Extremely’s milestone twenty fifth anniversary was a definitive reminder of its greatness [Review] – Dancing Astronaut

The annual Sunday night, late-March stroll to the outskirts of Bayfront Park persistently leaves me with the idea that the previous weekend spent in downtown Miami supersedes many who have come earlier than it. And though some extent of recency bias involuntarily creeps in, that impression felt within the wake of Extremely’s twenty fifth anniversary weekend held true greater than ever. 

For a milestone weekend that might have a good time the quarter-century mark of its flagship competition, Extremely crafted what many — together with me — believed to be its strongest artist providing of the previous decade or so, at the least on paper. And whereas that prolonged assortment of unmissable acts — 15 of which I needed to particularly acknowledge forward of time — would inevitably result in various anxious battle choices for myself in addition to the 50,000 every day attendees, it translated into a completely fledged actuality of unrelenting Extremely superiority throughout March 28, 29, and 30.

At first, this can not proceed with out a part of appreciation for Richard Milstein, the thoughts accountable for Extremely’s annual stage designs. There have been affordable expectations that Milstein and his REDNOIR artistic workforce would architect a mainstage design that we might be capable to stack up towards a few of Extremely’s most iconic designs since 2013. And he did simply that, engineering what I wholeheartedly take into account to be Extremely’s most spectacular mainstage construction since 2016’s magnum opus in addition to first-class manufacturing preparations at each the MegaStructure and Worldwide phases.

Let’s dive into the weekend itself. I may understandably convert this text right into a thesis-length clarification about every standout second of the weekend (there are particular person set recaps on the Dancing Astronaut Instagram that may assist with that) however I’ll spare everybody from any additional incoherent rambling. The seconds, minutes, and hours spent all through one other three-day run at Bayfront Park — from opening with Miss Monique on the MegaStructure to seeing Alesso reunite Extremely with the best tune identified to mankind all the way in which right down to wrapping up the weekend with Martin Garrix’s grand finale on Sunday night — comprised of a number of the most unforgettable recollections that I've constructed up in almost a decade of annual March journeys to Miami. On the very least, I've to particularly nod in direction of the three-and-a-half-hour sequence that decisively etched day two into Extremely’s corridor of fame. The development of Axwell — who appeared unaccompanied for the primary time at Extremely — into Skrillex — who returned to Bayfront Park for the primary time in a decade — into Hardwell — who finalized Saturday’s mainstage run with one in all his all-time units — was an outright masterclass of a night. When prompted with the query of which singular artist was accountable for my go-to slot of the weekend, my reply is that I merely can not separate the perfection that was the second half of March 29 at Bayfront Park.

Whereas there’s an awesome consensus that 2025 prevailed as an version that holds its personal towards cherished Extremely installments like 2013 or 2016, there’s at all times room for enchancment as we now look in direction of the twenty sixth anniversary. The primary level of suggestions needs to be that Extremely ought to handle its bottleneck entry problem for normal admission, with intensive traces starting to kind at sure factors all through the weekend. As soon as attendees made it to the second step of entry, some had attested to the truth that safety appeared a bit too nonchalant, resulting in a sea of tall flag poles — that are explicitly named in Extremely’s prohibited gadgets record — from folks that conveniently selected to face entrance and heart. As a substitute of the annual battle towards fan clackers, it was the flag poles in 2025 that might persistently clog up the view at mainstage from any angle on the dance flooring.

For a second yr in a row, we had been unable to stay in Mom Nature’s good graces for the weekend’s entirety, with a thunderstorm resulting in a brief shutdown of the competition on early Sunday afternoon. And after Extremely had broadcast an evacuation message on its mainstage display screen, some confusion rapidly stemmed surrounding the standing of competition entry in addition to stage closures. It wouldn’t be till just a few hours later that Extremely would share the information that the night can be prolonged by an hour in addition to an up to date timetable, regardless of a few real-time scheduling adjustments — like Kaskade and Steve Aoki having swapped slots — having already come and gone.

However within the grand scheme of issues, the above feedback are really simply minor blips encountered throughout an in any other case seamless anniversary celebration within the coronary heart of downtown Miami.

Even after 1 / 4 century of operations, the twenty fifth anniversary reminded myself of 1 factor for positive: Extremely stays my favourite place on Earth.

Between furthering its lengthly file of all-time performances, designing one other slate of world-class stage manufacturing, repeatedly maximizing the chic setting that's Bayfront Park, and mixing each different little factor that comes collectively makes Extremely what it's, the weekend gave the dance music world a front-row seat of Extremely Music Pageant at its highest kind.

Thanks a lot to Extremely, the entire manufacturing workforce, the entire workers, the entire crew, and everybody else that comes collectively to make this competition occur every March.

Featured picture: Alive Protection

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Classes: Options, Festivals