HARD Day of the Dead 2012 (November 3) – Review

On November 6, 2012 by Andrew


After having a couple days of rest and relaxation, it’s time for my review of HARD Day of the Dead. Overall, I had a great time…musically speaking. The picture above is from Clockwork, one of the first DJ’s I wanted to see. But unfortunately, I missed him. Why? Security.

If you recall from my HARD Day of the Dead – Guide, Clockwork was one of the openers that I wanted to catch. But due to some delays, I got there a little later than I would have liked and trying to find parking was a bit of a pain as well. Some people wanted $40 for parking, which was insane considering I got my ticket for $50. Luckily, there was a lot that had parking for $8 and quickly snatched up one of the last spots.

As soon as I got to the cross streets of the Los Angeles State Historic Park, a whole big group of us was stopped on one side of the intersection. After about 30 minutes, we were finally let through…only to wait on the other side of the intersection. We stood around, wondering was was happening for another 30 minutes. Later, I learned that some people had removed  the barricades, and the event staff had to rebuild them which took extra long. You can read what Gary Richards, the founder of HARD Events, has to say HERE, as well as some of the comments from attendees.

Then the line started moving, only for me to see that they had a handful of security checking ID’s while trying to fit hundreds of people through a five foot opening, which took about another 30 minutes. Then we had to snake through a line to finally get ‘patted down” and our card scanned. All in all, I spent about an hour and half waiting in a line with thousands that was controlled by a couple security guys.

After getting in, it was about 8:45. The layout of the stages and surrounding areas (food, merchandise, bathrooms, etc.) was pretty good. The stages were spread out, which prevented the music bleeding over from one stage to another. The main concern of the venue I had was the ground, which was dirt and wood chips until you got to the actual stage area. I had to give my shoes a good cleaning when I got home due to this, but I may be getting a little picky.

Anyways, I caught the last couple minutes of Jack Beats set at the HARD Stage. From what I heard, it was a funky and fresh kind of mix that was getting a lot of people going. After these guys, Zeds Dead was on next.


These two know how to control a crowd. There was ups and downs and all arounds that just kept me guessing what they were gonna play next. They played their hard hitting “Crank” and the smooth “Rumble in the Jungle”. Zeds Dead also appealed to the trap crowd with RL Grime and Salva’s remix of “Mercy” as well as their new remix of The Prodigy’s “Breathe”. The guys played a pretty good set from start to finish, with genres from dubstep to electro and everything in between.


Next, I made my way over to check out Kill The Noise at the Earstorm Stage. I’d heard good things about his shows, so I wanted to see what he was about. “Wow” can pretty much describe my feelings. He was going crazy, throwing down dubstep, moombah, electro, and a whole bunch of other hard hitting styles. Some memorable tracks he played Trolley Snatcha’s booty shaker “Make My Whole World”, Sub Focus’ head bobber “Falling Down”, and Flux Pavilion’s well known “Gold Dust”. Kill The Noise also showed us some songs from his new Black Magic EP out today like “Mosh It Up” and “Saturn”. The man has a new follower in me due to his high energy sets.


The main event was next up: Knife Party. I had high hopes for these guys and was looking forward to an awesome set. The area was packed and there was barely enough room, if any, to dance. But that’s the price you pay for seeing a headliner. They pretty much played their hardest hitting original and remixed songs, like “Centipede”, their remix of “Save the World” by Swedish House Mafia, “Last Time”, “Bonfire”, etc. While I would have liked a little more diversity in their range of selected tracks, it was a a pretty good set for my first time seeing them live.

Overall, once I got inside the venue, I had no issues at all. The music was awesome and so were the people. For the most part, everyone got along and was having a great time seeing whoever they wanted to see. The main concern was security and how the lines were (or weren’t) handled. I hate to compare HARD to Insomniac, but out of all the Insomniac events I’ve been to, I have never see such disorganization and craziness going on in line. Some communication would have been nice to let us know what was going on instead of being in the dark for hours.

Also, a special thanks to Rukes for the awesome photos used in this post, as well as many others that are used on this site! Check out his other photos from the event HERE and support Rukes on Facebook and Twitter!

Grades for HARD Day of the Dead:

Lines – 3/10

Security – 4/10

Venue –  8/10

Music – 9/10

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