MIAMI – As electronic dance music fans worldwide continued to descend on Miami for the three-day Ultra Music Festival, one attendee punched a City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue firefighter.
The Friday night injury did not require hospitalization and the firefighter continued working at the festival. The glow of complex LED lighting systems and loud beats continued with some 165,000 on Saturday.
A spider-shaped stage designed to suspend the DJ booth up in the air was one of eight elaborate stage designs spread out the 32-acre area of Bayfront Park.
With tickets ranging anywhere between $300 to $1,250, this year organizers took Ultra VIP to another level with their Social Floating Platform on Biscayne Bay. It features lounging areas and goodies from chefs and mixologists.
The festival's range is unlike no other in South Florida. Indie electronica has a presence with Bag Raiders. Techno has ANNA. Trance has Purple Haze. Death metal has Slipknot's Sid Wilson. Hip-hop has A$AP Ferg, Cypress Hill and Ice Cube.
Law enforcement expected recreational drug use within the fenced 32-acre Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. Paramedics were ready to respond to health risks. Last year, 21-year-old Adam Levine, a University of Miami student from Virginia, was rushed from the park to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died.
Although water taxis and Uber were encouraged, there were traffic jams in downtown, Wynwood and South Beach. As part of the simultaneous Miami Music Week events, there will be popular parties at The Raleigh, The Delano, The RC Cola Plant and SOHO Studios.
TRAFFIC ALERT: Police officers will begin to reroute traffic at 9 p.m. on Thursday until 12 p.m. on Monday. Biscayne Boulevard's northbound lanes will be closed from Southeast First Street to Northeast Fourth Street. The northbound traffic will flow on the southbound lanes of Biscayne Boulevard.
WATCH THE ULTRA LIVE STREAM: 3 to 11 p.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
__