Hard Summer returned to Hollywood Park in Inglewood on August 1 and 2, delivering a noticeably smoother festival experience by addressing previous criticisms regarding crowd flow and sound levels, according to a review by We Rave You. The publication notes that organizers improved the festival layout, which made it easier to move around the grounds and strengthened audio quality across all five stages while maintaining the event’s industrial identity. These changes included repositioning the Green Stage into the former Purple Stage location to alleviate significant bottlenecks that occurred in prior years.
We Rave You highlights several standout performances, including Mau P, who reportedly delivered what may have been the best set of the entire festival on the HARD Stage with heavy grooves that balanced scale and club intimacy. On Saturday, BOLO celebrated Latin club culture on his HARD Stage debut, while Charlotte de Witte closed the HARDER Stage with an uncompromising techno set. Sunday featured RL Grime honoring trap history with IDs before Knock2 and Zedd concluded the weekend with a collaborative back-to-back performance that blended bass house energy with melodic electro.
The review explicitly credits the redesigned stage placements for reducing congestion and minimizing sound bleed between adjacent stages. While entry processes appeared more efficient and the grounds absorbed crowds well, We Rave You observes that exit routes still narrowed significantly at the end of each night. Although several emergency exits were eventually used as additional general exits which helped, the publication concludes that leaving the festival remains one aspect of the Hollywood Park setup that could be improved.
For more information, visit weraveyou.com.