by Rachel Murphy
Hard Summer 2018…oh boy. You may or may not have seen the tweets, the pictures of the dust, the complaints, but we were in for the long run. I had a rough time, but also an amazing time. Setting aside the issues I had, at the end of day one I kept repeating, “I just want to not smile just once, my cheekbones hurt from laughing so much!”. I think this is the biggest thing to remember when reading this review and when going to your next event. As long as you surround yourself with your best friends and just worry about your own good time, not what’s going on around you, you’ll have an amazing time no matter the circumstances. No event is perfect but you can make it perfect with the right group.
You could say I am a Hard Summer veteran. My first Hard Summer was back in 2016, one of the last years at the Auto Club Speedway hosted by Hard Events and Destructo. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Fast forward to HSMF 2017, we got a notification a week before the festival that they were changing the location…26 minutes away. Some peoples hotels were closer now, others were further. But if you’ve ever been to the Glen Helen Amphitheater, you can understand how excited my group and I were when we found out we would be running around on the hills instead of boiling on the racetrack and boy was it a weekend to remember. Hard Summer was changed after that as now Insomniac has ahold of the festival. Living in Southern California, I am a die hard Insomniac so this news made me so excited to see just how Pasquale was going to change the festival for the better.
Hard Summer 2018
When Insomniac announced that this years event would be back at the Auto Club Speedway, it worried all of us as we had bad flashbacks of the heat and rough times we had two years ago, but I still believed in Pasquale to turn it around and that he did…a little bit. Leading up to the weekend, he previewed the grounds with HUGE stages, a cool off lane that was the walkway between Hard and Harder stage including misters every foot. Needless to say we were ready and excited to see all the new changes!
Upon arrival my fam and I parked in orange lot and didn’t realize how long of a walk we had ahead of us. Just from the parking lot to the ticket gate was quite some time as we had to walk around half of the speedway to get to the entrance. After getting through security, we had to walk around the second half of the speedway to get to the one half that the event was being put on. Later on in the night this caused such a panic as hundreds of people were shoving their way through this walkway and it honestly felt 10 times longer than the walk in and out of the Las Vegas Speedway. By the end of the night the last stairs we had to walk up were broken and were covered in water so it seemed dangerous to even walk up. Another 10 minute walk from there to our cars as we sat in traffic for hours. This is something Pasquale can not control. He had the right amount of people guiding us out, but with thousands in attendance, this was to be expected.
The Venue
Walking into day one we immediately filled up our Vibedrations and were glad to see that Ground Control was everywhere and our water was nice and cold. But boy was it HOT! There were plenty of misters and the giant walk way to keep you cool in between sets. As you got closer to the main stages and even some of the tents, they had misters or spray guns to keep the crowd cool. It was very rough to stay at the Hard stage or the Harder stage for too long of a time as it was under direct sun the whole time. Having fans in our hands kept us cool but having a hat would definitely made it a lot easier. VIP sections had great shade and more misters that makes me want to just do VIP next year. The purple, green, and pink tents were all spaced out nicely and provided some shade and cooler heat while listening to some heavy wubs or grooving to some techno and house.
The stage production, the visuals, the LAZERS, all 15/10. Insomniac always knows how to put on a good show and that they did. I feel like most of the problems were out of their control and handeled it the best that they could. One thing I could not get over day one was the dust. Now I have never had to deal with dust so I was being a baby. Early in the night I kept saying to my group how bugged I was that they turned off the misters really early. The water being off caused the dust to not be kept down and with all the foot traffic it was being kicked up into the air and into our eyes and lungs. We put up our bandanas and dealt with it as best as we could. When we got back to the hotel I used a baby wipe to just wipe off my arm and see how bad it was and the entire sheet turned brown. One of the girls in our group wore a white shirt…it wasnt white anymore. Waking up day two we were not so excited and worried for how bad the heat and dirt were gonna be, but the lineup reminded us to get out of bed and go have a good time. The second day Insomniac laid out more tarps to cover the dirt and left the misters on all night that there was not as big a problem and it was such an easier night.
Insomniac events and Pasquale improved the festival for the better and flew far past anything Gary (Destructo) could have ever imagined. Meanwhile, Gary was flying planes over Hard saying he missed us and wrote AMF (his new festival) in the sky to get us to attend his event a couple weeks later. Petty? Iconic? You decide, but I guess we will all see how well his new company, All My Friends, does in this upcoming year.
The Music
Ok so now the fun part! That lineup was STACKED! I had to make my own plan and boy was it conflicting. We started off day one with Ubur under the Green tent and wow did he throw down. From there we went to one of my favorite newest duo, Loud Luxury. Their set was such a mix up of house, sing a longs, and even some dubstep it was such a fun set to be at that it really got the day started for us. I also recommend everyone to see a set of theirs and don’t forget to stay for their ending as they played their hit song Body, honestly the song of the summer! From there we headed over to the mainstage to see Party Favor, or should i say House Favor. He has a new thing going on of playing house and he does not disappoint. His sets are always a fun time and keep you dancing until the last song. Next up Louis the Child. Now I am a little biased as my best friend is their number one fan…but… this was hands down the best set I have ever seen from them. I’ll be honest and say lots of their sets are pretty close to the same, but this one blew me away! So much new material and even new visuals that were mind blowing. I would be lying if I didn’t tear up a little, but that may have also been from my best friend crying her eyes out to them too haha. Now for the best set of the night, Zeds Dead b2b Jauz. I have heard so much skepticism about their Countdown set, either being really good or really bad. Their set had our jaws dropping and us running in circles either head banging or dancing along to Imagination. We had such a great time that I will never miss a b2b from them ever again.
Day two the lineup was just as stacked, but unforunately my girls and I had such bad heat exhaustion that we sat underneath a mister tent for a couple hours and missed great sets like Elohim, k?d, Cray and Ghastly. All of which we heard great things about. Once it started to cool off and we got our energy back we walked around and saw bits of San Holo, Manila Killa, and into Diplo b2b Dillon Francis. I don’t care what anyone says, but their set was so much fun. Again it had my group dancing to ever song and singing along. They know how to engage their audience and make sure they’re having a good time. From there we ran over to see Snakehips put on a great ending to their set. Another group I will always recommend seeing. And last but not least, the man himself, Virtual Self. I am personally not a huge fan of his genre, but knowing its Porter on stage trying something new after EDC, I knew we had to see him again, and ending our night with him was one of the best ways to do it.
Hard Summer 2019?
All in all, it was a roller coaster of a weekend. After day one we contemplated selling our tickets but had such a great time in parts of day one we kept our wristbands. I knew of many friends that had a horrible time and sold theirs. I even complained about it on twitter and the man himself, Pasquale Rotella, replied to me. (EEEEP) He himself even said that he knows he needs to improve as he still needs improving on EDC. I think this was a learning experience for him as it was his first Hard event and I expect next year to have major improvements. The biggest thing for me, move the venue. Being in the middle of LA in the hottest month of the year, 100 degree weather is no place for a festival. If it was back on the grass and under the trees at Glen Helen I truly believe the weekend would be much easier under the heat.
With all of that being said I don’t regret going one bit and had an amazing time with my group. Just remember to surround yourself with great friends and the good times will come easy. As for Hard Summer 2019? It’s a possibility I will go, may be harder to convince my friends to go, but who knows where we will be a year from now! I hope everyone gives Insomniac and Hard another shot at this festival as you never know what they could have in store for us in 2019, so for now, I’ll see you at the speedway next year 😉
Oh and P.S.
My fam, GBH, and I are missing our famous totem, “Lost? Come Headbang with us!” Day one she was stolen and taken around to see Suicide Boys and Floss without us and got her back day one just to have her stolen day two again. So if anyone knows of her whereabouts and has any information on her return, please message I or my fam!
See you all at Nocturnal!!
Thanks Rach for this review and I cannot wait to be reunited soon! Show Rachel some love on Twitter & Instagram @LilCheeesestick!
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