When the world’s biggest names in electronic music came together in Miami to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ultra Music Festival, expectations were naturally high. Fortunately, The Activity, along with trusted lighting partner TAG and cutting-edge gear from Elation, came fully prepared to deliver a Main Stage experience worthy of its celebrated legacy.
Held at Bayfront Park March 28–30, Ultra Miami’s 2025 Main Stage performers read like a who’s who of DJ icons—Dom Dolla and John Summit, Alesso, Afrojack, Tiesto, Hardwell, Skrillex, Armin van Buuren, Zedd, Martin Garrix, and others. Tasked with managing the technical design of Ultra’s Main Stage, Patrick Dierson and the team at The Activity juggled artistry, technology, and logistics to deliver a flawless production. “We knew going into it that this show had to be special,” said Dierson. “Given that it was Ultra’s 25th anniversary, the pressure to deliver a great show was definitely looming.”
Pulse and Proteus
Anchored by 120 Pulse Bar L, 40 PulseBar S, and 132 Proteus Hybrid from Elation, the stage design—led by Ultra’s Creative Director Richard Milstein—emphasized clean lines and layered depth. “The overall look was arguably a cleaner and sleeker design than ever before,” Dierson said. “It was very well dispersed both left to right as well as back to front, which gave a significant amount of visual depth; more so than we have been able to attain in years past.”
Another feature he says that was welcomed by all involved was in limiting the number of fixture types down to a total of five. “This just makes everything easier, specifically cloning on the console; a feature that our guest LDs live and die by in the festival world.”
The Pulse Bar and Proteus Hybrid did the heavy lifting and were dispersed across the stage. “The Pulse Bars in particular were utilized as our main point source fixture, outwardly facing the audience and, in a rather prestigious spot for every Ultra design, they helped to form Ultra’s iconic ‘U’ mounted at the top center of the stage structure,” Dierson explains, adding that they also defined the set’s geometric octagon backdrop throughout the weekend. The Proteus Hybrids, meanwhile, brought the thunder, casting monumental beams that reached skyward and dazzled across crowd and stage alike.
Remarkable Moments
Throughout the three-day festival, with so many guest artist teams getting a chance to operate the rig, it was inevitable to see some spectacular cueing. For one memorable moment during Everything Always’ set, Creative Director Ben Dalgleish and LD Kasper Iseger of Human Person crafted a striking visual by slowly peeling the Proteus Hybrids from their audience focus toward the stage. The beams ultimately landed in a focus that staggered them horizontally across the stage upwards toward the ‘U’ at the top center of the structure. The result was akin to a massive pyramid of light beams that highlighted the iconic symbol and stretched straight up into the night sky.
“It was one of those brief moments of time that was seemingly innocuous when focusing but ultimately created such a beautiful image. You tend to get a lot of those throughout the weekend and they’re usually in those moments of musical calmness when everything stops frantically blinking and flashing,” said Dierson.
Then there was Skrillex where LD Jaycob Luque twisted the same rig into something more sinister and playful, transforming the “U” into a devilish smiley made entirely of Pulse Bars with Hybrid support. “The output from both fixtures is exceptional and precisely what is needed for large festival applications,” Dierson adds. “It’s traditionally been a struggle to find the right products to suit this application, but having extremely bright output in regard to both beam and point source, coupled with an IP65 rating just means that we’re going to be able to keep the show running after inevitable bouts of rain. The Elation name has always proven to give us peace of mind when preparing for these scenarios.”
As EDM shows of this size require a massive amount of data to be delivered quickly and responsively, Netron nodes from Obsidian Control Systems were used, ensuring that cues were delivered without hesitation.
The Activity
The Activity’s role, now firmly embedded in the DNA of Ultra Miami after over a decade of involvement, has evolved into the ultimate backstage conductor—coordinating technical teams, guest artist requirements, scheduling, pre-vis sessions, syncing artist logistics, and making sure everything (and everyone) hits their mark. “It gets quite complex very quickly and the entire process remains kinetic up until the last day of the festival. It’s a sort of controlled chaos, which is where I like to think The Activity team thrives.”
Dierson says the event overall was fantastic and a huge success on several fronts. “To say that it was the smoothest event we’ve had is an understatement and a testament to how well all of the vendors rolled in prepped and ready to go. One of the things that set this year apart was what ended up being 100% positivity across all of our guest technical teams. Everyone was just such a pleasure to work with, and it felt like more of a friendly reunion than actual work.”
Contributing heavily to the positive vibe was the equally positive reaction from the guest LDs. “Just about everyone who has worked on Ultra festivals around the globe commented on how nice and clean this year’s design was and a large portion of that praise goes to the TAG team who really went out of their way to make the rig as programming friendly as possible. This marked their third year handling the Main Stage and the experience of having undergone the two prior really showed. They’ve been great in the past, but this year they provided an even higher level of service.”
Crew
VJ Technical Liaison: Grant Davis
TAG Lead: Kevin Mignone
TAG Crew Chief: Russ Felton
FOH Lighting Technical Lead: John Flanagan
FOH Video Technical Lead: John Volpe
Audio Lead: Neil Rosenstock
SFX Lead: Luis Torez
Stage Manager: Ash Ali
Technical Producer: Ray Steinman
Creative Director: Richard Milstein
Photos courtesy of Ultra Music Festival
Further information from Elation: www.elationlighting.com
