for a surprise back-to-back performance after joining Garrix for his headlining set the night prior.
Multi-platinum producer and live instrumentalist, Timmy Trumpet will bring his jazz-infused dance music back to Ultra for the 2023 event. The Australian artist has been hot on the ULTRA Worldwide circuit with Main Stage performances at ULTRA Europe, ULTRA Japan, and ULTRA Korea.
One of Brazil’s hottest dance music acts Vintage Culture will return to Ultra’s flagship event following his highly-praised back-to-back set with Claptone in 2022. The chart-topping artist won Producer of the Year at the 2022 Electronic Dance Music Awards and has remained a top-selling artist on Beatport for the majority of the past year.
Canadian producer and two-time winner of Electronic Album of the Year at the JUNO Awards, REZZ is slated to make her Ultra return this March. She initially made her Ultra debut in 2017 and quickly rose to headliner by 2019. In her short yet prolific career, she has released four studio albums, landed a sync in an Apple MacBook Pro commercial, and was featured in the Canadian documentary film Underplayed.
Gryffin will take the stage at Ultra Music Festival as a headliner for the very first time. The classically-trained and multi-platinum selling artist initially made his Ultra debut as a supporting act in 2016 and 2017 but will finally return to Bayfront Park as a headliner for the 23rd edition. His debut album ‘Gravity’ quickly rose to the number one spot on Billboard’s Top Dance/ElectronicAlbums in 2019 and most recently he released his sophomore album ‘Alive’ followed by a string of sizable US tour stops.
Ultra will also welcome veterans to return to the stage including live sets from NGHTMRE and Big Gigantic as GIGANTIC NGHTMRE, as well as the genre-fusing producer and DJ Kayzo.
Fans can relive the magic of Ultra’s magnificent return to Miami’s Bayfront Park last year with the Final Kid’s For The People Aftermovie. The film begins with gorgeous footage of Miami’s scenic locale before unveiling the bevy of enthusiastic Ultra attendees being ushered into the festival grounds for the first time since 2019. Chronicling three marathon days at festival, ‘For The People’ uses innovative filmmaking techniques to show off each stage’s groundbreaking designs, the festival’s eclectic dance music curation, the roster of world-famous headliners, and, of course, the thousands of happy Ultra attendees dancing their hearts out.
A truly stunning filmmaker, Final Kid’s method of video production has become synonymous with the after-movie genre. Clocking up hundreds of millions of views worldwide, his footage is unmatched in the industry as he consistently captures the essence and character of each Ultra event in perfectly packaged form.
Tickets are on sale now at https://ultramusicfestival.com/tickets/miami/
