HARD Summer is back in Los Angeles at the Coliseum after 10 years for their 15th year of the festival. It’s the first weekend of August, sun is out and sunscreen is on for festival goers who were anticipating a fun and very sweaty weekend. Walking in you are welcomed with both giant fans, misters and an unexpected Pringles installment. After immediately either finding shade or filling their water packs HARD Summer ravers we’re ready for the day 1 lineup.
Exploring the area of the coliseum there were a total of 5 stages Hard, Harder, Pink, Purple and Green. Green was the center stage of the venue in the coliseum while the Hard and Harder stages were the main stages of the night. The walking distance was manageable with some shaded areas during the day, the event was less crowded than it was as the sun was setting. Wandering through the venue the Nole set was playing their remix of “Barbie Girl” while one of the ravers was head-banging front and center to the point where their shorts ripped in two. This was a perfect omen of the night to come, full of fun and a bit of chaos.
After wandering the grounds, Australian DJ Odd Mob was the first set we visited at the Hard stage. As one of the earlier artists of the event, starting at 3 p.m., the weather was at the highest temperature of the day at a hot 90 degrees. The house DJ joked to stay hydrated and “If any of you pass out you’re in big trouble.” Some of his mixes included his popular song ‘Left to Right’ and a remix of ‘The Love Parade.’
At the same Hard stage, DJ Blossom was next turning the stage to bright neon pink with multiple Powerpuff Girls for her set. She played some popular mixes including ‘Make it Rain’ and her remix of ‘Shell a Verse.’’ She also played some new music including ‘Bad Ideas’ which dropped two weeks ago. She introduced a new song called ‘Wet and Sweaty,’ Blossom joked it was the perfect song for HARD Summer “because I think we’re all a little wet and sweaty right now.”
The Hard stage got no breaks with house DJ Noizu next who started their set with a bang, playing their popular song ‘Push to Start.’ The Hard stage had a couple of shaded options, some had the mister fans and in front of the stage there were multiple misters in an attempt to keep people cool in the Los Angeles heat.
The walks from stage to stage were manageable with areas of shade to rest in between. There was a wide range of food, from dumplings to Hawaiian ice cream. This year lucky festival goers were gifted with official HARD Summer popsicles if they could find them and could purchase a fresh coconut branded with the HARD Summer logo. The VIP section this year had an indoor lounge and bar option that had air conditioning to escape the heat.
After a hydration break, we headed to ISOxo who started very strong with their new single ‘dontstopme!’ They had a live guitar and were ready to deliver on hard-style edm. There were multiple headbangers, mixed remixes of trap music including ISOxo’s remix of ‘Bugatti’ that had his crowd jumping.
Exploring the venue you can hear the range of music that was playing with some unexpected funny transitions passing Boys Noize playing ‘Conga’ by Gloria Estefan and Jungle DJ playing ‘Barbra Streisand’ by Duck Sauce.
In the indoor stadium the Purple stage, Diplo was back-to-back with DJ Blondish. They started their set with everyone chanting the popular Zombie Nation ‘Kernkraft 400.’ A noticeable collaboration between both Diplo and Blondish who kept switching sides on stage. They made a remix of ‘Number 1’ by James Hype. Diplo declared he was “only making three-pointers all night long” in both shooting basketballs and playing popular remixes ranging from ‘Enjoy the Silence’ by Depeche Mode, ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Benassi and The Biz, and a remix of ‘We are Your Friend.’ Blondish welcomed an unexpected guest bringing out Angel Dior who sang their song ‘AIO’ live.
At the stage next door DJ duo Gorgon City was getting ready to close out the Pink stage. They played songs from their new album, including ‘Gasoline.’ Throughout the night they kept their audience engaged with multiple drops of popular songs from Peggy Gou ‘(It Goes Like) Nanana’ and their remix of ‘Somebody to Love’ by Ben Kim.
On the way out of the venue Kaskade and John Summit were playing their back-to-back event closing out the Hard stage. They played multiple of their popular songs from Kaskades ‘4 AM,’ John Summits ‘Where You Are’ and ‘In Chicago,’ and the Kx5 classic ‘Escape’ which had fireworks and lasers shooting through the sky. A truly great way to end the night.
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