Oh UMF, our paths crossed again last weekend, and yet again you managed to take my love of music and send it through a fun house, having it returned to me completely unrecognizable. Granted, 2011’s installment was near perfection, so I’d be completely lying if I said everything went as smoothly this year; however, that’s not to say I wasn’t taken on one of the most memorable, exhilarating, and exhausting rides of my life.

After napping all throughout Friday morning/afternoon (I was out dancing the night away at HARD Miami with Destructo, Brodinski, Busy P, Gesaffelstein, and Boys Noize until 5 am… trust, you would have been, too. Check out pictures from HARD Miami on my Facebook page) I was ready to take on whatever Ultra 2012 had coming for me. And well, shit, I had a lot coming. My group of ten got our asses in gear in time to make the first sets of the weekend; yes, that’s right folks, we were through checkpoints and into the hallowed Bayfront Park before 4:30pm! We weren’t kidding around. After perusing the outskirts of the main stage area to find a good meeting spot, here on known as “The Tree”, we divided, and oh yes, we conquered.

Up first, Nicky Romero at UMF Korea, playing recognizable hits to get the festival goers trickling in to the festival all warmed up and sweaty. The Dutchman treated us to plenty of his original tracks, including the smash “Toulouse” (I thought for sure this track would on the most-played list in sets over the course of the three day event) and really powered it home as he closed with smashes like “Generation 303” (which, in fact, did turn out to be the most-played track from what I heard) and Skrillex and Wolfgang Gartner’s “Devil’s Den.” The transition into Michael Woods’ set was smooth and the crowd kept filling up the tent, especially after he dropped Chuckie’s “Who Is Ready To Jump.” Maybe it was just me having that “oh my god I’m at Ultra; this is happening” moment, but I couldn’t focus on the tunes even though I was super excited to see Woods in person. It also could have been that a fourteen year old boy looking rather scared was standing right behind me- er, what? Awkward.

There wasn’t much time to gather my thoughts at the UMF Korea tent as we ventured back past our beloved Tree to UMF Worldwide for some soulful jams from Paper Diamond and MiMOSA. I missed out on both of these acts on their recent trips to Atlanta and was especially excited to see MiMOSA again as I haven’t seen him since Forecastle Festival (Louisville) since 2010. This was by far my favorite stage of the festival: beautiful buildings filling the skyline behind the stage and the Miami Bay lapping up (just beyond the chain link fence) to your back.

It wouldn’t have been prudent if I hadn’t seen Madeon, so don’t worry, I did. And it rocked my world. I’ll admit that I was a tad skeptical on how his electro-pop melodies would translate into a set in front of thousands of screaming, raging, neon-clad party people nearly twice his age, but as the sun was beginning to slip back behind the skyscrapers of downtown, he lit UMF Korea up. Kudos kid, I’m excited to see what you can do next time I catch you, maybe even after you’ve hit your first growth spurt!

So, I totally didn’t expect to end up at Afrojack, but I did, and so did Paris Hilton and Lil Jon (news flash: who’s not surprised?), but damn it if he didn’t play “Polkadots (Oliver Twizt Remix)” and a super duper mash up of his own “Bangduck”, “Prutataa”, and “Replica” to draw me like a moth to a moth’afucking flame. But once I was snapped out of my dirty Dutch house, chainsaw-synth oblivion by a glance at the clock (and the exterior of the Intercontinental Hotel that displayed some reality shifting visuals), I knew I had to separate myself from the crowd and head back to that little gem, UMF Worldwide, for some full-fledged bass from the Austrian duo Reinhard Rietsch and Markus Wagner, aka Camo & Krooked.

It actually worked out that I caught the last fifteen minutes of Atlanta DJ/producer Treasure Fingers completely dismantle the small stage by the water with his electrifying set. Transitioning from some delectable electro into some destructive drum and bass proved to be quite easy, as the bodies packed in tight to lose their collective mind as Camo & Krooked fed more bass into the speakers than I thought possible; there were times I was sure my hair was flying back as if I was standing behind an airplane jet engine (or a bass cannon). And what a great crowd… I mean, I met an Austrialian with dreads and even found time to tell an Englishman wielding an English flag that, “I’m glad he’s showing C&K support with that Austrian flag!” … Whoopsies.

Now, if someone can help fill in the blanks with the next two hours of my night, it would be greatly appreciated. However, I did manage to recall that I was so amped from my drum and bass mind mutilation that Pretty Lights at the Live Stage was just too damn chilled out for me. But, the continuous rage is what Dada Life is perfect for, am I right? Too bad I was too busy jumping around like an idiot to take a decent picture, but I’ll never forget Olle Corneer and Stefan Engblom’s bald heads bouncing around, reflecting blinding light, and most importantly throwing inflatable bananas and champagne bottles every which way.

[Photo credit: Totallycoolpix.com]

With the Carl Cox mega-structure looming and booming behind me, I knew it was inevitably going to suck me in at some point, because, let’s be honest, that giggling Buddha of techno music has an undeniably magnetic appeal. It was in Carl’s welcoming arms one year ago where I really fell in love with techno, so I’m pleased that I managed to squeeze in an hour or so dancing under the beehive patterned LED and white canvas screens that gave the impression of gargantuan speakers blasting his famous techno-call-to-arms “Oh yes, oh yes, Ultra!” from every angle.

And then I saw Wolfgang Gartner. Heh heh.

Yes, I’ll sadly admit that I only caught the last few songs of Joey Youngman, aka Wolfgang Gartner’s set, but it capped off one massive day of EDM. And I know I’ll be seeing him a couple times this year anyway… I hope.

Stay tuned for UMF Diary entries 2 and 3 and be sure to check out all the pictures on Facebook!