Ultra Music Festival just wrapped up its 17th year in Miami. In the past several years, Ultra has felt like a skippable event, in-between the hundreds of other parties going on during Miami Music Week. It was not uncommon to hear that the ‘real parties’ were at hotel pools or late night after hours, that Ultra was for ‘the kids’ – the mainstream stuff. But any real dance music fan that missed Ultra this year made a huge mistake, as Ultra has reclaimed its throne as the can’t miss dance music event of the year.

The biggest and most welcome change this year saw an 18+ age limit in place, which, along with an increased presence of police and staff, made the whole event feel safer. It didn’t feel like a playground. The drug use wasn’t blatant. People weren’t dropping like flies. You didn’t feel too old to be there, and it helped the overall enjoyment of the festival. The process of entering and exiting was smooth too.

Musically, a common complaint about Ultra is that the line-ups focus on the same handful of mainstream headliners – Avicii, David Guetta, Tiesto, Afrojack, and Swedish House Mafia guys – and all of those DJs performed in prominent main stage headline slots. But lineups at other stages (there’s 8 in all) are mini-festivals within themselves. You could post up at one stage all day and still feel like you’ve gotten your money’s worth, with all-star line ups focusing on venues like house, trance, or trap.

The festival’s newest stage, Resistance, exemplified this completely. DJs performed atop a huge Burning Man-esque tower, which shot fire balls into the air from all angles. It was a true 360 degree stage – with full sound, lights, and pyro from all angles, all the way around. Throughout the weekend, this stage was home to some of the deeper artists – artists like Maceo Plex, Guy Gerber, Joris Voorn, Dixon, Jamie Jones, and a 2 hour set of Claude Von Stroke and Green Velvet’s new Get Real project. This stage felt like a real gift to all of those who may be turned off by the pop music stylings of the main stage; to those who may have wanted to avoid cameos by Justin Bieber or Arianna Grande.

But wasn’t all – Ultra’s megastructure returned, hosting two days of Carl Cox and Friends, as well as Armin Van Buuren’s A State of Trance on the final stage. This huge tent, adorned with dozens of LED screens all throughout the roof, is visually stunning, and featured some incredible sets throughout the weekend. Wisely, many artists on this stage received extended sets – Carl Cox, Loco Dice, and Marco Corola, each got 2 hours. Armin and Prydz each had 1.5. This is another mini-festival within one stage, completely worth the price of admission.

And all of this is just scratching the surface. The live stage had guys like Bassnectar, Big Gigantic, Porter Robinson, and Kygo; Ultra Korea was a dubstep haven with Excision, 12th Planet, Zeds Dead, etc.; Skrillex’s OWSLA label held down a stage with a surprise performance from What So Not. All of this, and we haven’t even touched upon the main stage – because you know what happened there. But there was just so much more at Ultra this year – so maybe consider skipping a pool party or two next year.