This past weekend, music fans and party enthusiasts gathered for the 12th annual Hard Summer Music Festival. Making it’s third appearance at the Speedway venue, this year drew in a huge crowd of over 170,000 attendees across the two days.
As the years go by, the planning of the minor and major details seem to be improving, and it seems as if Hard Summer has found a permanent home at the Speedway in Fontana, California. Throughout the weekend, temperatures reached a high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the festival, which is now fully operated by Insomniac Events, provided the enormous crowd with many considerable accommodations such as sheets of green felt which covered parts of boiling asphalt, numerous industrial sized fans, plenty of shady tents, and even a long tunnel strip packed with misters that would cool down attendees as they walked from stage to stage.
Ever since it’s inception, Hard Summer has always been known for it’s diverse line-up, delivering the latest and greatest of today’s best dance and hip-hop acts. This year’s line-up was nothing short of that. On day 1, music lovers were blessed with a surprisingly energetic set from none other than NBA hall of famer, Shaquille O’Neal aka DJ Diesel, who played a face-melting set packed with heavy bangers. On the opposite side of the venue, Dillon Francis played a monumental set packed with pyrotechnics and confetti. And as Good Times Ahead (formerly known as GTA) closed out the Green tent with a filled stage of special guests all night, Kid Cudi officially closed out the main stage of day 1, playing his amazing and nostalgic classics to the diverse crowd.
As Day 2 rolled around, the sun was shining high and bright with a temperature high of 103 degrees Fahrenheit, but that wasn’t enough to stop the fans from partying. Again, Insomniac provided plenty of shade and water stations for everyone to feel comfortable in the blistering heat. All around the festival, the Insomniac volunteer team Ground Control helped fans cool off by providing them with free water bottles and water guns at all stages. Each volunteer and staff member were joyful as they were helping out the festival attendees.
A-Trak played a special b2b set with Yehme2 at the Harder Stage while the sun was setting. And at close proximity, the Purple Tent brought in a huge line-up of hip-hop acts featuring rapper-producer JPEGMAFIA, viral sensation Soulja Boy, and Kenny Beats, who was once part of Loudpvck before he went to venture off to a new project with a primary focus on hip-hop. Kenny Beats brought out a long guest list of his friends featuring internet troll Zack Fox, and also Doja Cat and Rico Nasty.
With high temperatures throughout the weekend, fans were still able to dance and party comfortably with all the considerable accommodations that were provided on the huge asphalt racetrack. Fans were also graced with a widely diverse line-up of booming house, heavy trap, and today’s best rap acts. This past weekend proved that Hard Summer is here to stay.
All Photo Credit: Willy Song
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