HARD Day of the Dead said goodbye in 2015, but it’s back this year with a new vigor and an enticing, but admittedly strange, lineup. Long-time fans of HARD are sure to go nuts over the headliners, but will likely be scratching their heads at the rest.
This year’s festival will feature two stages during the one-day event. On the main stage will be some massive headliners: Justice (Live), Die Antwoord, Knife Party, and Cashmere Cat. Joining them will be Jack Beats, Fuego, DNMO, and Thee Mike B.
Justice revealed today that Day Of the Dead will be the last live show they plan to play with their current Woman Worldwide production; fitting, considering they played the first Day of The Dead exactly six years prior. 
The rest of the lineup leans more heavily toward techno than house, a new direction for HARD if there ever was one. Lee Foss b2b Felix da Housecat, Shiba San, Rodriguez Jr. (Live), J. Phlip, OMNOM, Rybo b2b Lukelski, Dateless, Playero, and Masha will round out Stage 2 of the festival.
The lineup gets stranger when you think about how all of the headliners have already been around the Los Angeles area within the last year. Knife Party just played Academy in July, Cashmere Cat played Air+Style in March, Justice played HARD Summer and Coachella in 2017, and you can regularly catch Shiba San or Jack Beats at any number of events in the LA area.
While it’s exciting to see all these headliners on the lineup, it’s definitely different than the entirely on-brand lineup of HARD Summer earlier this year. Perhaps they’re trying to rebrand their Halloween festival to compete against Escape: Psycho Circus, which is also run by Insomniac Events. But it could prove difficult to entice day-one HARD fans to drop the coin on this one.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow, September 27 at 12PM.
FULL 2018 LINEUP
[column size=one_half position=first ]Live Stage
Justice (Live)
Die Antwoord
Knife Party
Cashmere Cat
Jack Beats
Fuego
DNMO
Thee Mike B[/column]
[column size=one_half position=last ]Stage 2
Lee Foss b2b Felix da Housecat
Shiba San
Rodriguez Jr. (Live)
J. Phlip
OMNOM
Rybo b2b Lukelski
Dateless
Playero
Masha[/column]
Photo via aLIVE Coverage for Life Is Beautiful
