I’m more than excited to see Duck Sauce and Boys Noize again. Back in 2009, the HARD Summer music festival was shut down due to under-aged stupidity and venue issues and I didn’t get to see Chromeo perform, but now I will — very enthralled for this. Ratatat has always been a favorite of mine, glad to see Destructo was able to book them for the show; I don’t know what to expect from the duo live, I’m sure there will be a few curve balls in their set. I am interested to see what Busy P has in store for us in his show called “Busy Pictionary.” A recent favorite of mine, Miike Snow, will have a couple of their band members playing a set; this is almost a must-see for me. Digitalism and Jack Beats are always solid live — so I hear; so I will be making my rounds to check them out if I’m not completely captured from sets by the likes of Duck Sauce and Boys Noize.

Without further ado, the lineup:

HARD Stage

Tickets and additional information can be found on the HARDfest website: http://www.hardfest.com/news/hard-summer-2011/

HARD Summer 2010 Acts Attended

With HARD M.I.A cancelled (few rumors have been circulating that ticket sales were lacking) and EDC’s crowd management problems and death to a minor — not to mention EDC’s extensive media coverage, branding ‘RAVES’ as dangerous and uncontrollable — the warier I grew as the date for HARD Summer drew near. Might I add that the year previous at HARD Summer 2009 was shut down by the Los Angeles Fire Marshall and Los Angeles Police Department? I was very nervous for the show, but felt a sense of calm as me and my friends entered the front gates. I was thoroughly patted down and searched by security, and greeted by the friendly sounds of Breakbot; we arrived at approximately 3:30pm at the Los Angeles Historic Park, which turned out to be a perfect venue for such an event. Two stages lay back to back, one labeled HARD and the other HARDER. My friends and I spent most of our time listening to the HARD Stage, but ventured to the HARDER Stage twice during the show. Circled in the picture to the left are the acts we saw.

The highlights of my night were, without a doubt, The Twelves, Diplo, Tiga, and SOULWAX. Flying Lotus was my only low of the night, but I know he is an obscure artist so I really knew what to expect: that being ‘weird’. I heard from various sources that Crystal Castles did not impress, but we already knew this didn’t we? We completely avoided Crystal Castles at all costs, Tiga was a very good replacement for the heavy screamer. To close our schedule, Major Lazer and SOULWAX were a perfect ending to a beautifully warm day and moderately chilled night. SOULWAXs’ minimalist light show only enhanced their sonic potential, ranging from eerie sounds and hard rock to the pulsing blips and bleeps of booming electronica.

In closing, the Los Angeles Historic Park is a large enough venue to hold such an event comfortably. Since the HARD Summer concert series are a smaller venture in comparison to the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) and Together As One (TAO), my friends and I had a wonderful time and did not experience all the security problems associated with events of larger magnitudes. If there are electronic music lovers or people who are curious about events like this who are distressed by the recent negative media attention gravitating towards electronic music and ‘rave culture,’ I highly suggest checking out HARD Haunted Mansion coming up on Halloween and Hallow’s Eve in Los Angeles at the Shrine Expo Hall. HARD Summer 2010 was a night to remember; Destructo really knows how to put on a great show.

Diplo @ HARD Summer 2010:

Most excited to see ALL artist…probably A-Trak and Boys Noize most!

Without further ado, the setlist times:

HARD STAGE

• 8:00 BUSY P
• 9:00 CRYSTAL CASTLES
• 9:55 CHROMEO
• 11:00 UNDERWORLD
• 12:30 CROOKERS
• 1:30 THE BLOODY BEETROOTS
• 2:30 TIGA
• 3:15 SEBASTIAN
• CHANGEOVERS DESTRUCTO

UNDERGROUND

• 8:00 12TH PLANET
• 9:10 JACK BEATS
• 10:30 STEVE AOKI
• 11:30 DJ AM
• 12:30 AMANDA BLANK
• 1:10 SINDEN
• 2:20 A-TRAK

VIP

• 8:00 MARSHALL BARNES
• 10:30 SKEET SKEET
• 12:30 DAN OH

You can view more information by going HERE

So I am very excited to be going to Hard Summer 2009. You can see the complete list of artists in the picture, but here is who I am looking forward to most:

• Chromeo
• Crookers,
• A-Trak
• Skeet Skeet (apparently Jason knows him from school. He recently dropped out of college to persue his music career; happy to see he made it to the big leagues)
• Crystal Castles