Blistering heat, empty roads, and an outlet mall all waiting and anticipating while thousands of cars strolled towards Fontana this past weekend. I arrived earlier that morning, around 3 am to beat the heat and get some rest before a weekend of festivities. Morning came, and my cameraman and I drove to the Ontario DoubleTree to get our media passes. The hotel was full of musicians, producers, Instagram elite, and journalists.
The festival’s line up this year was unparalleled to the years before, headliners at each of the six stages. Saturday headliners included Kid Cudi at HARD stage, Alison Wonderland at HARDER stage, DJ Snake, B2B Malaa at Pink Tent, and Lucati at the Corona Electric beach. Sunday’s headliner line-up included Major Lazor at the HARD Stage, RL Grime at HARDER, Gunna at the Purple Tent, Flux Pavilion B2B Netsky at Green Tent, Anti Up at Pink Tent, and ZIA at Corona Electric Beach.
Headliners aside, many of the artists, local and global threw in their best work, notable mentions for me were Ghastly, Flosstradamus, VNSSA, Monki, Anna Lunoe, Ookay, Duke Dumont, Zhu B2B Tchami, Moon Boots, Kayzo, and Graves. Of course the weekend would not have had the same vibe if it were not for some of the unforgettable moments; poolside muscle men dancing in speedos with HARD Summer merchandise, Major Lazer’s dancers doing back flips into twerks on stage, Soulja Boy reminding us all that he can make a whole crowd crank that, and catching Shaqulle O'Neal's DJ throw down as “Diesel.”
Among all the amazing musicians, artists, and chefs who made hard summer a PLUR-tastic weekend, the fans and festival goers also worked to make it special. You could see it on everyone's face that they were happy and having the time of their lives. Shady lanes offered a cool down for anyone outside VIP, along with all the water works around each stage. The heat was not going to stop us from dancing. Special shout out to the hard-working staff, volunteers, hair braiders, servers, and bartenders who helped make HARD Summer run smoothly.
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