Latino DJs and ravers took over the Hard Summer festival in Inglewood

Kali Uchis closed her Saturday night set at Hard Summer by asking where her Latinos were, and got a roar back. The Colombian American singer headlined the main stage at Hollywood Park in Inglewood on 1 and 2 August 2026, and the question landed on a crowd that had spent two days answering it in jerseys and flags.

Mexican greens and reds and Salvadoran blue moved across the grounds all weekend, alongside pinatas and tall totems pasted with images of Dr Simi and Goku, held up so friends could find each other in the crush. "Electronic music is for the beach and for Latinos," said the Dominican dembow artist Tokischa, who played the festival. "We love to dance, to feel sexy."

That was not always the shape of this event. Hard Summer launched in downtown Los Angeles in 2007 with no Latin acts on top billing, a summit for English-language electronic and hip-hop acts including Justice, Peaches and 2 Live Crew. Last year's edition put the Colombian reggaeton artist Feid at the top, with Deorro, Funk Tribu and Sara Landry alongside him.

Bolo, the Mexican American DJ from Los Angeles who plays as Edgar Avalos, sees the change from inside it. A few years ago there was not much Latino representation on the big festival lineups, he said, and he wants to build an environment where Latino ravers feel welcome. He founded the label Vibraza for Latino artists after watching Deorro break through on major bills.

Six Sex, the Argentine performer Francisca Cuello, played her new album Ultra as her pouting femme-bot persona and said she was shocked how many people sang it back to her, given it had only arrived that summer. Being far from her own country and connecting with people in the United States, she said, was an honour.

Elsewhere on the grounds, DJ Spinorita mixed house, Latin dance and funk from atop the Beatbox Art Car, a roughly 20-foot stage built to look like a rainbow boombox, while ravers mouthed El Sonidito back at her. The Mexican duo R0z brought out Peso Pluma, and Hugo Lara shouted Viva Mexico into the crowd.

The numbers behind it are in Luminate's 2026 midyear report: dance and electronic was the largest US growth genre of the year, nearly one in ten US streams was in Spanish, and casual Latin listenership peaked at 54 percent in the first quarter. Other Los Angeles bills sit in the festival tracker, including BelicoFest at BMO Stadium, beside our electronic coverage.