HARD Summer Music Festival Returns To Downtown Los Angeles

  • By: Ashley Joy Parker

“Get ready to go HARD….”

After being held in San Bernardino for the last decade, the HARD Summer Music Festival is making its triumphant return to Los Angeles.

Featuring the buzziest artists in EDM and hip-hop, as well as emerging talents, the 2023 music festival is going down Saturday, Aug. 5 and  Sunday, Aug. 6 across a never-before-used combination of venues in DTLA, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park and BMO Stadium.

HARD Summer 2023’s monstrous lineup is stacked with big names ready to throw down, including Diplo , Black Coffee, Dillon Francis, 21 Savage, Gorgon City, Kid Cudi, ISOxo, Knock2, Netsky, Boys Noize, Space Laces, Giolì & Assia, Fat Joe and more. Kaskade and John Summit are scheduled to headline Saturday before Skrillex and Four Tet bring the festival home on Sunday.

Emo Nite, the mega-popular party series celebrating emo music and culture, is also slotted in for a set on Day 2, featuring rockin’ DJ performances and all-out feelings-fueled singalongs.

HARD Summer 2023 festival will run each day from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. If you weren’t able to score passes, don’t sweat. The weekend is also packed with pre-parties and late night afters at various hotspots like Exchange LA, 1720, Academy LA and more.(Check out a full list of events HERE).

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The first HARD Music Festival was held on New Year’s Eve in 2007 in Downtown Los Angeles and featured Justice, Peaches and 2 Live Crew.

Since 2008, HARD has run its annual HARD Summer Music Festival. The first was held on July 19, 2008 in DTLA at the Shrine Exposition Hall. The following year, the festival changed venues to The Forum and then again in 2010 to the Los Angeles State Historic Park, where it ran until 2014. For the next few years, HARD Summer bounced around various venues on the outskirts of L.A., including the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in El Monte, the Fairplex in Pomona, the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana and the Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino.

In 2020, HARD Summer was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival resumed the following year and moved location to the NOS Event Center in San Bernardino, where it remained in 2022.

The event now holds a reputation as one of the West Coast’s edgiest mid-year events. Each summer, HARD’s diverse, technicolor-clad fans come together to celebrate the intersection of electronic and hip-hop music culture. Boasting names throughout the years such as Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Future, Major Lazer and countless other legends, it is no wonder HARD Summer has had such a lasting impact on the North American festival circuit.

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Details:
HARD Summer Music Festival 2023

Where: LA Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park, and BMO Stadium
3911 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles

When: August 5 and 6 (2 p.m. – 11 p.m.)

Follow: @HARDFEST

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