(Photo by HARD Presents)
T’was that time of the year again! One of the most anticipated summer music festivals just took Southern California by storm. We’re talking about HARD Summer, which ran its course with a weekend filled with epic festivities. Besides the newly-added option for camping, this year’s festival offered a superb lineup that definitely shined the spotlight on many up and coming artists, especially those in the electronic dance music scene. We know that words won’t do it any justice, but we’ll take a crack at giving you our FIVE favorite acts from the weekend.
Slushii
When we got the word that a “surprise guest” would come out during Slushii‘s debut set, we would’ve never guessed it’d be Skrillex, who actually surprised Slushii too. Julian Scanlan a.k.a Slushii played “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”, and Skrilly jumped up on the DJ stand. “Make some noise for the future right here” were his words – pretty high praises from the dance music icon, as Julian’s dynamic set definitely got the whole place buzzin’. Check out this video below that captured the amazing moment.
Porter Robinson
If you’re as much as a Porter fan as we are, you’d know that his live sets are something we should never miss. Besides the amazing visuals, Porter sang part of “Divinity” and rocked the drums on many occasions during his set. Even with Major Lazer and Kaytranada performing at the same time at the other stages, Porter’s set still managed to attract a crowd that spanned all the way up to the bleachers. For an hour and fifteen minutes, Porter took everyone on a tour to his Worlds dreamscape and made their dream come true.
(Photo by Andrew Oliveira)
Ekali
Following his set at Coachella, Nathan Shaw a.k.a Ekali threw down another electrifying set at HARD and managed to become one of the most talked about trap producers of 2016. His tribute remix of Flux Pavilion‘s “I Can’t Stop” was probably the most played track at HARD all weekend. Even in the immensely heated tent, the crowd got as rowdy as they could for a full hour and thirty minutes. Definitely be on the lookout for more fresh tracks from the Canadian producer.
Ice Cube
Among the sea of EDM acts, there were a handful of artists that were holding it down the hip-hop community. The biggest of them all was none other than Ice Cube, who brought along former N.W.A. members DJ Yella and MC Ren to close out the main stage on Saturday. Still buzzing from their performance from Coachella, the rapper gave his 110% and played almost every single throwback track we could imagine. Their epic performance got the crowd vibin’, even for the non hip-hop fans.
