Suwannee Hulaween 2019: Totally, Hella 90's Dude
Attendees at Suwannee Hulaween 2019 hanging out at the Amphitheater Stage - Photo by Kade Martin
Suwannee Hulaween just concluded its sixth year over the weekend of October 24-October 27 at Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida. Suwannee Hulaween is an annual Halloween themed music and arts festival hosted by the progressive bluegrass band The String Cheese Incident. The festival is most famous for the six to seven sets by the String Cheese Incident throughout the weekend and the one themed set on Saturday. The official Suwannee Hulaween theme for 2019 was 1990’s and attendees were elated to break out their best 90’s cartoon costumes for the theme set. This picturesque festival is nestled into the trees blanketed by Spanish Moss that sprawl out through the infamous Spirit of Suwannee Music Park. Spirit of Suwannee Music Park is a year round campgrounds that has hosted some of the most memorable festivals in the music scene to date such as Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival, Aura Music Festival, Purple Hatters Ball, and The Wanee Festival. The mixture of the beautiful scenery, the Amphitheater Stage with the top tier musical acts that grace the park, and the wildly beautiful camaraderie of the attendees always brings this park to life in a way that is almost indescribable. We will do our absolute best to put the magical weekend at Suwannee Hulaween 2019 into words, but we promise you our words pale in comparison to the beauty of this festival live and in person.
Magic City Hippies Performing on the Patch Stage at Suwannee Hulaween 2019 - Photo by Kade Martin
For this year’s festival, curators at Suwannee Hulaween officially declared the festival to be a four day event. In past years, Thursday has been an optional pre-party addition to the official three day pass. This new layout to the festival along with the option to add additional days of camping through Spirit of Suwannee Music Park had attendees coming from far and wide as early as Monday night to set up camp and lay claim to their squad’s land. Another new addition within recent years has been the Hula For a Cause show on Wednesday night prior to the festival. Attendees who arrive early have the opportunity to donate $20 at the door of the Suwannee Music Hall to kick off the week one night early. As some attendees were getting down at the Music Hall, others were arriving and kicking off the party at their campsites with friends knowing that tomorrow officially marked the beginning of this year’s totally 90’s Suwannee Hulaween.
As the sun crept over the horizon and rose over Spirit of Suwannee Music Park on Thursday morning, the shenanigans were officially beginning. Though the Meadow stage was still under construction and being prepared for the headlining events over the weekend, attendees had the opportunity to wander around Spirit Lake and catch sets on the four stages that were open for business. Thursday officially kicked off at 2:15PM on the Patch Stage with Magic City Hippies, an indie funk band from Miami, Florida. This is the first time in many years that the weather for Hulaween has been muggy and hot, but this didn’t stop the tried and true Hulaween veterans from gettin’ down and gettin’ funky at the Patch stage to ring in this year’s festivities. For the Hulaweenies that like to bounce around all day and see as much as possible, about half way through Magic City Hippies came time to boogie towards Spirit Lake for Holly Woods on the Spirit Lake Stage and The Good Wood Band on the Campground Stage. Holly Woods had an epic deep dubstep vibe, but then broke out a violin during our set to show Hulaween she’s not just a DJ she is an all around musician. The rest of the day was like a game of human ping pong between the four stages. In true Hulaween fashion, EOTO and Kyle Hollingsworth Band made appearances on the Patch and Amphitheater Stages. After all, it’s the only day Cheese doesn’t play and it allows Kyle, Michael, and Jason the opportunity to jam with their other bands. EOTO’s set teleported us into another dimension with their funky live beat creations and Kyle Hollingsworth’s set make our feet hurt from dancing. After EOTO on the Amphitheater Stage, it was a full send from Umphrey’s McGee on the Patch Stage, to Greensky Bluegrass on the Amphitheater, and back to the Patch to close out the night with a little STS9. In between all this back and forth mayhem, if attendees happened to boogie past the Spirit Lake Stage they would catch some of the most talented artists in the EDM genre such as Marvel Years, Whipped Cream, and Peekaboo. When we said human ping pong earlier - we meant it. In our opinion, taking the long way to the Patch stage from the Amphitheater by cutting through Spirit Lake is the only way to go because you get to catch sets on the Spirit Lake stage on the way and you may also stumble upon fire breathers, silk performances, or other cirque acts wandering the woods. As attendees closed out the night with experimental, Livetronica Tribe vibes on the Patch Stage and the wonky dubstep vibes from Snails on the Spirit Lake Stage, the Hulaween spirit had taken hold of everyone in attendance. It was time to go back to camp and relax with friends around a fire and rest up for the rest of the weekend’s festivities. Star gazing at Spirit of Suwannee Music Park while surrounded by friends after a day that has been jam packed with out of this world music and artistry has tendency to breathe energy back into your body which could lead to wandering Spirit Lake until sunrise. Make no mistake,we aren’t warning against this - we are actually suggesting this. You have not truly attended Hulaween unless you have wandered Spirit Lake until sunrise.
As Friday morning began to take hold, campers rose out of their tents and began to take on the new day. The bustling around the park came early as attendees head for showers, breathing workshops, yoga sessions by Spirit Lake, or just to grab some breakfast at a friend’s campsite across the campgrounds. Now that the entire venue had officially opened, attendees has access to what basically becomes a small town over the course of three days. Throughout the entire venue, curators carefully orchestrate pods of craft food & beverage vendors, spiritual & lifestyle workshops, handcrafted merchandise & art vendors, and cirque acts wandering about carefully searching for the next person to high five. Kyle Hollingsworth also hosts his annual Kyle’s Craft Beer Corner in between the Meadow and Amphitheater Stages which allows attendees to sample over thirty craft brews and ciders with occasional appearances and special performance by Kyle throughout the weekend. Not to mention the beautiful Suwannee River that is within walking distance from the campgrounds that features a small beach-like area where you can hang out with your friends and escape the heat if needed. Spirit of Suwannee Music Park is arguably one of the most well managed & maintained parks as well as one of the most beautiful and picturesque for hosting festivals. The managed team paired with the curators at Suwannee Hulaween prove every year that they are a force to be reckoned with in the world of music festival curation and management.
Even though the workshops were in full swing and there are activities taking place every hour in every corner of the woods, this doesn’t mean that the music is slowing down by any means. Friday’s schedule of musical acts came in even more jam packed that Thursdays! On Friday, The Meadow Stage’s construction had completed which meant all five of the festival’s stages were now open and ready to party. Friday’s first official set of the day kicked off at 2:30PM sharp on the Campground Stage with Bears & Lions. Shortly after, Kaleigh Baker’s Someday Honey - an acoustic Americana band - brought the Amphitheater Stage to life for the day. And like a domino effect, The Motet then kicked off the day on the Meadow Stage at 3:30PM and then all five stages were officially alive and kickin’ for the weekend. With the addition of the final stage of Friday, this meant attendees needed to be on their A game if they were wanting to bounce around and see as much music as possible. From kicking off the day with the Motet in the Meadow, most attendees then made their way over to the Amphitheater Stage to get funky with Andy Frasco & The U.N. while some used the opportunity to grab some food and just relax in the Meadow while waiting on Lettuce. Right after getting down and dancing their tails off to the funky stylings of Lettuce, attendees seemed to split between wanting more funk and wanting some face-melting guitar solos. This divide could be seen by a hoard of attendees making their way towards the Amphitheater Stage for some electronica rock n’ roll by Tom Morello and another herd of attendees making their way to the Patch Stage for funky jams by Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. Tom Morello’s set went off in the most unexpected ways possible. Morello kicked off his set by popping up out of the crowd to shred his guitar right over the heads of everyone in attendance. After shredding his guitar in the audience for the first song he ran back up to the Amphitheater stage to blow everyone’s minds on the ways he can manipulate a guitar to sound like anything he wants. His set perfectly mixes rock n’ roll with EDM vibes and honestly his set had more people jumping around and dancing than some purely dubstep or EDM artists. The energy during Tom Morello’s set would have made you think that he was the headliner for the evening, but the festivities had only just begun.
As soon as Morello concluded his set, even if their feet were hurting from dancing attendees made their way to the Meadow for the first official String Cheese Incident set of the weekend. After Cheese, the hulaweenies went back over to the Amphitheater for the future,world bass vibes from CloZee. Attendees were stoked to see CloZee return to Hulaween and put down a set on a larger stage since last time her fans packed out Spirit Lake to the gills. After CloZee, the night began winding down on the main stage as Cheese played their final set for the night at 9:45 and Bassnectar followed up at the headliner at 12:15. Though many attendees have mixed feelings regarding Bassnectar returning to Suwannee Hulaween, his set was packed out with people who were elated to be dancing and having a wonderful time to his music. For those who aren’t down with his vibes, Marc Ribillet performed on the Spirit Lake Stage at the same time. Not only did Marc handle being booked at the same time at Bassnectar like a champ, he handled adversity during his set with absolute grace. During Marc’s set unfortunate circumstances began to occur as an attendee began experiencing a medical emergency and Marc shut down his set until the fella got help. We have never seen an artist stop their completely stop their set for an attendees medical emergency and we just want to give major kudos to Marc for caring about everyone at his performance so deeply. Also, major kudos to everyone in attendance who made it possible for medical personnel to get in the crowd and out quickly with the guy who needed medical attention. After the attendee had the help they needed, Marc - also known as Loop Daddy - dropped the beat and kicked his set into high gear all the way until the end. As his set concluded, attendees dispersed throughout the venue wandering around Spirit Lake and finding out where the night would take them. Friday night at Spirit Lake is an otherworldly experience that is filled with special appearances on the Incendia Stage, fire spinners, holograms, and laser shows. Not only do the Spirit Lake art installations come to life at night but for other artists wandering the grounds the excitement and creativity surrounding you can spark your imagination to run wild until the sun rise.
As Saturday dawned, the attendees did a little stretch with a little yawn and kept the vibes high. The first set of the day was Shevonne on the Patch Stage at 2:15PM sharp. Shortly after that, MZG, Future Vintage, and Steel Pulse would get the party started throughout the rest of the venue. Since Saturday marks the official theme day for Suwannee Hulaween, attendees could be seen far and wide in their best 90’s outfits. From Ms. Frizzle to Hey Arnold, and even a few neon track suits throw in the mix, the Hulaween 2019 attendees showed up and showed out for the most anticipated theme night the festival has had to date. Right after Steel Pulse, a reggae band from England, performed on the Meadow Stage, attendees geared up for the Cheesiest day of the weekend. Attendees at Suwannee Hulaween have the opportunity to just lounge in the Meadow and enjoy a little over three and a half hours of The String Cheese Incident with short breaks in between each set. The day builds up to the final String Cheese set of the day at 9:45PM - the Official Theme Set of the year. This year’s 90’s themed set went absolutely bonkers. Cheese came out dressed as The Men in Black and went full force into a cover of “Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They followed up this banger with “Santeria” by Sublime, “Smells like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, and “Loser” by Beck. To say that they gave this set all they’ve got is an understatement. Other hits they touched on during the set include Blackstreet’s “No Diggity”, Radiohead’s “Creep”, and “Even Flow” by Pearl Jam. After this explosive set, Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals closed out the night on the Meadow stage. Anderson' .Paak came out in a Michael Jackson-esque costume and his backing band came out dressed as KISS to get into the theme of the day. Anderson .Paak’s performance was a perfect follow up to the Cheese theme set since he came out with over the top energy and put on a wicked set. Attendees were elated to see him return to Suwannee Hulaween as a headliner this year. Saturday’s sets on the Meadow Stage went off with a bang and let attendees full of explosive energy to wander around Spirit Lake and soak in the last full all night extravaganza of interactive art and cirque performances.
As day broke on Sunday, a melancholy feeling swept across the park as the last day vibes began to set in quickly. Sunday’s lineup of activities is short and sweet which allows attendees the opportunity to sit back and relax while they soak in the beauty of the park for one last day. The kicked off with Billy Strings at 1:30PM on the Meadow Stage and then Billy decided to go full send on the last day straight into a Billy Strings Incident at 3:45PM. Fans were elated to see Billy Strings join in with The String Cheese Incident for their final set of the weekend. After fans wished Cheese farewell for the weekend, to keep the vibes high and keep on grooving, the attendees boogied over to the Amphitheater Stage to get down with Whethan, an EDM producer and DJ from Chicago. After Whethan blew everyone away with his wicked wubs, it was a full send to two back to back sets from Joe Russo’s Almost Dead on the Patch Stage with a little bit of Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit in between to close out the Meadow Stage. Once JRAD closed out the Patch Stage, that somber feeling began to creep up everyone’s spin knowing that the weekend was officially over. As attendees began to clear out from the main venue areas, some parted ways to pack up camp and head home while others spent the last few moments sitting at Spirit Lake until it officially closed at midnight. Another year of the ever so magical Suwannee Hulaween had officially come to an end.
Since Suwannee Hulaween 2019 got off to a rocky start earlier in the year with rumors swirling through the festival community about the festival’s possible demise due to financial complications from the previous year, many attendees could be heard throughout the weekend speculating if this would be the final year for this beloved festival. This is simply hear-say and it is absolutely not true. Curators at Suwannee Hulaween have intentions to return in 2020 as they have already begun countdowns to see everyone next year. As content curators on the Official Suwannee Hulaween Instagram have been posting photos and reminiscing on the festivities, they have commented on a post one week after the festival concluded stating “that means only 51 more to go”. While no ticketing information has been released yet, it can be expected that an announcement for Suwannee Hulaween 2020 will be on books for sometime during the Summer/Fall of next year. Until then, you can hop over to our Facebook page and check out our day by day photo albums or our website gallery to see the top picks from the weekend. Also, be sure to check back on our Bars & Bites page soon to see our Top 10 Craft Food & Beverage Vendors from Suwannee Hulaween 2019. Also, be sure you are following the Official Suwannee Hulaween Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook for the most up to date Hulaweenie information. Until next year, always remember to hydrate, if you see something then say something, and we hope to see you at a festival in 2020!
Snorra of Suwannee at Spirit Lake during Suwannee Hulaween 2019 - Photo by Kade Martin