HARD Summer Music Festival changes locations, moves back to two days in 2023 with Kaskade B2B John Summit, Skrillex B2B Four Tet

HARD Summer Music Festival - 2023 lineup

HARD Summer Music Festival //
LA Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park & BMO Stadium – Los Angeles
August 5th-6th, 2023 //

If you thought Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival delivered a big splash by releasing its 2023 lineup to celebrate the 15-year mark this August, HARD Summer is making its own noise just hours later.

After extending to three days in 2022, the annual Southern California music festival is moving back to two with a brand-new location and a stacked roster that once again favors electronic and hip-hop fans.

While a variety of SoCal venues — Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, the Fairplex in Pomona and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana — have played host to HARD Summer over the years, the fest’s latest home for the past two had been the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino. But HARD founder and CEO Gary Richards has always had his sights set on returning to LA since leaving the city’s limits following its 2013 edition at the previous iteration of LA State Historic Park.

Now, the event will migrate 63 miles west to the LA Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park and BMO Stadium with Kaskade B2B John Summit and Skrillex B2B Four Tet tapped as headliners, plus two special guests in 21 Savage and Kid Cudi.

This year’s undercard, meanwhile, isn’t too shabby either, littered with more B2B sets and other huge names that include Diplo B2B Blond:ish, Black Coffee, Kayzo B2B Sullivan King, Oliver Tree, Gorgon City, Yellow Claw B2B Flosstradamus, Dillon Francis, Deorro, The Martinez Brothers, Jungle (DJ set), Bicep (Live), 4B B2B JSTJR, TBA B2B Sonny Fodera, Diesel, Ludacris, Peekaboo, Fat Joe and more. Check out the poster above for the rest of acts who have been booked.

GA and VIP passes are on sale this Friday, March 10th at 10 a.m. PT here for fans ages 18 and over, with payment plans also available for single-day or weekend tickets after a $9.95 deposit.

HARD Summer Music Festival - updated 2023 lineup

UPDATE (May 1st): With more than four months to go until showtime, HARD Summer has uncovered a handful of 2023 lineup additions that sees MK B2B Sonny Fodera, Yung Bae, PAWSA, Rochelle Jordan and nøll joining the party this August in downtown LA. Scope out the poster above for the latest updates to the roster and sign up for the SMS hotline here to receive first access to tickets, lineups and more via text message.

Coachella reveals 2019 set times

Coachella 2019

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival //
Empire Polo Club – Indio, CA
April 12th-14th & April 19th-21st, 2019 //

It’s officially Coachella week, and we all know what that means: scheduling conflicts galore.

The three-day, two-weekend music and arts festival has revealed the set times for its 20th edition just after 11 a.m. PT (11:04 a.m. to be exact), about 16 hours later than it did in 2018.

Coachellans often have some tough decisions to make as to which artists they should see, and 2019 is no different in that respect. But if you’re headed to the desert this month, take a look at the set times below so you can survive all three days at the Empire Polo Club.

Tell us, though … what’s your biggest conflict this year and which performance are you most excited for?

WEEKEND 1 SET TIMES

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 1 - Friday set times

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 1 - Saturday set times

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 1 - Sunday set times

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 1 - Do LaB Stage set times

WEEKEND 2 SET TIMES

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 2 - Friday set times

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 2 - Saturday set times

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 2 - Sunday set times

Coachella 2019 - Weekend 2 - Do LaB Stage set times

There are a few minor schedule tweaks for Weekend 2, as Big Game takes Friday’s opening slot on the Outdoor Theatre at 3 p.m. for Jimbo Jenkins, who has been moved to the Sahara Tent on Saturday at 12:25 p.m. More Saturday changes include More Fire Mondays replacing Gabe Real on the Coachella Stage at 1:50 p.m., CPTN KIRK taking Fundido’s spot in the Gobi Tent at 12:45 p.m. and Lealani kicking things off in the Mojave Tent rather than Yeti Out at 12 p.m. bright and early (and hot, most likely).

On Sunday, Ugly Primo will now be the first act — instead of Alf Alpha — to take the Coachella Stage at 2:15 p.m. while Subsuelo gets things started in the Mojave Tent at 1:40 p.m., replacing Ericalandia, and Cre-8 has been moved in place of R3LL in the Sahara Tent at 1:50 p.m.

UPDATE (April 18th): Christine and the Queens has canceled her Weekend 2 performance at the Outdoor Theatre, sadly due to her mother’s death. Héloïse Letissier announced the news on Twitter in her native tongue of French (see below).

MAP

A little more than four hours after releasing its Weekend 1 set times, Coachella unveiled this year’s map and it looks fairly similar to what we saw in 2018.

One of most notable differences is the relocation of the Gobi and Sonora Tents, which have traded places with the Indio Central Market and the Antarctica dome, the latter being one of the cooler (no pun intended) experiences that the festival has introduced in the past three years. The Heineken House, meanwhile, has also moved (next to Antarctica) and sits more tucked away from Coachella’s eight other stages than it ever used to be.

Coachella - 2019 map

The Mojave Tent will continue to remain in its same location, with a few new additions to the area, including the Calvin Klein, Pantene and Peet’s Cold Brew tents. Believe it or not, there’s even a designated place where you can pick up your Postmates order. Ah, corporate sponsors … because what would America’s most Instagrammed music festival be without them now?

Happy Coachella!

Coachella drops 2019 lineup with Childish Gambino, Tame Impala & Ariana Grande headlining 20th year

Coachella - 2019 lineup

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival //
Empire Polo Club – Indio, CA
April 12th-14th & April 19th-21st, 2019 //

Sorry, Kanye West fans.

Hours after TMZ reported that the rapper would not perform at Coachella due to negotiations over his stage setup falling through, the renowned three-day, two-weekend music festival has announced the lineup for its 20th edition.

Headlining Goldenvoice’s signature event in Indio this time around will be Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande. While the first two acts had been previously rumored to top the 2019 bill with both expected to unveil new albums in the coming months, the inclusion of Grande comes as somewhat of a surprise (our guess is that she was likely tabbed to be West’s replacement). All three will headline Coachella for the first time, marking the second straight year that the festival has gone in that direction, although Tame Impala have performed on the polo fields several times in the past and as recently as 2015 (on the main stage before AC/DC). And for the record, Grande, at 25 years old, will be the youngest artist ever to headline.

The rest of Coachella’s 2019 roster, meanwhile, includes plenty of other household names, such as Janelle Monáe, Solange, Khalid, The 1975, Kid Cudi, Weezer, Bad Bunny, RÜFÜS DU SOL, J Balvin, Dillon Francis, BLACKPINK, Billie Eilish, CHVRCHES, Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals, YG, Kacey Musgraves, Juice WRLD, Christine and the Queens, Playboi Carti, Ella Mai, Wiz Khalifa and H.E.R. As you can see, the focus continues to be on hip-hop, pop and R&B while straying away mostly from rock. But unlike in 2018, there seems to be more electronic music once again with Zedd, DJ Snake, Gesaffelstein, Diplo, Aphex Twin, Dillon Francis, Kaytranada, Bassnectar, Four Tet, Cirez D (aka Eric Prydz), Chris Lake, Bob Moses, Gryffin, Jon Hopkins, NGHTMRE, Gorgon City, Nina Kraviz and even 90’s progressive-house duo Deep Dish receiving fairly high placement on the fest’s famed poster.

Coachella’s first weekend is scheduled for April 12th-14th, with its second weekend slated for April 19th-21st. All tickets will go on sale for both weekends this Friday, January 4th at 11 a.m. PT here.

Ready to party in the California desert this April? Relive our five favorite moments, whether it was Jamiroquai or Eminem, from last year’s installment.

Coachella 2018

New Music Tuesday: Kid Cudi • Phoenix • JUNIP • Har Mar Superstar

Kid Cudi - Indicud

Every Tuesday, we focus on new music releases by naming our top tracks, album highlights, lowlights and important takeaways for select albums.


Kid CudiIndicud

3.5-BamsTop Tracks:
“Just What I Am” feat. King Chip
“Immortal”
“Unfuckwittable”

Album Highlights: Kid Cudi’s impressive, third record Indicud dropped a week early last Tuesday in response to it’s online leak, and the pushed-up release was slightly overshadowed by the Daft Punk mayhem. Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi has crafted a masterful mainstream hip-hop record that is radio friendly and touches on familiar themes. Kid Cudi lyrically deals with addiction by embracing it and partying harder, and he brought along a diverse group for support as usual. Indicud includes the often-featured Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky & RZA, but he also samples Father John Misty in “Young Lady” and utilizes Michael Bolton for the refrain in “Afterwards (Bring Yo Friends)”. “Red Eye” features fast-rising indie outfit Haim, which continues Cudi’s trend of working with booming indie rock bands for increased genre-bending credibility (his first LP featured MGMT on “Pursuit of Happiness (nightmare)” and his second record saw St. Vincent involved in “MANIAC”).

Album Lowlight: It can be hard to edit sometimes, but Cudi should have cut four to six tracks from the middle/back-end of the record, honing in on the best material. Axing “Burn Baby Burn” & “Lord of the Sad And Lonely” would have been a good start to making Indicud tighter and more cohesive. Also, the Kendrick Lamar guested track “Solo Dolo Part II” doesn’t shine as one would hope.

Takeaway: Most of the collaborations work brilliantly, but the best cuts overall feature King Chip and dance driven beats. Cudi must be on a mission to make King Chip a star, as this guest highly enhances “Just What I Am”, “Afterwards (Bring Yo Friends)” & “Brothers”. Also there are a handful of fun dance-driven tracks that work surprisingly well and hopefully hint at Cudi’s future direction. “Cold Blooded”, “New York City Rage Fest” & “Afterwards” are less outer-space-inspired confessionals and more dance-driven beds for rhyming. It would have been great to hear Kid Cudi spit over “New York City Rage Fest”, but instead it’s left as an awesome transitional track. Expect a healthy handful of these tracks to go Top 40 throughout 2013.

~Mike Frash


PhoenixBankrupt!

3.5-BamsTop Tracks:
“Drakkar Noir” –> “Chloroform”
“Entertainment”
“Bankrupt!”

Album Highlights: Upon first listen, Bankrupt! was a bit hard to swallow. If one judges the new Phoenix album within the context of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, then it is a bit of a let down, but that would be inside-the-box thinking. France’s biggest band (which is in question since The Robots apparently playing instruments now) clearly found a different direction by employing worldly sound motifs and by taking a right turn in the songwriting department. The first single “Entertainment” immediately sets a classic eastern tone with the opening keyboard stabs, a sound aesthetic that is new for Phoenix and present throughout much of the record. Although, “Entertainment” quickly transitions to the familiar Phoenix sound, and it’s the closest the record gets to Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The track climaxes with the line “I’d rather be alone,” which summarizes the overall lyrical content of the LP.

The strongest part of Bankrupt! is the one-two punch of “Drakkar Noir” into “Chloroform”. “Drakkar Noir” serves to build the tension, and once “Chloroform” takes hold it’s all pleasurable release. The synth, strong bass, and simple-yet powerful drum beat creates a perfect bed for Thomas Mars to croon “I don’t always tell the truth…I don’t only think of you…my love, my love, my love is cruel”. “Bankrupt!” is an exploratory mostly-instrumental track much like “Love Like a Sunset”, yet “Bankrupt!” is more hard-hitting and pleasantly jarring with it’s synth-led intensity. Phoenix is wise to meld these two instrumental tracks into “Sankrupt!” for their live shows, placing it in the middle of their set and creating an auditory mind melt for the listener.

Album Lowlight: The hooks on many of the cuts sound like a friend whining about the end of a relationship. This losing-love mantra is like hearing your friend blather on at that realization point where he doesn’t love his mate like he once did, or maybe he never did at all. This is the state of mind in the songwriting, and it is slightly repetitive and a bit of a drag.

Takeaway: Bankrupt! is an anti-love record that bleeds passive aggressive snark, especially in comparison to Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (I know, inside the box thinking). The former LP was framed around magnificent love lyrics like “Sad is for the lonely…true and everlasting that’s what you are” in “Girlfriend”. Obviously, love has been tough recently in the world of the four core Phoenix members, who all contribute to crafting the music and songwriting. In “The Real Thing”, Mars calls it “almost, almost, almost the real thing … am I the only one?” The next track “S.O.S. in Bel Air” peaks with the crescendoing repetition of “Can’t cross the line but you can’t stop trying” while “Alone, alone, alone…” is cried out to keep the verse going. And in the thrilling track “Chloroform”, the crowning statement is “Why would I long for you?” Musically the tracks are as sophisticated as ever while the lyrics are a bit of a downer.

~Mike Frash


JUNIPJunip

3.5-BamsTop Tracks:
“Line of Fire”
“So Clear”
“Your Life Your Call”

Album Highlights: The awesomeness continues on Junip’s self-titled sophomore release — they just made us wait over two years for its release. A trio from Sweden, Junip’s sound has not dramatically evolved since their 2010 debut Fields; they are the same folk/psychedelic rock band we fell in love with. The stellar vocal delivery by José González, the steadfast drumming from Elias Araya and the astonishing synths from Tobias Winterkorn create an extremely simple yet powerful sound. In fact, the keyboards might be my favorite part of this album. The psychedelic sounds of the synth are laced throughout this record, offering the listener additional layers with subsequent listening.

Album Lowlight: It’s perfect for driving, or just relaxing around the house. It might not be suited to play at a party, and it probably won’t get much radio play either. That does not make it any less wonderful.

Takeaway: Junip’s self-titled album is very mellow, but also ultra-propulsive at the same time. It’s deep rhythm section, use of a variety of percussion, string accompaniment and subtle synth goodness gives this record a very emotional and moving feeling.

~Kevin Raos


Har Mar SuperstarBye Bye 17

3-BamsTop Tracks:
“Prisoner” feat. Fabrizio Moretti
“Restless Leg”
“Please Don’t Make Me Hit You”

Album Highlights: The stellar talent that is Sean Tillman, popularly known as Har Mar Superstar, pumps out an infectious album full of swinging R&B this spring. Stepping away from his ever-loved freak-disco party to get soulful, Har Mar shows off his serious singing chops, not to mention his knack for writing wonderfully fun songs. “Prisoner” lays down the funk early in Bye Bye 17, aided by the Strokes’ Fabrizio Moretti. Further on “We Don’t Sleep” beckons to the freak-funk sound of Midnight Vultures era Beck, chock full of sax flourishes and cosmic Clavinet chops.

Album Lowlight: Tillman may be riding coat-tails as the modernized R&B soul sound is permeating contemporary music, but his play on it still aims at pure fun, as per usual for this act.

Takeaway: Good times are sure to follow this album, whether it be on the stage this summer or out of your iPod. Toe-tapping will certainly be a side-effect, so be warned. Sam Cooke would certainly be smiling down on this slice of American soul. One can expect an enjoyable listen from Har Mar as he traverses new styles, departing from his signature sound on his previous four releases. Furthermore, we can look forward to Har Mar doing his best strip review on stage, a performance that would even make Ron Jeremy smile.

~Kevin Quandt