Hard Summer books Skrillex, Miike Snow, Boys Noize, James Murphy

L.A.'s own Skrillex and Sweden's electro-poppers Miike Snow are among the many acts that will anchor the 2012 edition of the dance-focused Hard Summer, returning for the third year to the Los Angeles State Historic Park downtown. Reflecting the growth of electronic music and the strength of the festival market, Hard Summer will grow to two consecutive days this year, with opening night slated for Aug. 3.

Other artists set to appear at Hard Summer include Bloc Party, Boys Noize, Bloody Beetroots, Nero, James Murphy, Squarepusher and Bootsy Collins & the Funk Unity Band (full lineup below). Two-day passes are available and start at $119, not including surcharges. Last year's single-day Hard Summer was a sellout with 30,000 tickets sold.

Festival founder Gary Richards said ticket sales in 2012 are between five and 10 times greater than they were at this point last year. Capacity grew last year from about 25,000 to 30,000, and Richards did not yet have final word from the city on whether or not he could expect a similar growth this summer.

Richards said expanding to two days was a no-brainer. "It’s pretty logical to go from one day to two days," he said. "You have to build so much infrastructure –- the staging, the fencing and the power. If you put it all in there for one day, you may as well use it for another day."

It hasn't always been this easy for Richards and Hard Summer. The company is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, but just two years ago the event was caught up in the maelstrom that descended on electronic events in Los Angeles after things went haywire at 2010's Electric Daisy Carnival. Richards had hoped to stage two separate summer events at the park in 2010, but was forced to downsize to one. 

"It’s been a hot-button issue in the city for a long time," Richards acknowledged. "But I think with our operation, everyone likes working with us and we’ve come through on our end to make it as safe as can be."

The mainstream acceptance of electronic music seems to be accelerating at a rather rapid pace, thanks, in part, to Skrillex, who earned a Grammy nomination for best new artist. The recently concluded Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festivalin Indio has placed dance on equal footing with rock since the event's inception, and Swedish House Mafia was one of the mainstage headliners this year. Sunday, Coachella vet Kaskade announced he would be performing a July 27 date at Staples Center.

Despite the recent goodwill toward the electronic community, Richards isn't ready to relax. "Whenever we’re doing an event, we have to bring our A-game and everyone has to be prepared for anything that can happen," he said. "We can’t let down our guard. We don’t leave any stones unturned to try to keep this safe."  

Coachella 2012: Dr. Dre says Tupac 'hologram' a one-off

Last weekend as the first of two identical weekends of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival drew to a close, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg unveiled a shocking surprise when the pair reincarnated slain West Coast superstar Tupac Shakur onstage in a hologram-like image that rapped and danced along with the two very alive heavyweights.

On Sunday night, people waited anxiously for the moment to happen, again. And for good reason. Following virtual Shakur's Coachella debut, he (or it) has become an Internet meme.

A Twitter feed created for the creation had garnered more than 34,000 followers looking for snarky, and often distasteful, quips from a person posing as a "hologram" posing as the dead rapper; the term “Tupac hologram” pulled up more than 67.8 million hits on a Google search; and crafty people with a wicked sense of humor and nimble Photoshop skills have placed “Halo-Pac” in a number of pop culture references he didn’t live to see, including “Harry Potter” and “Avatar.” Even a duet with Lana Del Rey has been proposed.

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Coachella 2012: Radiohead's Yorke DJs 'til dawn at the Parker Hotel

What is one to do after playing your heart out for tens of thousands of people at one of America’s biggest music festivals? If you’re Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, you don’t grab well-deserved shuteye. Early Sunday morning, York unleashed one of his epic DJ sets for an intimate crowd of friends and in-the-know types at the uber-trendy Parker Hotel in Palm Springs, taking the decks a little after 4 a.m. and keeping the crowd shaking ‘til dawn.

When word about artist-thrown after-parties starts to spread around the desert during Coachella, it can lead to chaos and confusion wherever the gathering ends up. But the Radiohead party managed to stay very much under the radar, and since it didn’t start until late (1 a.m.), only diehards (on a short list) ultimately made it in.

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The funky, somewhat subversive décor inside the Parker (courtesy of designer Jonathan Adler) was the perfect setting for a soiree thrown by the revered rockers. Held on the back patio of the hotel, with an adjacent dance room, the affair was a chill yet fabulous mix of music and imbibing.

DJ Ana Calderon started the evening with her signature mix of rock, soul and retro nuggets, with Yorke continuing the genre-blend as the night wore on and moving in a decidedly funkier direction, meshing electronic grooves, hip-hop (Snoop Dogg!), Motown (Diana Ross) and James Brown, during which he left the decks and let loose on the floor with killer moves of his own.

Yorke also spun earlier at the Ace Hotel with Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer (whom he notoriously joined at the club Low End Theory in L.A. last year) for a Brainfeeder event, video of which can be found all over the Web. But his own party mix and set, far more magical, was enjoyed by a rapt few, all of whom were more interested in absorbing the vibe and his brilliant selections in the moment, rather than capturing it for a computer, OK? 

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— Lina Lecaro

Photo: Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke DJs the band's Coachella afterparty in the wee hours of the morning at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs early Sunday. Credit: Lina Lecaro.

Coachella 2012: Hotshot the Robot is still my No. 1 man

Two years ago I blogged about my unlikely love affair with Hotshot the Robot, who roams the grounds of Coachella every year hitting on the ladies.

This year was no different, but I was. I had moved on. It was hard, but Hotshot was a distant memory.

Still, as he approached me on his three wheels in the VIP beer garden Saturday night -- wearing nothing but a sexy silver helmet over his sensitive digital screen of a face, I steadied myself, getting ready for the onslaught of pickup lines he was sure to lob at me.

"You're twice as beautiful now as you were in 2010," he said, a cigarette stuck in his metallic jaw, Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" playing low and smooth from somewhere inside his heartless chest.

I swallowed hard. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Were you here last weekend?" I asked, looking shyly up at him.

"Yes, it was like 40 degrees cooler," he said, puffing hard on his smoke. "But I'm a robot so it doesn't really matter."

Yes, that's right, I remembered. He was a robot and he'd never be mine.

"This is my favorite Coachella because it's twice as long," he continued, raising his cold arms to hug me. "And American Spirits are my favorite cigarettes because they last twice as long."

I turned away, crushed. Twice as hurt.

"Coachella is for lovers!" he shouted after me, his Lionel Richie playing twice as loud.

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Hotshot the Robot, one of the many art pieces at Coachella, interacts with music fans at the 2010 Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival, on the Empire Polo Club grounds in Indio, Calif. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times

Coachella 2012: In pursuit of Oberhofer

At Coachella, sometimes the bands you remember best are the bands you missed. With more than 100 musicians playing during a three-day period, it's easy to find yourself running toward a stage just as a particular artist -- whom you really, really love and swore you wouldn't miss -- is saying  goodnight.

Which is exactly what happened  Sunday as my friend Emily and I found ourselves stuck in traffic in our tiny red rental Fiat, trying to catch the indie band Oberhofer's 1 p.m. set.

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It's not that we didn't get up early enough. We did. It's just that the act of getting ready for Coachella on a super-hot day is a feat in  itself. There is the long shower, the decision to be made about how many -- or how few -- clothes to wear, and whether a swimsuit underneath is appropriate. There is the whining about how hard it is to eat breakfast when it's so hot, and the debate about what kind of traffic you might hit on your way there.

And then you blow it.

For us, missing Oberhofer was a tough pill to swallow. We had  been listening to its CD, "Time Capsules II," on repeat since we drove to the desert Friday. The band's name is the surname of lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Brad Oberhofer, who has barely cracked drinking age, if at all. But his inexperience only makes his tragedy-tinged love ballads all the more poignant.

Your heart breaks best -- and most -- when you're still very young, and if you happen to be Oberhofer, you know how to write about the experience in a way that makes grown women cry.

Which is exactly what we did when we realized we would miss his early set. We'll catch you next time, Oberhofer. We'll never be uber, over, Oberhofer.

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Musician Brad Oberhofer of Oberhofer performs during Day 3 of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on April 15, 2012 in Indio, Calif. Credit: Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Coachella

Coachella 2012: Saturday's party mix of mags, rags and swag

If the high heat and been-there, done-that factor diminished the energy on the polo field during the second weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, it didn’t slow down the party scene. Weekend 2 brought a brand new assortment of branded bashes to the desert, some from music and pop culture publications such as Rolling Stone, Spin and Vice magazines.

But does a music magazine automatically throw a better party than, say, a clothing company or automotive corporation? Not necessarily. Truth is, party-hopping during Coachella weekend can be extremely unpredictable, and when having to choose between two events at the same time, the only way to know for sure is to text a friend there and find out.

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Touted as an eclectic, somewhat artsy happening, Rolling Stone’s shindig was curated by creative collective FAM NYC but was rather staid and casual, at least during the day, with DJ sets and live music from up-and-comers. (We texted our pals on the fence to try the Jansport bash instead.) The party happened both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and Saturday’s saw a mix of sunbathers and music lovers noshing on burgers and playing games in the water and out, as music artists arrived to be gifted with products (Volkswagon merch and Havianas flip-flops) and interviewed in the “Rock Room,” including Ke$ha (who’s been making all the party rounds) in a giant floppy hat and poncho -- a requisite party look this weekend and last.

After dark, the RS parties reportedly turned more lively and clubby with Milk and NYC nightclub impresario Nur Khan joining forces for a hot spot called Electric Milk.

Fashion seemed to be on everyone’s mind at the Black Banditz/Vice “Bromance” bash near the festival grounds later that night. With well-prepared attendees obviously hoping to outdo each other, the party was a mass of wild, nonsensical  get-ups including weird disco metallics, loud printed bathing suits and high heels, face paint, woolly masks and desert nomad freak chic that was almost rave-like. The lasers and throbbing electro and hip-hop in the dance room added to the euphoria, as did the exhaustion and intoxication that spilled in from the polo grounds and the day’s festival offerings.

“Wow, this is like Echo Park in the desert,” one bemused lass in a flowered headband was overheard saying while angling for a drink at the overcrowded bar. “So many hipsters here!”

To which her squinty-eyed friend replied, laughing: “No, this isn’t real. It’s all just a hologram!”

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-- Lina Lecaro

Photo: Hipsters swirl around a tree strung with lights, part of the rave-like atmosphere at the Black Banditz / Vice "Bromance" party near the Coachella festival grounds on Saturday night during Weekend 2 of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Credit: Lina Lecaro

Coachella 2012: A$AP Rocky, Master P pay tribute to Trayvon Martin

Rock and pop stars of all stripes occasionally have found reasons to go political, with mixed results. And that track record couldn’t be more spotty for rappers -- just ask Kanye West, Wyclef Jean or Lupe Fiasco. 

Late Saturday night during A$AP Rocky’s set in the Gobi tent, the buzzy Harlem rapper decided to get a little serious and touch on what he called “something real important.”

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The change in tone was unexpected, as his A$AP Mob posse had just made room for another huge entourage as surprise guest veteran New Orleans rapper Master P and his No Limit family, including son Romeo, filled the stage to turn up P’s platinum-selling 1998 anthem, “Make Em Say Uhh!”

Coachella 2012: Three-digit temps bring thinner crowds

Sunday afternoon as the temperature lingered at a searing 104 degrees, Santigold pulled off a near impossible feat on the Coachella mainstage: She played to a packed crowd. 

Santigold's magnetic charm and her brand of electro-dipped hip-hop have found her a loyal fanbase, especially as she preps her comeback album. But the intense heat that has marred Weekend 2 of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival has been difficult to ignore, especially as afternoon acts like Santigold perform on the mainstage and the Outdoor stage where the sun is at its brightest. 

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Out in the crowd, one patron had found shade under a makeshift shield that he fashioned after flattening one of the white cardboard trash receptacles. Nearby, a group of girls grooved under brightly colored geisha umbrellas. 

Coachella 2012: That spicy, spicy, sun

As the blazing sun rose Saturday, the trickle of tweets and pics coming out of Coachella turned into a    full-fledged torrent, just like those produced by the water cannons that were apparently blasting people in the face all day long. But which is a better pick-me-up: St. Vincent soaking you from the stage or a set from the Vaccines that was straight out of "The Walking Dead"? Check out the Storify post below the fold for more Coachella questions, answers, and some sage advice about the importance of sunblock. 

Coachella 2012: One booth takes plastic (bottles) as currency

A group of hipsters are picking up every empty water bottle in their path near a food court. Whenever someone goes to throw one into the recycling bin, someone in the crew reaches their hand out and takes it, placing it in an already overflowing backpack. 

This continues until there’s no more space and they make the short trek to the TRASHed Recycling Center and join the line of dozens of other festival-goers waiting to unload their parcels of crumpled up bottles.

Some are getting fresh water in return; others are opting for something a bit more tangible -– OK, a bit more awesome than water.  

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TRASHed is the only booth on site that doesn’t take cash or credit cards for its merchandise. Instead, the only currency accepted here is bottles and cans.