Stage-by-Stage Breakdowns of HARD Summer

One of the world’s top music festivals, HARD Summer, is back for 2023 with a revamped layout and several new venues, hitting Los Angeles from August 5-6. This year’s 15th anniversary of the event will feature a stacked lineup featuring heavy hitters like Skrillex and Kid Cudi spread out over three separate venues, all within walking reach and located within Exposition Park in Downtown Los Angeles.  

Los Angeles is a world-famous epicenter of techno and house music, and 2023 promises to see another summer season of legendary music festivals. The five stages of HARD Summer will be hosted at the LA Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park, and BMO Stadium, with a roster for each that you won’t want to miss. Tickets for the weekend start at around $329 for a 2-day general admission, with a wide variety of pre-parties, attractions, and other events for those lucky enough to get them before they sell out. 

HARD Headliners

The 2023 edition of HARD Summer holds true to its dedication to bringing genre-spanning artists and some of the biggest names in the business to Los Angeles, with one of the most impressive lineup announcements of the year.  

Friday night will feature a b2b set performed by Skrillex and Fred Tet, who recently dominated a sold-out set at Madison Square Garden. Skrillex’s collaborations with artists like Tet represent a seismic shift in the dubstep and bass music scene to a more thoughtful, complex, and multi-layered form of music.  

Saturday night will see another b2b set featuring Kaskade and John Summit, which is sure to attract a lot of attention as the closer. Along with these two incredible sets, Diplo will have his new sounds on display, along with psychedelic rap star Kid Cudi, Ludacris, Sullivan King, Dillon Francis, homegrown LA star Boys Noize, 21 Savage, and more.  

HARD has played a formative role in the creation of the house, trance, rap, and techno scene as a whole, providing a venue for rising stars and established career performers alike. Promoters Live Nation and Insomniac have used a few different venues around the LA area over the last decade, but this year marks the first time since 2010 that the event returns to LA proper.  

The Stages

HARD Summer’s 2023 layout is a unique setup for a music festival that has the potential to set a precedent for the future of music festivals as a whole. There will be five stages at three iconic venues, all close enough to easily move from stage to stage depending on your tastes.  

Within the single lot of Exposition Park, attendees will be able to rotate between the following stages:

• The Green Stage within the legendary LA Memorial Coliseum, featuring mainly bass music.

• The Purple Stage in the slightly-smaller BMO Stadium, featuring largely up-and-coming acts.  

• The Pink Stage, with a house and techno repertoire, will be in-between these two venues located in Christmas Tree Park.

• The HARDER Stage, featuring multi-genre artists and a more eclectic mixture of styles, located nearby on the South Lawn.

• The HARD stage, which will likely attract the most attention, will be located in the Green Lot on the south side of BMO Stadium. This is where headliners like Skrillex and Kaskade will be performing, and will be the most exciting location for those who are new to the scene.

For those new to Insomniac events, there will be plenty of food, drinks, and other options interspersed between the stages, like a bar, a stage sponsored by Corona, water attractions to cool down, carnival-type games, and 40 taps of water available for free.

HARD Summer is shaping up to be one of the best festivals of the year, and with its incredible lineup and innovative new layout, you won’t want to miss it. You won’t want to miss this one, so buy your tickets quickly before they sell out!