Had the pleasure of traveling over to the beautiful Governor’s Island with Michelle on Saturday to check out Hard NYC which included performances by MIA, Skream & Benga, Die Antwoord, Sleigh Bells, Rye Rye, and many more. The day started off bad, but got much better as it went on.

This was my first trip to Governor’s Island ever and was amazed by the views you see while on the ferry, snapped some pics of course. Make our way to the island get off and proceed to walk at least .5 miles to get to the show. At the gate we find another security checkpoint (after we were frisked getting onto the boat). They made you take off your shoes and patted you down. I almost didn’t get into the show because they apparently don’t allow normal people to have DSLR cameras on the grounds. Luckily some nice dude gave me a plastic bag to carry it in until I was in the festival and took it out. Once we got in though it was nice.

Next up was drinks. $4 for water and $7 for beer was what they were charging, which in my mind is ridiculous considering how hot it was out and dehydration was sure to kick in. Regardless we paif for the water and proceeded to chill out to the electro vibes of Destructo.

After Destructo we met up with Michelle’s friends Kim and Steph and proceed to get some beers. As we were sipping on that delicious cold beverage, Baltimore’s Rye Rye was heading on stage. What a cool act she had, dancers on stage, DJ up top dropping some electro-hop beats with island flavor . She is a really great performer and puts on a high energy show.

Next up was dubstep duo, Skream & Benga that led us into the night. Now, this was a show, they had the crowd working from beginning to end (90 minutes). Skream & Benga were behind the decks and had an Emcee who was hyping up the crowd. They dropped some heavy beats in the fashion they are known for and had the crowd screaming like monkeys (ooh ah ah ah) and calling the ladies ‘Barbie Ravers’. It was really great to see the crowd dig the dubstep vibes, a genre that is not that big over here. This set was probably the best I saw that night. After they finished up, we were a sweaty mess and needed some water to rehydrate, recoup and get ready for the next act, Sleigh Bells.

Get up closer to Sleigh Bells, and we are really digging their heavy dub/rock. Front-woman, Alexis puts on and puts on a great show while Derek shreds the guitar playing through most of their songs from the debut album, Treats. Pretty standard show on their part. After SB we decided to take a break and check out another dubstep DJ, 12 planet. He also threw down some heavy beats that got the kids sweaty, but this time we opted to chill out on the outskirts of the stage and enjoy the show.

By the time 12th planet was done, we were beat from soaking in the rays all day, and the alcohol. Didn’t particularly care to see MIA as I saw her at Creators Project and was not that impressed (also read that her set sucked and it down poured, good call on our part). We decided it was time to leave and that we did, the funny thing was that there were people still entering the festival just to see MIA. Imagine that, spending $55 to see one act on a major bill.

Make our way back to the ferry, hop back to Manhattan where we find a girl screaming she was raped by the concert promoters (she was definitely tweaked out). Listening to her as we walk away from the ferry we finally find a taxi to head to Bk where we get some Crown Fried Chicken and a well-needed shower. Over all hard NYC was dope.

enjoY!

Chromeo – Night by Night (Skream Remix)

Thoughts?