Hard Summer: Night 1 Review

This past weekend I was lucky enough to get to attend the first night of Hard Summer in Los Angeles.  As a Southern California Native, I have had the chance to attend quite a few Hard events, and I think this one was the most well-run one I have been to (particularly for how large it was).

We arrived shortly after 9, which is quite a bit later than we had planned but it always seems to take longer to get to these events than expected (especially when traveling from Hollywood to downtown L.A.).  The line to the entrance and the security line only took about 15 minutes total, which I was impressed with considering we arrived at the busiest time.  Security was pretty strict and actually made everyone take off their shoes, which I have only ever seen happen a couple of other times. However, I do understand Hard being a bit uptight, as they don't want to have the same poor relationship with The City of Los Angeles as Insomniac does.

The venue was The Los Angeles Historic State Park.  Hard Summer has been held here ever since they got shut down at the Forum in 2009.  People have a lot of mixed opinions on this venue, but I really like it.  It is centrally located to downtown L.A. (if you are facing the Hard (main) Stage, you get a gorgeous view of the downtown L.A. skyline).  There tends to be a lot of space, which can often be a problem at events like this.  And, it is located right by the metro.  Hard really took advantage of the proximity by making admission to Hard also include free rides on the Metro, and extending the Metro's hours until 2:45 am. 

Breakbot

We immediately headed straight for the Discoteque stage where we saw the last few minutes of Oliver.  I didn't see enough to comment on it too much, but he seemed to really have the crowd moving.  After Oliver came Breakbot, whose groovy bass lines were a perfect way to kick off the festival.  He played a lot of the favorites, but I think the highlight for me was an edit of 'Everybody Dance Now' (which, until that night I never thought could have been played a set without sounding cheesy) mixed into 'New Lands' by Justice.  Check out a video of it below.

Hit the jump to see more of my review on Hard Summer w/ Miike Snow, Bloc Party, and Boys Noize!

Miike Snow

After Breakbot we went over to the Hard Stage to see Miike Snow who, as usual, did not disappoint (for the most part).  The main stage was not very crowded, which was nice because I was able to get a pretty good spot right in front of the sound stage.  Unfortunately, they started a few minutes late so their set was not a full hour.  The sound on the Hard Stage was perfect, which is something that Hard has had trouble with a couple of times in the past.  Their setlist was extremely similar to their set this April at Coachella, which means once again I did not get to hear them play 'Devil's Work'.  Other than that, their set was flawless.  They extended the outro of both 'Silvia' and 'Animal' by several minutes and turned them into into jams that showed exactly why live bands should be included in dance festivals like Hard.  Their set was extremely high energy and demonstrated once again why Miike Snow is one of my favorite live bands.  Their setlist was as follows:

The Wave
Cult Logic
Bavarian #1
Pretender
Silvia
Black and Blue
Paddling Out
Animal

See a video of 'The Wave' and the beginning of 'Cult Logic' below:

Bloc Party

After Miike Snow was my most anticipated set of the night, Bloc Party's first show in the U.S. in several years.  After Miike Snow, even more people filtered away from the Hard Stage leaving it almost empty, which is too bad because I feel it may make hard less likely to book great live acts like that in the future.   I was a bit nervous about the set, because Bloc Party has a new album coming out and August 20th and I was concerned that their set might be filled with new songs I had never heard.  Luckily, only 4 out of their 14 songs were off the new album, and the rest were spread out over their other albums.  I recognized one new song, 'Octopus' and was extremely impressed with how well it translated live.  Bloc Party definitely had my favorite moment of the night when they played 'A Song For Clay (Disappear Here)' with a reworked into, and then segued it into 'Banquet'.  Bloc Party came back to the U.S. in full force and I really hope they make another stop to Southern California in the near future.  Here is the Bloc Party setlist:

So He Begins to Lie*
Mercury
Hunting for Witches
Positive Tension
Octopus*
Real Talk*
Song for Clay (Disappear Here)
Banquet
Team A*
So Here We Are
This Modern Love
One More Chance
The Prayer
Helicopter

* indicates songs off of the new album

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any videos of the transition from 'A Song for Clay (Disappear Here)' to 'Banquet' but here is a video of just 'Banquet' to give you and idea:

After Bloc Party (and after realizing that they were no longer serving alcohol in the beer garden) we ran over to the Fool's Gold Clubhouse to see the last couple of minutes of A-Trak.  I normally wouldn't take the time to see just the last song or two of an artist because it doesn't mean as much without the context of the rest of the set, but A-Trak (and his amazing beat juggling/scratching) is a different story, and so we caught him juggling his remix of 'Heads Will Roll'.

Boys Noize

Finally, we made one last trip over to the Hard Stage to catch Boys Noize, who was able to outdo any other set I've seen of his.  He kicked it off with his new song 'XTC' and from there I only recognized a handfull of the songs played, as there was very little from 'Oi Oi Oi' and 'Power' played.  But, everything he did play hit hard and got me dancing.    A couple of the highlights were 'Depravity' by Gesaffelstein and 'Lemonade' by Boys Noize/Erol Alkan.  Boys Noize just announced his 2012 North American tour and will be in New York on November 30th at Roseland Ballroom.  The dude has become a legend, and I can't recommend seeing him enough.

Overall a pretty incredible night.