This past Saturday, July 24th, Governors Island was taken over by music enthusiasts and as Die Antwoord, Rye Rye, Ninjasonik, Skream + Benga, Theophilus London, 12th Planet, and more performed for Hard Fest NYC, headlined by M.I.A. The day started off extremely promising, as trendy-dressed concert goers mingled and danced around freely to the sounds of DJ Destructo in steaming, 95 degree weather.
The first group on the "hard" stage, (Not to be confused with the larger "harder" stage built for the more prominent acts) was Ninjasonik. They warmed up the crowd and got everyone hype with performances of their tracks "Somebody's Gon' Get Pregnant", "Art School Girl", and more.
Next up, M.I.A. protege, Rye Rye took the stage and executed a high energy, Baltimore Club inspired performance that had everyone dancing and working out to the tracks. She was later joined on stage by hot, upcoming eye wear designers, Cocoa and Breezy, who turned the energy up even more, but shortly after, people seemed to grow restless as her set was drawn out a bit too long.
U.K, based dance/electronic duo, Skream + Benga were next on the "harder" stage, and even though they had the longest set by far, they had the whole venue up and partying with their pounding beats and distinct sound. They were followed by male/female duo, Sleigh Bells, who also rocked the house and did an amazing job.
At around midnight, eclectic, South African hip hop/electronic duo, Die Antwoord, hit the stage and stunned the unsuspecting audience senseless. Easily the crowd favorite of the night, they definitely left a big impression on those that had never seen them before. In fact, Katy Perry, who was in attendance with fiance, Russell Brand, said it best when she tweeted:
"saw Die Antwoord & MIA @ HARD NYC last night. FRESH! Gummo + Vanilla Ice + Mortal Combat = Die antwoord."
After Die Antwoord, fans waited in anticipation for M.I.A. to hit the stage, and those that thought the show would only get better were highly disappointed. After a long intro that had people annoyed and irritated, the lady of the night, M.I.A. finally appeared. She did a lackluster performance of few of her tracks from her new album, then proceeded stop the entire show to repeatedly ask for tequila several times before actually going into her song "Teqkilla" while sitting at a mock bar on stage. Shortly after, she threw bottles of actual tequila into the crowd while shouting "You have to catch them! I don't have a lot of money!" Technical difficulties, such as a broken mic, seemed to distract the performer, as she definitely seemed either drunk or confused during the whole set. Seeing this, the crowd did not seem amused or pleased, and some audience members even started to leave.
She then asked the crowd which song she should do next, because apparently she had no set list at all. After "Boyz" seemed to win out, the crowd woke back up long enough for her to then go into another favorite "World Town". Shortly after, rain started coming down which cut her set short. (This was probably for the best.) Angry about the weather circumstances, the headliner for the night definitely did not go out without a bang, as she then flipped off the audience and yelled "If its not the cops, its God!"
Needless to say Hard Fest NYC ended up being rather anticlimactic, and the headliner, M.I.A. left fans with a bad taste in their mouths overall.
Comments
I dont agree with this at all... MIA had everyone chanting her name before she got off stage! She did everything she could! Get your facts right... were you even there?
Yes, I was there, as most can tell by the long, descriptive article. Did you read it? Overall, her show was a disappointment and I explained why.
it's definitely not her fault that the sound was so terrible. she still performed like a badass and had great energy. i don't get why people are being so harsh on her, i know i had an amazing time, the people i was with had fun, and there were loyal fans chillin in the rain until the last dancer walked off the stage.
Aura, good for you, this is an excellent piece of journalism. If anything you were too kind."Some" audience members left? More like a mass exodus trying to desperately escape the worst live performance ever inflicted on human eardrums. Ive been a fan of MIA since 2004 and am familiar with all of her work. This show was selfish, ill-planned, indulgent, boring, and a flop. Die Antwoord emerged as the stars of the night, delivering on our investment of time, money, and support.
This is a crap article. First of all, you have the stages backwards. The smaller one was actually the "Harder" stage and the main stage was the "Hard" stage. I wasn't that close to the stage, but she was being very friendly with, even pandering to, the audience all night, so it's hard to believe she flipped the audience off. The sound mix was AWFUL and her mic broke - not her fault, but her sound guys should be fired. It was miserable. That said, and which you neglected to mention, is that they seemed to get it worked out just in time for Boyz and World Town, which the crowd was really, really into. Then a thunderstorm started coming in - again, not her fault. Just bad luck and I don't recall seeing tons of people leaving early. That said, it was a disappointing concert, but MIA herself deserves far less of the blame than what you're placing on her.
Let me chime in with the haters. M.I.A. was awful. I'm starting to think that the LA show was canceled just because the promoters saw a performance beforehand. M.I.A. knew the show was awful--why else would she blame the sound guy on twitter the next day? Problem was that everyone before her sounded excellent. This would be the first time I've heard of the headliner having the only bad sound crew. Consider the M.I.A. shark jumped.
This article is just backlash BS. I was at the show, and while I did miss the first two songs (w/ the sound problems), what I did see was a great live show and an all-around fun time. The backup dancers were entertaining and MIA was definitely having fun with the crowd. As far as the people who left, I say good riddance. Tekilla was a sonic delight, and the performances of Boys and World Town in the rain (with all sound problems gone, as another commenter mentioned) were FANTASTIC, with the crowd really into things. Lots of people were chanting her name at the end of the set before security forced us to leave, in the midst of a real downpour. Great show, and I give a *yawn* to wannabe "tastemakers" like yourself. I didn't hear anyone leaving complain about anything beyond the sound quality, with many good things said about MIA herself.
I'm sorry but a lot of you are kidding yourselves. I love MIA, and I was thoroughly disappointed. She did not live up to expectations, and there were so many people leaving in the beginning. I stayed until the rain came down in sheets and then we had to hurry off to the ferries. EVERYONE on the line for the ferries were complaining. She was awesome during Boyz/World Town, but really that opening "song" was sh|t awful.
I'm not sure if the rain was a blessing or a curse, on the one hand, I think she might have been able to turn it around, but on the other hand, she seemed out of it. All the people booing and leaving gave me secondhand embarrassment. Sad that this is what became of what I hoped would be an excellent concert filled with dancing and fun.
I was at the concert, everyone EXCEPT MIA was wonderful. I'm a huge fan and was incredibly disappointed, so much so that I (along with hundreds if not thousands of other people) left earlier.
I wanted this show to be good, so bad, but it was just plain awful. We left after four songs and couldn't believe when we saw HUNDREDS of people were just streaming out of the concert.
My wife can't even listen to the new album anymore, the experience left such a bad taste in her mouth. Friggin unreal how bad MIA was. She should have stopped the show and fixed the goddamn sound, and next time, worry more about singing than having ten dudes dressed in florescent burkas holding drills.
great wrap up... the sound man needs to get fired... Ninjasonik, Sleighbells, and Die Antwoord were the stars of the evening, excited to see what's next up for them... nonetheless I still love M.I.A. she's still dope to me and she was a champ continuing on performing in the rain... really enjoyed Boyz/World Town, Teqkilla took up too much of her set time and wasn't a fan of that performance ... overall I still had a good time :)
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