This past weekend Hard Summer drew over 40,000 people to Whittier Narrows Recreation Center in Los Angeles, California. Headlining the weekends festival were major names Tiesto, Disclosure, Martin Garrix, Dillon Francis, Axwell, and DJ Snake, not to mention the insane collaborative project of Diplo and Skrillex who perform under the stage name of Jack U.
After attending the festival for the first time this weekend I can honestly say “HARD” is an understatement.
The lineup for both days was jam-packed with talent, diversity, and musical innovation. Saturday featured a trap-heavy lineup with Bro Safari, Flosstradamus, Baauer, DJ Snake and Carnage. DJ Snake put on a show that was, to say the least, extremely intense. The lights, beats, and overall stage production were elevated to a new degree.
It was about mid-set before the sky decided to open up and start pouring, bringing the rage-o-meter to near catastrophic levels. The unanticipated rain (I say unanticipated because I have never known a raver who checks the weather) carried on into Jack U‘s closing set and I’m sure you can imagine the product of torrential precipitation in addition to the sounds and energy brought by the team of Skrillex and Diplo. The high energy performance barely left time for the crowd to catch a breath, sprinkling in surprises like Skrillex‘s “Summit”, and Diplo‘s “Express Yourself” with a slick transition into “Bangarang.”
During the set they dropped at least two new songs and in a recent Reddit AMA, Diplo says they will likely be releasing a mixtape soon featuring a song with breakout artist Kiesza.
Until their HARD set is released you can check out their debut performance from Ultra Music Festival below.
The energy and summer vibes continued on Sunday with feel-good sets from Rudimental and The Chainsmokers along with a visually stimulating and upbeat set from Dillon Francis who always delivers when the stage is set. One of my favorite sets of the weekend came from Disclosure, who played a live instrumental set and delivered a non-stop hour of funk, even surprising the crowd with a guest appearance from Mary J. Blige who laid down powerful vocals on “F for You.”
