Hard NYC roundup, random Delorean video

Heyooo! We kicked off last weekend with a last minute decision to attend Saturday's HARD NYC show at Governor's Island, featuring a crazy lineup that included everyone's favorite political rabble-rouser MIA, local noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells, and apartheid Afrikaners Die Antwoord. The heat bearing down on us like a malapropos heat lamp in July, we toughed it out to Pier 11 for the concert ferry were we encountered the first of two slam-bang security checks. Apparently backpacks are not allowed from this check point, as we watched one cat get turned away and leave with an upside down smile on his face. So rough. 

After walking what seemed like miles from the ferry landing to the concert area, we were met with a diesel LaGuardia airport, Homeland Security-style pat-down line, where shoes were removed and junk was grabbed. Basically, we were thoroughly violated before finally allowed to enter the expansive fair grounds like setting of the venue. While DJ Destruction laid down some heavy ass beats to open the show, we noticed that the brutal humidity was not the only thing permeating the air that day, as thick plumes of marijuana smoke rose among the spliffs and blunts which dotted the grounds like sprinkles on ice cream. Apparently the cadre of weed and E dealers roaming the crowd proved to be too crafty for the hard-grilling security staff who missed about a hundred people just blatantly selling drugs on some *almost* Camp Bisco shit. 

While the main draws of HARD NYC were, in my opinion, Sleigh Bells and MIA,  Rye Rye, Scream + Benga, and Die Antwoort were all on something fierce that day and played sets that drew more energy than Sleigh Bells and MIA combined. In particular, MIA played a somewhat disappointing set and didn't get too much love from the crowd. As the NY Times said in their review of the show, "M.I.A.’s vocals were often so buried in echo, and the bass so bloated, that her lyrics just became more of the din, and the songs that she segued together like a disc-jockey set were barely distinguishable. Instead of a barrage, it was a morass." Which does not bode well for her, given the recent controversy over an unfavorable NYT Magazine profile of her and subsequent poor reviews of her last album, MAYA. In the end, rain proved to be the best remedy, as it cooled off a long day of dancing with a downpour that brought a welcome relief from the mugginess. 

In the absence of any video/photos from HARD NYC, we'll just put this Delorean video we shot mad long ago from Mercury Lounge. It's not at all like what played at HARD, but it's danceable...we guess.