Rapture Electronic Music Festival has sued Ultra Music Festival and the city of Miami over the right to hold a concert on Virginia Key during the last weekend of March.
Two electronic music festivals are selling tickets for an event on the same weekend at the same waterfront venue in Miami. There’s only room for one.
Cue the lawsuit.
Rapture Electronic Music Festival has sued Ultra Music Festival over the right to stage a weekend of concerts on Virginia Key during the last weekend in March. Its suit asks the court to issue an injunction halting Ultra’s plans and allowing Rapture to produce its event.
In November, Miami commissioners approved Ultra’s move to the key, even though Rapture had already been booked for the same weekend. Ultra, with a daily attendance of about 40,000, draws much larger crowds than Rapture.
Ultra lost its longtime home at Bayfront Park in September when Miami city commissioners unanimously rejected a contract for the popular electronic dance music festival to stay another year. Downtown residents had for years complained about the ear-splitting noise blasting from the festival, the traffic and the extended closure of Bayfront Park during the setup and teardown of that and other events. Ultra was also caught in a power struggle between feuding commissioners, resulting in a contentious debate that led a surprising 5-0 vote to boot Ultra from downtown’s waterfront.
