After being cancelled two years consecutively due to COVID, the promised land of electronic music festivals will be officially taking place March 25th–27th, bearing a cornucopia of surprises with the latest release of their Phase 3 lineup, as well as a chronological order of appearances altogether.
Here’s a tour d’horizon of UMF 2022 schedule and its highlights.
As expected, the Main Stage will be studded with many industry heavyweights and some of the festival’s stalwart acts, such as Afrojack, Alesso, Armin van Buuren, Cedric Gervais, David Guetta, DJ Snake, Illenium, Kygo, Nicky Romero and Tiësto among others.
Additionally, ‘one of the most iconic artists in electronic music history’ will feature as Sunday’s closing act. Although their identity is still being kept under wraps, the prospects of Hardwell keying in the slot are high, as implicitly harbingered by some of the Revealed head’s contemporaries.
Yo if Hardwell comes back, you know it’s gonna be the most watched set, the most watched Tracklist, and new music will be made inspired by that performance. That’s the tweet🙌🏼
— 𝗞𝗨𝗥𝗔 (@KURA_live) February 20, 2022
HARDWELL. That's the tweet.
— Timmy Trumpet (@TimmyTrumpet) February 19, 2022
Something special is to be unravelled at The Live Stage too. On Friday, Ookay, the virtuoso behind the infectious, saxophone-driven “Thief,” which has amassed over 16 million streams on SoundCloud, has voiced plans of premiering the entirety of his upcoming sophomore studio album during his set for Ultra.
I’m playing my whole new album at ultra for the first times. Words can’t describe how excited I am for this
— OOKAY (@Ookay) February 18, 2022
The multi-talented singer and music producer Alison Wonderland, electropop Grammy nominee Madeon, the ghastly SVDDEN Death Presents: VOYD and house duo Sofi Tukker are all slated for sets at the Live Stage as well; while the legendary drum & breaks band Pendulum, Dharma Worldwide pilot KSHMR and ‘heaven trap’ pioneers Slander, will feature as closing acts.
For the Resistance stage, none other than the king of techno, Carl Cox at the helm of the Megastructure, will be closing all three nights, taking a bow with his 3-hour ‘Hybrid Live’ performance on Saturday.
Tale Of Us, the seminal Berlin-based duo and founders of one of the most in vogue labels right now, Afterlife, will also feature at Resistance. You can also expect a lot of other names seared into the techno scene, like Nina Kravitz, Adam Beyer, and Sasha | John Digweed among others.
The second half of the Resistance stage is The Cove, which will be focused on more tech-house sounds.
Boris Brejcha will headline with a 3-hour takeover of his FCKING SERIOUS imprint. The wonder duo Solardo, CamelPhat, Ilario Alicante and more will also be there; many b2bs performances will take place too.
On Friday, The Worldwide Stage will host the tenth anniversary of Armin van Buuren’s A State Of Trance (ASOT) stage at Ultra, with sets from ASOT veterans who are the gold standard for trance, such as Aly & Fila, Andrew Rayel and Gareth Emery (who will also play his Analog show at the Live Stage), as well as a b2b of Armin van Buuren himself and techno prodigy Reiner Zonneveld, preceding a closing set from the former of the two.
A bass-heavy b2b of Jauz and NGHTMRE, Knife Party, Zeds Dead, Krewella, Kill The Noise and Raiden are some of the many other headliners which follow.
UMF Radio will feature label takeovers by STMPD Records, Gud Vibrations and Dirty Workz. On Friday, STMPD will take the lead with sets from some of the most innovative minds of the big room scene, like Matt Nash, Florian Picasso, DubVision, Matisse & Sadko, and a mysterious special guest. Saturday, Gud Vibrations is bringing the bass with acts like Nitepunk, Space Laces, Peekaboo and a b2b of two TBA artists. Sunday, Dirty Workz’s entry will mark the first year Ultra has had a stage dedicated to hardstyle dance music, with sets from Da Tweekaz, Darren Styles, Coone and Lil Texas.
And last but not least, Oasis, one of Ultra’s more recent additions, will feature a lot of house acts like Ben Spence, BOIISH, Dave Sol and a b2b of Metaphysical and Knowlton Walsh.
With many stages and a colossal 160+ artists, Ultra’s offerings are heterogeneous: whether you’re into big room, techno, or fall somewhere in between, there’s something here for you.
Check out the full lineup, and tickets are 94% sold out, so snag yours here.
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