Ultra Music Festival implements age limit, anti

In the wake of increased controversy, stemming from the death of an attendee in 2014, Ultra Music Festival has set a new age requirement. According to EDM.com, the Miami-based EDM festival will be an 18-and-over event starting in 2015.

News of the age change was revealed through promotional flyers handed out during this weekend's Electric Zoo Music Festival in New York City. The flyers also indicated a staunch anti-drug policy: 'The safety and security of our attendees, artists/performers, and personnel are our utmost priority and concern. Event organizers maintain a zero tolerance policy respecting the possession, sale, contribution, or use of any illegal or illicit drugs or substances and any such possession, sale, contribution, or use is strictly prohibited.'

Now in its 16th year, Ultra has emerged as the most popular EDM festival in the United States. However, the festival's most recent installment was overshadowed by a series tragic of tragic events, including the death of a 21-year-old man, who fell ill while attending the festival. His death was later ruled as an overdose.

In addition, a festival security guard was nearly trampled to death after a mob of people broke through a festival gate. Over the entire course of the weekend, 76 festival-goers were arrested, 28 of them for felonies, and 118 others were treated by paramedics.

The incidents nearly led the city of Miami to ban Ultra outright before agreeing to allow the festival to return to Bayfront Park under strict new guidelines.

See a scan of the flyer below.

Entities 0 Name: United States Count: 1 1 Name: New York City Count: 1 2 Name: Ultra Music Festival Count: 1 3 Name: Miami Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1i3VmIF Title: Your body language shapes who you are Description: Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how "power posing" -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident -- can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

Concert Review: North Coast Music Festival 2014 (Sunday, August 30, 2014 ...

The fifth annual North Coast Music Festival closed out its three days of EDM and hip-hop madness on Sunday with a strong lineup of DJs and Snoop Dogg as a headliner...

While Saturday's lineup had a strong hip-hop presence with Talib Kweli and Kid Cudi, and a big-named live band in STS9, DJs took center stage on Sunday as the crowd was absolutely fired up for some big-time sets.

Much like Saturday, the crowd really filled out in Union Park in the 3-4 p.m. range and right off the bat, Midnight Conspiracy had a very strong showing on the 847 Stage, drawing the biggest group of people the stage had seen either weekend day.

With its heavy bass sound and enthusiastic DJ duo, the crowd at the 847 stage reacted to Midnight Conspiracy's set much like a rock show, complete with some crowd surfing, light moshing and a lot of head banging to the beat. Overall, it was a really fun set and the crowd seemed to really enjoy what Midnight Conspiracy was bringing to the table.

At the 312 stage, I was able to catch the tail end of The New Deal, who was touring for the first time since breaking up in 2011. The trio uses live instruments to create a sound reminiscent of a DJ playing house music and drummer Darren Shearer was fantastic as the group's backbone. Shearer used his right foot on the bass drum to create the group's driving, low-end bass and he worked incredibly well with his hands from there to be the group's driving force. Hopefully these guys continue to stay together and tour because the end of their Sunday set was strong and left me wanting more.

From there, the 630 stage was the place to be as Riff Riff played an energetic set. The Texas rapper, who was seen recently with his trademark braids and style with Katy Perry at the MTV VMAs, used the low-end bass that the Texas hip-hop scene is known for to drive the crowd into a frenzy.

American DJ, Griz capitalized on Riff Raff's energy at the 630 stage afterwards as Griz used elements of trap, dubstep and even some saxophone to get his huge crowd grooving. Griz drew a gigantic crowd to the tree-covered 630 stage and almost everyone in attendance was feeling his infectious, heavy-bass music.

After Griz continued a wave of strong Sunday DJ performances, festival veterans Zeds Dead hit the 630 stage as the afternoon began to wind down. The Canadian dubstep-influenced duo threw everything they had at the large crowd, including some elements of house, drum and bass and some more traditional dubstep drops that really had the crowd going.

Once again, as was the theme Sunday, the crowd was very into the heavy bass and the energy of Zeds Dead. Compared to Saturday, the crowd energy was much higher throughout the day for a crowd that could have slowed down during the third day of a long, outdoor weekend festival.

As Zeds Dead slowed down and the crowd began anticipating Snoop Dogg, many were anxious to see how the Doggfather would perform in a day dominated by DJs. Much to the dismay of the crowd, Snoop entered North Coast with a reggae-influenced opening track and then went into a bunch of guest spots he had recently done, including his verse on Katy Perry's 'California Gurls.'

As someone who saw Snoop open with 'Murder Was The Case' at Allstate Arena nearly a decade ago -- still, to this day, one of the coolest intros I've ever seen, regardless of genre -- this pop-friendly version of Snoop was a far cry from the fantastic performance he put on with a live backing band a decade ago. With a backing DJ and some friends joining him on stage, Snoop was still smooth and comfortable going over his verses, but the song selection left a lot to be desired and many in the back portion of the crowd quickly fled for the 630 stage and headliner Dada Life.

I followed suit and was rewarded with my favorite set of the weekend from the Swedish electronic duo. Although Dada Life didn't have their typical trademark champagne and bananas, some in the huge crowd for them still dressed up in banana suits for the show and the duo did not disappoint its rabid fanbase.

With a spectacular laser-light show -- which went into the many trees of the 630 stage and looked really cool in the night sky -- and innovative video screen presentations, Dada Life kept the crowd dancing and smiling the entire set just as they had intended.

Friends of mine had raved about Dada Life for the last few years and the duo has done a great job of creating a brand and an identity that separates them from many of their EDM peers. Dada Life took advantage of its music with fireworks or steam and smoke that went off during many of the drops and the crowd absolutely ate it up.

Despite Dada Life having played one of the better sets of the weekend, I ventured over to see Snoop Dogg close with some good tracks that old-school Snoop fans really wanted to see. Snoop cruised through his classic early-'90s jam, 'Who Am I (What's My Name?)' and had the crowd singing along with him over the famous chorus. Although Snoop Dogg's performance wasn't quite what I was hoping for on Sunday, when he decides to bring his fastball on older tracks, he's still coming in hot.

As North Coast Music Festival came to a close in 2014, the festival has a lot to look forward to. The even organizers have improved the sound quality and visual presentation at most of the stages in the venue and the layout has improved with slight tweaks over the years. As festivals catering to hip-hop and EDM continue to thrive, this should be a late-summer music event to track in the coming years.

- Scott Phillips (Scott Phillips lives in Chicago and has contributed freelance writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, NBC Sports and CSN Chicago. He can be reached at phillipshoops@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @phillipshoops)

Filed under: Concert Reviews, Festival Forecast

Tags: Dada Life, Darren Shearer, Griz, Midnight Conspiracy, North Coast Music Festival, Riff Raff, Snoop Dogg, Snoop Lion, The New Deal, Zeds Dead

Entities 0 Name: Dada Life Count: 7 1 Name: Griz Count: 5 2 Name: Snoop Count: 4 3 Name: Snoop Dogg Count: 4 4 Name: North Coast Music Festival Count: 3 5 Name: New Deal Count: 2 6 Name: Riff Raff Count: 2 7 Name: Darren Shearer Count: 2 8 Name: Katy Perry Count: 2 9 Name: Texas Count: 2 10 Name: Scott Phillips Count: 2 11 Name: EDM Count: 2 12 Name: Chicago Count: 1 13 Name: Allstate Arena Count: 1 14 Name: Shearer Count: 1 15 Name: CSN Chicago Count: 1 16 Name: California Count: 1 17 Name: Snoop Lion Count: 1 18 Name: North Coast Count: 1 19 Name: Chicago Sun-Times Count: 1 20 Name: Kid Cudi Count: 1 21 Name: Riff Riff Count: 1 22 Name: Although Snoop Dogg Count: 1 23 Name: Talib Kweli Count: 1 24 Name: MTV VMAs Count: 1 25 Name: NBC Sports Count: 1 Related Keywords 0 Name: snoop Score: 93 1 Name: crowd Score: 76 2 Name: dada Score: 70 3 Name: griz Score: 50 4 Name: 630 Score: 48 5 Name: stages Score: 45 6 Name: bass Score: 42 7 Name: dogg Score: 40 8 Name: hip-hop Score: 40 9 Name: zeds Score: 37 Authors Media Images 0

7 Standout Moments From Made in America Music Festival in Philly

Image: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch

PHILADELPHIA - Through rain and shine, the east coast segment of the bi-coastal Made in America music festival delivered many memorable moments over Labor Day weekend.

Some moments left attendees spellbound in dance fervor, inspired by monologues from artists and surprisingly silent during poignant artistry that broached hot topics such as Ferguson, celebrity culture and female empowerment.

In chronological order of the major nighttime acts, here are our seven standouts:

1. J. Cole opens with police-brutality videos

Rapper J. Cole started his show with a video montage of police-brutality clips set to 'Be Free,' the song he recorded after the shooting death of unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The tribute was a somber yet timely opening that hushed the usually rowdy Made in America crowd. It served as a reminder that music at fun events like festivals can keep important conversations going amid the good times.

2. Steve Aoki hurls cake, ignites champagne showers

Electronic house musician Steve Aoki had the messiest show by far, rallying festival-goers by hurling sheets of bakery-style cakes at them and then showering them with bottles of champagne. He began the delicious mayhem in Philly on Saturday before doing it all over again Sunday in Los Angeles for the west coast part of bi-coastal festival.

3. Jay Z makes it rain $2 bills

Jay Z threw a stack of $2 bills into the air and watched as it rained down on the audience at Steve Aoki's Philly show. The $2 bills have a history in the music industry. Sightings of the uncommon paper money can be attributed to one wealthy lawyer: Mr. Steven Reisman, a human $2 bill dispensary for the stars in the hip-hop and rap world.

Nicknamed 'The Two Dollar Bill Man,' Reisman and his bills are now connected to such celebs as Jay Z, Kanye West, Beyonce, Michael Strahan, Justin Bieber and Big Sean.

4. Kanye lectures about love, hate and Kimye

Kanye West offered several thought-provoking monologues during his headlining set. The 37-year-old rapper gave a rousing 5-minute autotuned speech midway through 'Runaway' that touched on many subjects such as hateful criticism from media, his vision of love as well as his marriage to Kim Kardashian.

'For me to be in a very publicized interracial relationship is not a joke,' Kanye said. 'It's something that should be treated with respect because we're all in this together.'

5. Spoon survived a mid-set weather delay

A rainstorm, accompanied by dangerous lightning, disrupted Spoon's set Sunday night. Fans were forced to evacuate the premises as organizers feared for their safety. An hour later, Spoon re-emerged onstage to finish as the rain continued to pour sans the lightning.

The heavy rain seemed to awaken the crowd, with some fans dancing wilding while others closed their eyes, tilted their heads back and listened to the music with the added beat of raindrops.

6. Pharrell urges more women to shine

As the festival wound down, with Pharrell Williams as the night's third to last performer, the 'Happy' singer incited loud cheers with a speech about female empowerment. He closed the message thus: 'I want to see some more female world leaders, I want to see some more female co-writers, I want to see some more female doctors, I want to see some more female artists. Let's do the anthem for the girls.' This segued into 'Hollaback Girl.'

7. Kings of Leon's drummer closes with broken ribs

'Sex on Fire' rockers Kings of Leon made their triumphant return to the stage after canceling tour dates for the past three weeks due to drummer Nathan Followill's broken ribs, which he cracked in a tour-bus accident.

Though a still sore Followill warned Mashable prior to his set that he may cry at Made in America, he instead winked at the cameras and soldiered through, captivating the crowd with 'Use Somebody' and other hits. The Kings' red, white and blue lighting also evoked a perfectly patriotic Labor Day vibe.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. Entities 0 Name: America Count: 3 1 Name: Steve Aoki Count: 3 2 Name: Ferguson Count: 2 3 Name: Leon Count: 2 4 Name: Kings Count: 2 5 Name: Philly Count: 2 6 Name: Kanye Count: 1 7 Name: Beyonce Count: 1 8 Name: Kim Kardashian Count: 1 9 Name: Kimye Kanye West Count: 1 10 Name: Anheuser-Busch PHILADELPHIA Count: 1 11 Name: Spoon Count: 1 12 Name: Justin Bieber Count: 1 13 Name: Nathan Followill Count: 1 14 Name: Los Angeles Count: 1 15 Name: Reisman Count: 1 16 Name: Followill Count: 1 17 Name: Missouri Count: 1 18 Name: Pharrell Williams Count: 1 19 Name: Kanye West Count: 1 20 Name: J. Cole Count: 1 21 Name: Michael Brown Count: 1 22 Name: Steven Reisman Count: 1 23 Name: Big Sean Count: 1 24 Name: Kevin Count: 1 25 Name: Michael Strahan Count: 1 Related Keywords 0 Name: female Score: 27 1 Name: aoki Score: 26 2 Name: kanye Score: 24 3 Name: rain Score: 23 4 Name: spoon Score: 23 5 Name: bills Score: 20 6 Name: reisman Score: 20 7 Name: police-brutality Score: 20 8 Name: bi-coastal Score: 20 9 Name: followill Score: 20 Authors Media Images 0

Watch: Kid Cudi Collapses During Performance at North Coast Music Festival

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Rapper Kid Cudi collapsed during his headlining set at the North Coast Music Festival in Chicago's Union Park on Saturday (Aug. 30) night.

While performing his 2009 song 'Pursuit of Happiness,' Cudi jumped down from the stage and began running back and forth in the photo area in front of the crowd. The rapper then fainted immediately after stopping to sign an autograph for a fan.

Watch the clip below.

After the show, Cudi took to Twitter to apologize to those he may have frightened and thanked security guards for assisting him.

Ill do a better and make sure to eat properly on show days :) scouts honor!

- Scott Mescudi (@KidCudi) August 31, 2014

'Ill do a better and make sure to eat properly on show days :) scouts honor!' he wrote. 'Mad love to the security who were there and helped me out tonight. Really awesome dudes! Thanx for nursing me back to health ha.'

Other performers at the three-day North Coast Music Festival included Bassnectar, Alesso, STS9, Nicky Romero, Snoop Dogg, Dada Life and Zeds Dead.

Entities 0 Name: North Coast Music Festival Count: 2 1 Name: Chicago Count: 1 2 Name: Scott Mescudi Count: 1 3 Name: Bassnectar Count: 1 4 Name: Kid Cudi Count: 1 5 Name: Dada Life Count: 1 6 Name: Nicky Romero Count: 1 7 Name: Cudi Count: 1 8 Name: Snoop Dogg Count: 1 9 Name: Alesso Count: 1 Related Keywords 0 Name: cudi Score: 30 1 Name: scouts Score: 12 2 Name: rapper Score: 11 3 Name: three-day Score: 10 4 Name: sts9 Score: 10 5 Name: bassnectar Score: 10 6 Name: kidcudi Score: 10 7 Name: thanx Score: 10 8 Name: mescudi Score: 10 9 Name: alesso Score: 10 authors 0 Name: Mitchell Peters Url: http://ift.tt/1Cj2GvG Media Images 0

George Maple - Talk Talk by future classic

Talk Talk - the first single from George Maple's forthcoming EP 'Vacant Space', to be released worldwide on Future Classic. Get 'Talk Talk' now: http://ift.tt/1ltjtqC Coming soon on limited edition white vinyl. @george-maple http://ift.tt/1qvKd9b http://ift.tt/1ltjtqE http://ift.tt/1nlbRCj

Concert Review: North Coast Music Festival 2014 (Saturday, August 30, 2014 ...

Saturday marked the opening of Labor Day weekend with performances by Kid Cudi, Talib Kweli, STS9 and more on the second day of the popular fifth-annual hip-hop and electronic dance festival known as North Coast Music Festival...

Located once again in Union Park on the near West Side of the city, North Coast has steadily raised its profile and production quality over the last five years and it still has a decidedly younger crowd packed with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.

Even the lowest profile of the five stages at North Coast this year -- a tent tucked away in the corner of the festival -- was a live and enthusiastic atmosphere for the mostly DJ-driven music that the festival has to offer.

But some hip-hop acts and live bands were also an attraction on Saturday as action truly got rolling as the festival filled out in the 3-4 p.m. range after a 1:30 p.m. start.

Hip-hop veteran Talib Kweli enjoyed a strong afternoon set on the 312 stage (the five stages were named for Chicago area codes; Ludacris would be proud) that maintained a high energy and a lot of switching between bass-infused backing beats, acapella Kweli verses and some DJ-backed instrumentals to keep the crowd going.

While you can't fault Kweli for going with some tracks off his mediocre recent album, Prisoner of Conscious -- of which 'Upper Echelon' and its slowed-down, haunting bass-driven beat was a standout -- the older Kweli songs from Reflection Eternal and some select songs from his Black Star days were the best part of his set.

Although Kweli lost the crowd a bit during a stand-up-for-yourself-and-your-community themed rant, he quickly roped people back in with infectious verses from Black Star's legendary debut album and closed with one of his biggest hits, 'Get By,' which got a nice response from the crowd.

From there, Chicago natives and electronic jam band Future Rock drew a decent crowd on the 773 stage. The trio uses live drums, keyboards, synthesizers and a bass to generate its very danceable, upbeat electronic rock.

Future Rock wasn't as tight and cohesive as some of the other acts on Saturday, but that is also part of the enjoyment of hearing live instruments melding together to form electronic dance music and they were generally strong during their hour-long set.

Before the co-headlining Saturday night finale of STS9 and Kid Cudi, I bounced around a bit and took in some DJs and spoke with some festival goers throughout Union Park. Besides the five stages of music, North Coast officials have done a nice job of getting street artists and unique, sponsored elements into the mix to entertain the crowd.

There were a few graffiti-inspired artists painting live on giant murals for people to watch and the Heineken House had a very cool shipping container that people could go into and paint on a black-light mural for a little bit as well.

These current set-ups certainly beat former North Coast cross-promotion tents like the Groupon Silent Disco, which fell flat and never matched Bonaroo's similar stage.

But as day turned to night, Sound Tribe Sector 9 (better known as STS9) hit the 773 stage as part of its co-headlining evening with rapper Kid Cudi. One of the nice things about North Coast is the 773 and 312 stages are right near each other allowing the festival to close the evening with two big-named acts performing with only minimal downtime. The crowd from one stage can just turn and move only a few feet to see and hear the other stage.

As STS9 played a very good hour-and-a-half set, they drew a very big crowd, some of which laid in the grass towards the back of Union Park and just relaxed to the music.

Although a helicopter flying over the festival was annoying and detracted from the sound quality of STS9 towards the back of the park, the group played a tight set of electronic-inspired instrumental rock that had the crowd going from start-to-finish. By the time STS9 finished their set around 8:50, the crowd was buzzing about their performance and rearing to go for Kid Cudi, who promptly and enthusiastically hit the stage at 8:57 to a tightly-packed crowd.

With people wearing his shirts and singing along to many of his sing-songy hooks, Kid Cudi drew a massive crowd response to close the evening, even though he didn't bring his strongest performance. Cudi is a talented and thought-provoking storyteller as an emcee, but his vocals were too quiet for a big festival crowd -- a downside of playing a DJ-driven festival in which minimal vocals come into play -- and at-times Cudi let the crowd do too much of the singing.

It also didn't help that Cudi fainted later in his set during 'Pursuit of Happiness' when he entered the crowd and was running back-and-forth in the photo pit trying to engage fans. Cudi thankfully recovered from his fainting incident and blamed it on a lack of nourishment, but what kind of headliner faints on-stage when the festival crowd watching him has been partying in the sun all day, with many of them embellishing in alcohol and more? That's not a good look for a headlining act.

Still, Cudi had some standout tracks, many of which were songs coming off of his debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day and the fans that were packed in tight to see him really went berserk during his entire set.

Sunday will be the final day of North Coast Music Festival as artists like Snoop Dogg and Dada Life take center stage to close the festival.

- Scott Phillips (Scott Phillips lives in Chicago and has contributed freelance writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, NBC Sports and CSN Chicago. He can be reached at phillipshoops@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @phillipshoops) Entities 0 Name: North Coast Count: 5 1 Name: Kid Cudi Count: 4 2 Name: Cudi Count: 4 3 Name: Kweli Count: 4 4 Name: Chicago Count: 3 5 Name: Scott Phillips Count: 2 6 Name: Talib Kweli Count: 2 7 Name: North Coast Music Festival Count: 2 8 Name: CSN Chicago Count: 1 9 Name: Black Star Count: 1 10 Name: Reflection Eternal Count: 1 11 Name: Groupon Silent Disco Count: 1 12 Name: West Side of the city Count: 1 13 Name: Heineken House Count: 1 14 Name: Bonaroo Count: 1 15 Name: Sound Tribe Sector Count: 1 16 Name: Union Park Count: 1 17 Name: Future Rock Count: 1 18 Name: Chicago Sun-Times Count: 1 19 Name: Dada Life Count: 1 20 Name: Snoop Dogg Count: 1 21 Name: NBC Sports Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1n9DWw7 Title: Broken Ribs Won't Stop Kings of Leon, But Tears May Fall at Concert Description: PHILADELPHIA - For most of August, Nathan Followill of Kings of Leon has been licking his wounds ever since he broke his ribs in a tour-bus accident that has forced the "Sex on Fire" rock band to unhappily cancel concerts for the past three weeks.

Dozens arrested at Made in America music festival in Los Angeles

Credit: Reuters/Mark Makela

1 of 3. Revellers lounge on the lawn in between acts at the Made in America festival in Philadelphia, August 30, 2014.

During Sunday's show at Grand Park there were four felony arrests, including one for battery and the rest for possession of narcotics, besides three misdemeanor arrests, including one charge of public drunkenness, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Another 23 people were given alcohol citations, an LAPD police spokeswoman said.

So far about 27,000 tickets have been scanned for Sunday's full day of events, including top-billed stars John Mayer and Kanye West later in the evening.

On Saturday, 29 people were arrested, 23 for misdemeanors, most of them involving infractions related to alcohol, the spokeswoman said.

The two-day festival's Philadelphia edition was briefly halted on Sunday by driving rain, organizers said. In Los Angeles authorities were asking concertgoers to stay hydrated amid extremely warm temperatures.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Entities 0 Name: Philadelphia Count: 2 1 Name: Clarence Fernandez Count: 1 2 Name: Victoria Cavaliere Count: 1 3 Name: John Mayer Count: 1 4 Name: Los Angeles Police Department Count: 1 5 Name: Los Angeles Count: 1 6 Name: America Count: 1 7 Name: LAPD Count: 1 8 Name: Reuters\/Mark Makela Count: 1 Related Keywords 0 Name: misdemeanors Score: 13 1 Name: arrested Score: 12 2 Name: alcohol Score: 10 3 Name: cavaliere Score: 10 4 Name: two-day Score: 10 5 Name: top-billed Score: 10 6 Name: makela Score: 10 7 Name: philadelphia Score: 9 8 Name: festival Score: 9 9 Name: sunday Score: 9 Authors Media Images 0