The 15th anniversary of HARD Summer 2023 in Los Angeles, CA was a spectacular one as promoter Insomniac pulled out all the stop for the annual two-day music festival. With a lineup that included so many great sets from Diplo, Kaskade, John Summit, ISOXO, Ludacris, Fat Joe, Kid Cudi, Skrillex, Four Tet, DJ Diesel, and others, it was sure to go down as one of the best in years. This isn’t the first time that Insomniac has hosted the festival in Exposition Park but it is the first time in about a decade since previously being hosted at many other Southern California venues. The festival featured 5 stages: the HARD Stage right when you entered the festival, Purple Stage at BMO Stadium, Pink Stage right next door, the Green Stage at LA Coliseum, and the HARDER Stage with a VIP pool at the farthest end of the fest.
Day one of HARD Summer kicked off with emerging speed house producer CHYL and house producer itsmurph. CHYL set the vibes right with a set that kept the crowd jumping as they were entering the fest at the HARD stage. Her set was quite eclectic, including tracks from her debut EP “Mini Motors, a Taylor Swift remix (which was a cute little salute to Taylor during her multi-night residency in LA at the same time as the festival), and “What is Love” by Haddaway. Up-and-coming house producer itsmurph was very playful throughout his set, playing to the crowd at the Purple Stage at BMO Stadium. There were also some hip-hop and R&B artists sprinkled into the line-up like Fat Joe and Rochelle Jordan. Alix Perez had the crowd bopping around to techno while staying cool at the misters and the bleachers at the Green Stage in the LA Coliseum. Hayden James had everybody grooving along with his midday house set at the Purple stage playing hits like “Something About You”, a mix of Mamas and Papas “California Dreamin’” plus his own remix of Flume’s “You and Me”. The first day of HARD Summer catered to different genres with an eclectic mix of talented artists ranging from 21 Savage, DJ Diesel to Kaskade B2B John Summit.
Day two of HARD Summer was everything turned up a notch hosted by an incredible set of artists including Emo Nite, rising house DJ Disco Lines, West African DJ AMÉMÉ and superstar rapper Kid Cudi. Ludacris brought the crowd to the smaller HARDER stage and had all the fans singing his hits from “What’s Your Fantasy” to “Area Codes” to “Baby” by Justin Bieber which he’s featured on. Bassheads rejoiced at Space Laces set at the Green Stage and Black Coffee brought the house music vibe to the HARD Stage before the legendary set from Skrillex B2B Four Tet to close out the festival.
The 15th anniversary of HARD Summer exceeded expectations and the setting across multiple venues made it feel like the big event that it was for such a special occasion.
