A Fairly HARD Review

Words can hardly describe the energy that was present at Los Angeles National Historic State Park on Saturday August 6. Hard Production’s latest summer bash Hard Summer brought EDM fans from across Southern California streaming into Downtown Los Angeles. Due to last year’s tragic events at Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles attendees were treated to a frightening display of police presence before the show began. In addition to the intimidating show of force by the LAPD, Hard failed to expect the crush of attendees and mishandled the security and ticket checking before the show. As a result it took much longer to get fans inside and this slightly perturbed fan missed out on Emalkay’s deep basslines and neck breaking wobbles as he trudged in line towards the entrance. Yet once inside it became quite clear why the lines were going so slow: 3 stages and a tent dedicated to mind-blowing electronic music.
The sounds and bright lights of Jack Beats’ set drew a huge crowd to the Summer Stage and pulled me to the very front of the crowd for my first set of the evening. Made up of Niall Dailly and Ben Geffin, Jack Beats perfectly mixed hard electro and funky beats to dance to while whipping the crowd into a frenzy. On several occasions I remember thinking this crowd is enormous; the energy that was packed onto the floor couldn’t be matchable (at the time).

As Jack Beats drew to a close I made my way to the Hard Stage for the first taste of a group I liked but had never caught in person before: Chromeo. I had heard only good things about their shows and given my affinity for tunes like “Don’t Turn The Lights On”, “Fancy Footwork”, “Night by Night” and others I expected a lot. To say I was blown away would be an understatement; Chromeo set the tone for the rest of the acts following them on the Hard Stage. Despite their sound not really adhering to the “hard” motto the Canadian duo grooved through their set and put the crowd in motion. They also just released a little treat for fans, a remix of Mayer Hawthrone’s A Long Time.
A Long Time (Chromeo Remix)

The crowd at the Hard Stage only grew following Chromeo’s killer set as A-Trak and Armand Van Helen, collectively known as Duck Sauce, took the stage. Building on Chromeo’s sweet synth-laced sounds, Duck Sauce built the energy level with slightly harder but extremely groovy disco-esque tunes. The crowd for Duck Sauce seemed less energized than for the Chromeo set until everyone’s favorite Duck Sauce tune and a mainstream hit “Barbara Streisand” dropped. I have never seen so many people look out of place during a set then all of the sudden come to life singing and dancing along. Personally the tune is outplayed in my library but the energy it created was remarkable. I did not recognize most of the songs played but to see the ridiculous visuals and hear “Anyways” was an experience in of itself not to mention the unbelievable rendition of “Big Bad Wolf” they dropped. The Teen Wolf dance came out in many along with howling to the low hanging moon over the stage.

Despite the amazing sets that I had seen throughout the evening nothing could prepare the crowd or myself for the insanity that Boys Noize brought to shut down the closing set of the night. Having seen Boys Noize at Ultra Music Festival 2011 in Miami and Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas hosted by Insomniac Productions I anticipated an incredible set. It was a little disheartening how tired the crowd seemed when Boys Noize started spinning, yet this attendee was just getting warmed up. Spinning an incredible hour and a half set of acid house that pushed the limits of how hard one could dance, Boys Noize combined killer tunes with mind blowing visuals. If one set of the evening best embodied the “Hard” motto, it was Boys Noize’s heart pounding hour and a half long adventure. From less known bangers like “& On” and his fantastic remix of The Chemical Brothers’ “Swoon” to the most epic drop of Bart B More’s “Brap” I have ever heard, Boys Noize absolutely murdered his set.
To end an incredible night of music in Downtown Los Angeles Boys Noize finished his set with an incredible rendition of Kernkraft’s “Zombie Nation”, a classic which even non-EDM fans can appreciate. Bringing it back no less than three times I was convinced he was not going to stop until someone dropped dead from excitement. All in all the night while being slightly disorganized in the beginning but the energy was an excellent first LA show experience for this fan. I look forward to Hard Haunted Mansion and the next Boys Noize show that comes along, and suggest anyone who has not seen him live do so immediately.

- Review by Chris Allerdice
- Photos Courtesy of Adam Hawes