The Killers to headline Ultra electronica festival

IT’S no surprise that this year’s Ultra Music Festival will have superstar DJs unleashing electronic beats from their computers and turntables for gyrating dancers.

But the Killers? A rock band headlining a dance-music festival?

A lineup usually dominated by electronic artists such as Paul van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold now includes what organizers call “alternative bands with dance culture influences,” such as the Killers, co-headliner the Prodigy and the Canadian synthesizer-based combo Hot Hot Heat.

As indie rock crosses over into dance music, Ultra is evolving to embrace those artists and their fans, said Russell Faibisch, who co-founded the festival that takes over Miami’s Bicentennial Park on Saturday.

“The Prodigy is one of the few bands ... to bridge that gap between dance music and cool, grungy rock ‘n’ roll,” Faibisch said. “The Killers, they’re not a dance band per se, but they do have a lot of dance elements.”

Ultra has grown from a beachside gathering eight years ago to a 13-hour festival expected to draw 50,000 people. An “after-party” at the American Airlines Arena keeps the music going until 5 a.m. the next day.

That’s still only a sampling of the beats pulsing nonstop from downtown clubs, hotels and poolsides on Miami Beach during the five-day Winter Music Conference.

The festival, with hundreds of artists performing on 14 stages, has become the musical anchor for the annual conference, an industry networking event that draws DJs worldwide to its technology demonstrations, remixing workshops and business seminars.

Ultra has always been known for its dance music, blended onstage on computers or scratched out on turntables. The festival’s shift to rock this year shows how much electronica is pulling other genres into its mix, said Jamie Keogh, director of the Scratch DJ Academy in South Beach.

“It’s a monumental thing for electronic music, showing all kinds of music because ... now there are DJs that are mashing up everything,” Keogh said.