At this year’s Hard Haunted Mansion hedonism was in full effect . The sold out Halloween night concert drew more than ten thousand new ravers (many of whom were dressed like old ravers, or “candy ravers” as the nomenclature would have it) to downtown Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hall. This was arguably the city’s biggest dance music event of the year, with the tight-pantsed lineup including Justice (from Paris), Soulwax (from Belgium) and Simian Mobile Disco (from the UK). And a grip of high school kids (from Orange County). More words and pictures after the jump.
The four simultaneous stages, both indoor and out, also saw sets from Sebastian, Crystal Castles and Deadmau5. Highlights included Soulwax’s ear-melting live performance and Boyz Noise's flawless burner of a DJ set. There was more neon than Bladerunner and the nervy, tweaked electro drums hit from every speaker.
For a scene where almost every artist plays, mixes and remixes each other, Halloween gave them an excuse to take things one step further. DJ AM showed up wearing a near exact replica of Thomas Bangalter's Daft Punk get-up, and the real Deadmau5—wearing a black mouse head and glowing red eyes—commanded the turntables shortly after his blue-headed imposter got on them.
Fan costumes weren’t quite as inventive: “gangster” proved to be a big favorite for the fellas, while the ladies seemed to prefer the ever-timeless “sexy cat.” Hands down, costume of the night goes to 3-D translation of Shepard Fairey’s HOPE poster; shouts to LA producer James Rim for keeping it reeeaaaal meta.