WERS 88.9 fm - performance wrap-up: HARD fest ft. M.I.A., Sleigh Bells & more

By Chris Carr
7.28.10

M.I.A. & Friends Make Some Noise

Last Saturday, one of the most anticipated events of the summer music scene hit New York. The notorious HARD fest arrived in NYC as the East Coast's reply to a history of raves in LA by the same organizers. This year the event touted the official return of M.I.A. to the performance scene, and was co-organized with her label, N.E.E.T. Recordings. Despite enduring some resentment from many in the electronic music scene since the release of her latest album, Maya, (especially after cutting remarks to the press and a rift between her and former producer and collaborator, Diplo), thousands showed up to pay fealty to their Queen-provocateur.

With a full day of performances, many of the supporting acts are not to be overlooked as providing some of the highlights of the day. Perhaps the most buzzed about band of the moment—Brooklyn native Sleigh Bells—provided a breakout performance that staked a worthy claim. After several hours of predictable dubsteb, their heavy-rock-meets-electronic-noise pop provided an appreciated breath of fresh air, proving that fans could go hard to something new, as much as they could to the usual.

On the tail of Sleigh Bells' performance, South-African ghetto-tech trio, Die Antwoord, was the unofficial hype band for M.I.A.'s apex arrival. As the crowd—which had grown in numbers—waited anxiously, Die Antwoord's outlandish set served as the perfect culmination of  the beats and foolery that the entire event revolved around. But by the time M.I.A. took the stage at midnight, the atmosphere was almost more foolery than everyone could handle.

The best moments of her set came when she went old-school, treating fans to new renditions of some of her greatest musical moments, like songs "XR2," "Uraqt," and a medley of tunes from her debut album, Arular. During these, the vibe felt real. For a second, it seemed as if a moment was being created, rather than desperately held on to. This was a quickly fading gem in an otherwise raucous performance. As for the bulk of her set, featuring music from the new album, the intentionally distorted production of the recordings, translated poorly in a live set. Somehow, Sleigh Bells was able to pull off the essential distortion with much more poignant clarity. (Ironic, considering it was Sleigh Bells unique sound that inspired M.I.A's recent acoustic divergence in the first place, leading her to her to sign the band, and hire frontman, Derek Miller as one of the main producers on her album).

However, the mayhem seemed to go unnoticed by the crowd. Surely, it was on everyone's mind - but for the most part, the rave continued despite seemingly annoying technical glitches. "I don't have a set list..." was probably her most repeated phrase of the night. Spitting on the photographers at her feet, and commenting on the fact that one had sneakily grabbed a crotch-shot from his iPhone, were prime examples of M.I.A. pandering to her audience, and the pedestal of debauchery they had placed her on. Deciding to throw her malfunctioning mic down half way through the performance so she could better dance across the stage, one almost wondered if the nonsensical noise and seemingly unrehearsed commotion that was coming from the stage was 100% intentional.

Having made her position against pop and against the commercial music world clear, if M.I.A. set out to create a deconstructive commentary on the "pop" music world while provoking the audience with $60 ticket charges, then there was no better way to do so than Saturday night's revelry. After all, HARD has been producing parties like this for years to an underground group of avid electronic music enthusiasts, and finally, people had taken notice. It was the added value of M.I.A.'s headlining appearance that was able to give this scene a public arena. Each of the performers seemed aware of that, and in effect, gave the crowd exactly what they didn't want, exactly what made them uncomfortable, exactly what annoyed them...in order to rally them.

It was a massive downpour that caused the party to stop right after "Born Free." As the crowds ran through the rain—underneath raindrops that seemed like flying diamonds in the night sky, as they were shot by the stage's massive lasers—there was an undeniable recognition that we had just endured a truly summery, truly festive, truly "hard" musical treat.

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