Ultra South Africa will return in March 2023 to remind us what we've been missing — loud music, top artists and over-the-top fireworks. Photo: Supplied
After a three-year break, Africa’s largest electronic music festival will next year make a much-anticipated return. Ultra South Africa will return to Johannesburg and Cape Town in March 2023. Organisers tease that next year’s event will be bigger than it was in past years.
Ultra South Africa co-founder and director Shaun Duwe says building up to this festival after the Covid lockdown has been challenging and that conversations between production and technical teams about adding extra elements have been ongoing.
“As a team we are over the moon. The response has been unprecedented. There’s been a lot to digest building up to this festival coming out of Covid. So many puzzle pieces to put together. We are back to celebrating life and having a good time,” says Duwe.
The original Ultra Music Festival took place in Miami in 1999 and it has over the years grown to include many regional annual events around the world. According to Duwe, the Ultra Europe event held in July broke attendance records and tickets sold out for last month’s Ultra Japan and Ultra Korea events.
In 2020 Ultra South Africa brought 50 000 partygoers together to dance and enjoy sounds from international electronic DJs such as French record producer DJ Snake and US DJ Steve Aoki. The festival also gave local artists a platform, such as Grammy award-winner Black Coffee, Chunda Munki, Da Capo, rapper Sho Madjozi and gqom pioneer DJ Lag.
Duwe says artist announcements for Ultra South Africa 2023 will follow soon and the festival will host a selection of the country’s artists and DJs.
“We have lots of surprises and delight building up to the festival. We always take care of our own and will continue to do so. As much as we host big international artists we keep it proudly South African and give our artists a platform to showcase their talent at an international festival, which is important to me,” he says.
The first show will kick off on Friday, 10 March 2023 in Cape Town, where the event is moving to the Kenilworth Racecourse. Ultra South Africa’s second show will take place on Saturday, 11 March at the Expo Centre at Nasrec in Johannesburg.
Duwe says attendees should get ready to dance the night away and meet up with friends from across the country while experiencing louder music, bigger artists and over-the-top fireworks.
For more information and ticket sales, visit UltraSouthAfrica.com.