Hard has suffered from a few snafus in the past year, including an early cancelation of Hard LA and a mid-show cancellation of last year’s Hard Summer. Hard NYC also had its share of problems, the biggest of which being that MIA walked off stage early, blaming poor sound on the rain and sound technicians. Hopefully it was actually just the result of her putting out a new album that just sounds awful regardless of the medium that its being played on. I would like to think that the people at Hard haven’t lost their touch when it comes to producing massive electronic dance music shows, and their has never been a time where they needed to pull it together like this. In a mere two days, some of the most established electronic acts (Crystal Castles, Tiga, Digitalism), a few of the genres freshest new blood (Major Lazer, Diplo), and an all-time legend (Soulwax) will be taking to the two stages set up on the grassy slopes of the Los Angeles State Historic Park. If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, now would be a good time. The lineup for this event on August 7 seems to spell redemption for everyone that had high hopes for last year’s Hard Summer, and this year’s Hard LA. In fact, if you purchased a ticket for Hard LA and haven’t sought out a refund yet, your ticket for that event will automatically be accepted for entry to Hard Summer. I would call that a very deserved, and not so subtle apology from Hard for playing with our hearts. The only way that they could have made the lineup better would be if they were able to get Sleigh Bells to play in lieu of their cancelled Hard LA performance. It would also be great if Digitalism and Soulwax weren’t playing at exactly the same time. C’est la vie, as they say.

Now that Hard has announced the set times for Hard Summer, here are my picks for how to make the most of this 12pm to 12am dance party:

 

Hard Summer’s Don’t Miss Sets:

 

11:00 Soulwax¹ (Seriously, don’t miss them)

10:00 Tiga²

9:00 Proxy²

8:20 Crystal Castles¹

7:00 Diplo¹

6:00 Erol Alkan¹

5:00 Green Velvet¹

4:00 The Twelves¹

3:15 Breakbot¹

2:30 Theophilus London¹

2:00 The Gaslamp Killer²

1:15 Sticky K²

12:30 Keith 2.0²

¹ = Hard Stage

² = Harder Stage

 

Final Note: If you want to get REALLY excited about the show, I would recommend getting the Soulwax documentary Part of the Weekend Never Dies. If you don’t have time for that, check out these videos for “NY Excuse” by Soulwax, and “Shoes” by Tiga.