Last weekend on August 2 + 3, Insomniac hosted its 16th edition of Hard Summer at a brand new venue in Los Angeles. With a stacked lineup offering a huge variety of music, plus amazing food and merch, Hard Summer lived up to the hype. Well, except for all those people complaining in El Segundo. Let’s check out my impressions of the festival this year.
Hard Summer always shows out with its production, and this year was no different. The festival had five stages: Green, Pink, Harder, Purple, and Hard Stage. They captivated attendees with stunning visuals, lasers, ambient lighting, impeccable sound, and pyrotechnic displays.
The Hard Stage served as the main stage and was a little bit of a walk since it was the furthest from the entrance. On Day 1, it hosted Disclosure, Nelly Furtado, Fisher & Chris Lake, and Sofi Tukker. With massive screens for visuals, crazy lights, and lasers this stage packed the house from open to close. It also provided areas for shade and cooling misters to keep festivalgoers feeling fresh.
Closest to the main stage was the Purple Stage, just slightly smaller than the Hard and Harder stages. Boys Noize, Jamie XX, and Major Lazer tore it up, keeping everyone grooving. With triangular screens, the DJ booth featured in the center, surrounded by pyrotechnics.
RezzMau5, SIDEPIECE, Subtronics, and Troyboi brought the bass to the Harder Stage. This stage was the most packed throughout the weekend, and for good reason. With crazy LED screens for visuals, fireworks, and lasers, every set here was a showstopper. Levity played one of my favorite sets here and Wax Motif had some memorable moments, bringing out Ty Dolla $ign to perform “BACK TO ME”, “Field Trip,” and a preview of their upcoming track “Make Me Better.”
The Pink Stage was the most interesting, being almost inside Soft Stadium. This stage hosted Mochakk, Seth Troxler b2b DJ Tennis, and Eli Brown and was also completely shaded with amazing sound. Being the smallest of the five stages, it was nestled in a little pocket but wasn’t lacking for vibes and incredible music.
The final stage was the Green Stage, which was closest to the entrance with a lot of bass music pumping when walking into the venue. Zeds Dead, Level Up, Dillion Francis, Chase & Status had festivalgoers moving with tastefully crafted sets. Featuring a giant diamond LED wall and pyrotechnics at the top and bottom, the Green Stage was lit open to close.
This year Hard Summer was hosted at a new venue, Hollywood Park adjacent to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. The venue was great and provided a lot of shade with low 90s to high 70s heat. It also had misters and shade at every stage with the bonus of water cannons at the front of the stages to keep the rail riders cool. The long walk from the entrance to the main stage was pleasant, with shade, a fountain, food trucks, bars, and the backdrop of SoFi Stadium. With so much to do, it made the walk appear less crowded.
My biggest concern was the sound bleed between stages, but it was not an issue! Credit to Insomniac, it was one of the best jobs they’ve done to solve the problem of sound bleed. On the other hand, residents of nearby El Segundo and others filed over 300 noise complaints from cities up to eight miles away. With all the public discourse between the City Managers of Inglewood and El Segundo, it is questionable whether Hard Summer will return to this venue.
Overall, the 16th year of Hard Summer was a massive success. From a huge lineup of music and massive production to five different stages brought to life, Insomniac once again showed nobody does it better! To make sure to get the latest news and announcements from HARD Festival, follow the links below.
