Click to see the full HARD Summer Photo Gallery
In this embattled summer of 2010, few electronic music brands have taken more lumps than HARD. The emerging festival and tour brand stumbled through July, first with the cancellation of their HARD-LA in the aftermath of Electric Daisy Carnival, followed the very next week by critically panned headline performance by M.I.A. in New York. Just a few weeks after this one-two punch, it seemed unlikely that the promoters would bounce back. But by August, imploding hipster divas and unmanageable mega-raves seemed a thing of the past. Or at least, only a little residue remained.
Such residual effects were mostly seen outside of the venue, where massive amounts of crowd control took the form of huge fences, lengthy (yet manageable) entrance lines and a lot of restrictions—no backpacks, no kandy, no diiiice. There was even one rather lethargic police dog working it’s way up and down the rows of dressed down party kids waiting to get in, although we saw LA’s finest only nab one particularly thug-looking black man alone in line (profile much?) News media vans sat nearby, waiting to pounce, but for the 10,000+ attendees who made it though the gates, the outside world of ravesteria was quickly forgotten.
Click to see the full HARD Summer Photo Gallery
Perhaps that is because, for all the media marching, HARD really isn’t a rave. Well, almost. The first HARD took place on New Years Eve 2008 (disclosure, I DJ’d at this event). With a line-up including Peaches, Justice and 2 Live Crew, HARD sought to combine LA’s tradition of massive electronic music events with the emerging indie-electronic scene that had been exisiting for some time in clubs and traditional concert venues. And as this new breed of electronic music took off, so did HARD. But HARD has always walked the line, discouraging a certain colorful rave-y aesthetic while championing another neon electro look. It would take an expert to identify the nuanced difference, but trust, it’s there—and was blindingly present in the afternoon LA sun.
As we walked across the oval-shaped stretch of grass that is Los Angeles Historic State Park, you could see the difference. Far fewer neon thong tutus and a far older audience (despite the all-ages access.) A body painting stand sat empty sans three topless teens who apparently were professional shills for the artform. This was not a crowd there for the “scene,” these kids were in attendance for the music. And they got their fix unfiltered.
Listing off performers might seem slight, although with only two stages, it was easy to catch most of the music. We arrived to the sound of an ageless Green Velvet reciting his biggest hits over pounding techno beats on the HARD Stage. On the HARDER Stage, and endless dubstep assault of Benga Skream and Caspa went long for us, although plenty of faithful were happy to spend three hours pumping their firsts in half-time.
Click to see the full HARD Summer Photo Gallery
Erol Alkan disappointed with a set that relied too much on the big stage festival bangers he’s come to increasingly rely on, especially in light of Diplo’s following set which showed him to be a far more interesting and eclectic DJ than the past few times we’ve caught him. The 8PM slot was an oddball, with both Flying Lotus and Crystal Castles simultaneously defying the 4/4 groove with wonky beats and fierce techno punk respectively. Next, Tiga gave a squeaky clean tehno performance while Major Lazer brought the dirtiest set of the night—all filthy dancehall riddims and Skerrit Bwoy’s scafolding climbing antics. The night ended with Soulwax offering up the masterful live electro bangers while Digitalism played second fiddle with a similar sound and smaller audience.
Scheduling conflicts aside, there was little to complain about. Perhaps there was a lack of drama we’ve come to expect from such events. But you can’t have it both ways, and we hope that the former out-does the later. Drama makes good blogging, but HARD made good raving for at least one day.
HARD Summer Tour w/Crystal Castles, Sinden and Rusko is on the road all month. Check dates here.‘
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