Miami, FL – Kicking off the 2025 festival season is Miami’s Ultra Music Festival, North America’s premier Electronic Music Festival held during Miami Music Week. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, bringing internationally renowned acts ready to bring one-of-a-kind moments to Bayfront Park you won’t find anywhere else.
The RESISTANCE Megastructure stage, dedicated to Ultra’s underground acts, featured a range of the world’s leading techno artists, including Adam Beyer, Carl Cox, Charlotte De Witte, Richie Hawtin, and Solomun. Famous for its industrial aesthetic and its signature automated rigging lined with lighting fixtures and video panels that immerse the audience in high-energy visual elements while transforming its dimension.
Lead by Lighting Designer Evan Bloom, over 220 Volux Lighting fixtures were utilized within the Megastructure. Featuring a multitude of Volux’s latest IP-rated innovations, including Physos, Flaris 1XK, Phantom, Flaris Blade and Phantra – This wasn’t a simple deployment; this was a testament to performance in one of the most iconic stages in festival production.
For the 25th Anniversary, these headlining acts were coming with more than just a DJ set, but exclusive performances such as Carl Cox’s Evolution, Richie Hawtin’s DEX EFX, and Dubfire’s EVOLV. Each requiring complex production, changing ground packages and rotating guest LDs to deliver a breathtaking interplay synchronized to every beat.
50+ IP65-rated Physos Profile Moving Heads were scattered across the “stars” in a two-tiered layout. Its leading compact size and low weight made it ideal as the primary workhorse mover. “The Physos were amazingly fast and bright” – Bloom commented. Remarkably quick movements and an extensive zoom range provided the responsiveness needed to achieve complex effects. From flyouts to delays sweeps, from punchy, long-throw beams to an ultra-wide spread of textured looks. Effortlessly cutting through the chaos thanks to a 1,000W LED engine and optics that optimize output.
“I didn’t expect Physos to move like that. For an IP-rated profile, they were fast, punchy, and super clean through the air.” Rane Renshaw commented.
For energetic strobe effects, 60 Flaris 1XK strobe/wash lights were deployed overhead and as part of a ground package on stage. Tasked with delivering a piercing strobe and bold color chases to define the multi-tiered dimension of the stage. The dedicated warm white color integrated into the pixel plate delivered that authentic blinder effect that engages the audience most without a need for a separate fixture. Running in a reduced 33ch mode helped conserve universes but still allowed designers to add an extra level of creative eye-candy to its unique layout of 4 strobe tubes and 3 plate segments. None of these achievements, however, would be notable without brightness.
“These things are ridicuously bright, and that warm white is just beautiful, you can’t replicate it” – Victor Sanchez, Guest LD
40 Phantom wash moving heads were used as a contrast element. The additive RGBL color mixing delivered saturated, punchy colors that could serve as an additional beam or flood of color on the dance floor. With easily accessible pixel macros, the mesmerizing prismatic rotating lens effect could effortlessly complement Physos and Flaris 1XK even in overpowering moments.
Downstage, from left to right, were 66 Flaris Blade pixel bars. Bright enough to illuminate the entire dancefloor alone, pixel movements were seamless in a true linear form. Integrating both RGBW pixels and the center Cold-White strobe into the tube to serve as additional strobe or eye candy element when needed that draws the eyes of festival goers to the stage.
For keylight, Physos additionally served as an overhead source for performers, where its CTO and High-CRI filters ensured true skin tones. 4 Phantras were chosen due to their compact size to serve as a punchy yet discreet up-light for dancers and aerialists.
One thing that’s unpredictable in any festival? Weather. Especially in Florida. When torrential rain and thunderstorms came through on Day 3, the IP65 durability of Volux fixtures was proven. Fixtures towards the opening of the structure were exposed to heavy rainfall and excessive water runoff from the roof falling directly on the fixtures, yet they continued to operate flawlessly.
“Ultra is quite special to me. Not because it’s right in our backyard, but some of my earliest inspirations of lighting began at this festival.” VOLUX CEO, Zach Delzotti commented. “The megastructure is what I like to personally view as the bar for performance and many of our innovation philosophies were proven. Being on-site, putting myself in a programming and operating capacity for some of the sets while also interacting firsthand with the LDs to receive their feedback was invaluable.”
In order for the 25th anniversary performances’ complex productions to succeed, the gear had to be reliable, responsive, and flexible. Volux Fixtures excelled by demonstrating these key qualities, leaving many of the LDs highly impressed with the output and adaptability as a result of their extensive feature sets.
VOLUX Gear List:
- 50 x Physos
- 60 x Flaris 1XK
- 66 x Flaris Blade
- 40 x Phantom
- 4 x Phantra