If this year’s HARD Summer Festival theme had to be summed up in one word, it would have to be “naked.” On Saturday, the celebrated electronic music festival brought thousands of music lovers to Los Angeles’s Downtown Historic Park for the sold out music fest. Swarms of festival goers arrived in their rave-worthy best; dressed in the smallest amount of clothing they could get by in without earning them a police record.
As the freeway backed up, ticketholders grew anxious and preshow buzzes wore off. People helplessly waited in bumper-to-bumper traffic while cursing on exit ramps. Impatient patrons leapt from vehicles, leaving their drivers to fend for themselves as they set off for the festival on foot. Police attempted to prevent the doors from being rushed by systematically herding massive lines around the block. Once inside, it was every man for himself.
Four stages worth of the hottest up and coming names in electronic, dance, dubstep, and house music took over the park grounds. Among the big players were Duck Sauce, Boys Noize, Chromeo, Ratatat, Nero, Skrillex, and Noisia. Inside the DFA tent, James Murphy & Pat Mahoney (a special disco version), Holy Ghost!, Still Going, Juan Maclean, and Shit Robot performed below cascading disco balls.
In addition to tiny outfits, fans wore tutus, fishnets, and body glitter. To prevent the loss of personal items, people attempted to bring back the glory of the infamous fanny pack which occasionally bore a clipped on battery pack which powered up LED piping strung over various items of clothing or illuminated a bra. A shirtless gentleman turned a set of football pads into a neon lit costume and brightly colored Tina Turner style wigs appeared on the heads of many attendees. Conversation T-shirts saying everything from “We got Hard” to “Dirty Girls like Dirty Beats” dashed through the crowd, occasionally posing for a photo from a wandering camera lens.
Groups of females skipped around with “Hard or Bust” scribbled upon their midriffs and a random guy in the banana suit wrote “Party time. Play it Leo” on his back. Off in the distance of the headliner stages, an American flag was waved through the sea of flashy bootie shorts and lit up shoelaces. Several Indian headdresses were spotted, some paired with lit up shoelaces and flashing cat ears. Other noteworthy outfits included a giant panda head, a tie died cape, a girl dressed like a unicorn, a plethora of spirit hoods, and a random character in a cow suit. HARD Summer Festival was the one place to be on Saturday where eccentric became the norm and attendees that missed the “dress to impress” memo stuck out in the crowd like a sore thumb.
As the vast line up of DJs and live acts performed, fans rushed the stages. Every performer played to gigantic audiences, the majority of them at some point catalyzing their crowd into an uncontrollable dancing spell. There was aggressive rave dancing, seductive crawling on the floor, and uncoordinated hopping around to energetic beats. As one performer finished, people picked up their purses, wiped the sweat from their brows, and high tailed it over to a nearby stage to see another show. People chugged Red Bulls and took breathers on a hillside covered in tall grass – anything to keep them going all night.
Despite the first act taking the stage at 6:15 p.m., the vast majority of the crowd lasted until the very end. Boyz Noize closed the night, with their set wrapping up around 2 a.m. HARD fest staff enlisted the help of police to sweep the grounds, clear out traffic, and the DJs packed up their turntables.
HARD Summer Festival 2011: epic tunes, half-naked people, innovative clothing and chaotic dancing. All in all a sweet and sweaty success!
