HULAWEEN ATTENDEES TAKE COSTUMES TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Every year, Suwannee Hulaween takes over the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park just in time for Halloween. This year, the festival followed through with tradition while including some spectacular additions. The highlight of the weekend, however, had to have been the creative people who attended!

The impressive artist lineup definitely stood out this year. Including names like CloZee, Big Wild, Bassnectar, Peekaboo and Jai Wolf, electronic music had a fair representation. Not to mention, bands like The String Cheese Incident, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Break Science kept the energy flowing all weekend.

Although music began on Thursday, festival goers had been camping out at Suwannee for days and even weeks beforehand. The park is famous for its campgrounds which host many festivals throughout the year. Plus, the grounds even allow access to the historic Suwannee River, which people can choose to camp along if they wish.

However, inside the festival venue is where the real magic happens. Most notably, Spirit Lake is a place that combines interactive art and music for an unforgettable experience. With aspects like secret rooms, art walls, and a light show on the lake, you could spend hours wandering through this corner of the venue. A few of the most striking performances at the Spirit Lake stage were from Vampa, Break Science and SoDown.

Nestled in the trees, The Ampitheatre hosted some memorable acts as well. CloZee put on a spiritual set on Friday night, as fans were excited to see her perform at the festival for the second year in a row. Tycho, MZG, Charlesthefirst, Manic Focus and Big Wild were also some favorites that graced The Ampitheatre this year. Another one that truly stood out was Walker & Royce who performed on Sunday. With a set full of originals and loaded with unreleased tunes, the duo wouldn’t let us catch a break.

Not to our surprise, another top performance of the weekend goes to Bassnectar who blessed The Meadow, which acted as the main stage since its opening on Friday. Prior to the festival, Bassnectar teased on social media that Suwannee Hulaween would be the first to hear his Griztronics edit. Once he opened with Chicken Dippaz, we knew we’d be getting blessed for the next hour and fifteen minutes. Anticipation boiled through the entire set as we heard tracks like ‘It’s About To Get Hectic’, ‘Duck Trumpet’ and ‘Underground’. Finally, after the family photo Bassnectar revealed a killer mashup between ‘Griztronics’ and ‘Fuccapop’ by Oski.

The Meadow also saw a whopping six sets from The String Cheese Incident throughout the weekend, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals to close out Saturday, and Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit to close out Suwannee Hulaween on Sunday. The massive, famous “HULA” letters were set up at this stage, painted to look like yellow cheese for the 2019 edition of the festival.

Located a bit off the main path was The Patch stage, which hosted a variety of interesting acts throughout the weekend. STS9 and Umphrey’s McGee each performed there twice on the first two nights of the festival. The stage also saw acts like Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and The Flying Lotus which also would up as favorites of the weekend.

The Campground, Fire, and Silent Disco were all smaller stages that deserve just as much recognition. Located within Spirit Lake, the Silent Disco stage hosted many exciting artists through the late nights. One of our favorite performances was by Holly Woods and Levitation Jones, as they took over opposing channels on Friday night. Both artists brought completely different sounds, but with comparably high energy levels. Everyone can agree that no camping festival weekend is complete without spending at least one night lost in the silent disco.

As always, the most breathtaking aspect of Suwannee Hulaween were the attendees. This festival is more than a Halloween celebration. It’s a celebration of love, friendship and individuality. These festival goers took it upon themselves to truly stand out in the best ways possible. Pictured below are just a few of our favorite looks from the weekend.

Suwannee Hulaween will always go down in festival history for its hypnotic atmosphere and welcoming crowd. Aside from mind blowing musical performances, the vibes were on point. Creativity and color flowed through the people, the trees, and even the food! We loved the unique dining options brought in by the vendors. Not to mention, the vegetarian and vegan options were more accessible than not. There are advanced hypnosis online classes that is a lot entertaining and fun, many people take it up out of interest.

Although we can’t quite find the words to replicate the gift that is experiencing this festival, we can try. Everyone needs to walk the grounds of Suwannee if given the chance. You’ll never come across anything like Spirit Lake again.

Ashley

I’ve been a part of the dance music scene for nearly a decade and with Exron for more than half of that time. My first event was Diplo’s Mad Decent but these days you’ll find me at Club Space or the Brooklyn Mirage. Some of my top artists are G Jones, Tipper, Of The Trees, and CharlestheFirst. My favorite genres are techno, experimental bass, and ambient but I’ll get down to anything with a beat!

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