Haute Scene, News | April 1, 2025

Haute Scene, News | April 1, 2025

Photo Credit: Ultra Music FestivalUltra Music Festival concluded its sold-out 25th anniversary celebration at Bayfront Park – a legacy defining weekend from Friday, March 28 – Sunday, March 30 that paid homage to the festival’s iconic history while further cementing Ultra as the World’s Premier Electronic Music Festival.

Over three days, the festival welcomed 165,000 attendees from more than 100 countries. Friday’s highlights included a history-making moment during ’s electrifying Main Stage headlining set, when he brought out surprise guests and to perform their multi-platinum global hit “Titanium” together—live for the first time ever. David Guetta and Sia then stayed on the stage to close out the set with the live debut of their new collaborative song, “Beautiful People.” Marking Sia’s first-ever electronic music festival performance, the moment showcased three artists who helped shape the landscape of both electronic and pop music coming together at Ultra 2025, reaffirming the festival’s role as the global stage where history is made.

Other Friday highlights include – the collaborative project between and – closing down the Main Stage for the duo’s Ultra debut; Subtronics bringing his bass-heavy sound to the Ultra Main Stage for a daylight headlining set; and Ultra veterans and pulling devoted fans’ nostalgia strings with headlining Main Stage sets filled to the brim with their classic tracks. The two dance music legends also came with special surprises, with Tiësto premiering a new collaboration with and Alesso bringing out iconic vocalist for a guest appearance.

Photo Credit: Ultra Music Festival

RESISTANCE – ULTRA Worldwide’s esteemed house and techno brand – featured a weekend full of underground performances, including s Friday closing set at the RESISTANCE Megastructure, which followed jaw-dropping sets from and At the RESISTANCE Cove Stage, performed a widely heralded, two-hour house and techno bonanza for his Friday closing headlining set.

Meanwhile, over on the Worldwide Stage’s Friday programming (which featured A State Of Trance takeover), played two of his three Ultra 2025 headlining sets – one solo set before an epic b3b with and . At the Live Stage, shut down Friday night with the Ultra debut of their ‘Return To The Spectrum Of Intergalactic Happiness’ set, which followed ’s first live set at Ultra since 2022 and performances from and.

The 25th anniversary event continued on Saturday with a star-studded lineup across eight stages. returned to Ultra’s Main Stage for his first solo performance since 2015 with a medley of surprise special guests, including UK rap legend four-time GRAMMY-winning reggaeton icon , Puerto Rican singer and rapper , and for her first-ever live performance.

Photo Credit: Ultra Music Festival

Additional highlights from Saturday’s Main Stage included an illustrious closing set filled with unreleased music from Ultra veteran In a historical moment, Ultra ushered in the world debut of on the Main Stage. Armin van Buuren’s set consisted of all original music including a brand-new remix for Additionally, performed a solo set for the first time since 2019, teasing IDs from

Over on the RESISTANCE Structure, hosted his first ever Ultra ‘Carl Cox Invites’ stage takeover – another milestone moment amongst many in a long-standing collaboration between the festival and techno legend. The stage takeover featured headlining sets from (who brought his revolutionary live show ‘DEX EFX X0X’ to Ultra for the very first time), and a Saturday closing set from Cox, who debuted his brand new ‘Evolution’ live show.

Saturday also featured other groundbreaking headlining sets, including the world debut of and performances from and Over on the UMF Radio Stage, Ultra hosted its first ever psytrance stage takeover in collaboration with Vini Vici’s Alteza label.

Sunday wrapped up Ultra Music Festival’s 25th anniversary in historic fashion, hosting Martin Garrix for his first ever Sunday Main Stage closing set. During his performances, Garrix brought out Armin van Buuren to premiere a new collaboration before becoming the first artist to ever close out Ultra Music Festival with their own live vocals. Sunday’s Main Stage also hosted headlining performances from Zedd, Gryffin, a surprise set from Kaskade, and a special guest-laden set from Steve Aoki, who brought out Trippie Redd, Swae Lee, Mike Posner, Marnik, and Jessica Baio.

Building on the 50 sustainability initiatives successfully executed in 2024, Ultra’s award-winning Mission:Home program is returned for its fifth iteration with over 60 initiatives focused on pollution prevention, nature preservation, waste reduction, climate action, and community engagement. A few of this year’s new efforts included the launch of the Mission:Home Artist Alliance, empowering Ultra artists to embrace sustainability with resources and fan-driven initiatives, as well as transitioning two additional stages from generator to grid power. Additionally, nature-based glass recycling transformed the festival glass waste into sand for coastal restoration and flood mitigation in Florida. As part of their long-established “Leave No Trace” and recycling initiatives, Ultra once again partnered with Clean Vibes to keep grounds clean and sort waste behind the scenes, with the goal of reaching 100% recycling acceptance for the fifth year in a row.