festgrrl: Thank You, Suwannee Hulaween

Michael Kang (left) and Bill Nershi of
The String Cheese Incident (festgrrl photo)

The one word that keeps coming up for me after experiencing the second-annual Suwannee Hulaween is GRATEFUL.

Grateful for the dozens of artists who built the top-notch psychedelic forest for us all to frolic in, grateful for bands that played round the clock, grateful for the beautiful and well-run Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, and especially grateful for The String Cheese Incident, who again showed themselves to be among the most talented and versatile bands in the land.

***Check out a photo album of Suwannee Hulaween peeps here ***

Three nights of playing, and the boys of String Cheese continued to surprise and amaze. The Halloween night "Afterlife" set featured columns of fire, spit out of propane torches in front ot the stage, a disembodied giant projected head of Michael Jackson during a cover of Thriller, acrobatics, and the band dressed in voodoo costumes. Here is the night one setlist, courtesy of our friends at Jambase.

Set 1: Desert Dawn, Rhythm of The Road > Lets Go Outside, Doin' My Time, Betray the Dark > Valley of The Jig > Texas

Set 2 (w/ Antibalas Horns and Rhonda Thomas & Tony White on vocals): Hells Bells (AC/DC), Voodoo (Neville Bros), Zombie (Fela Kuti), Spirits in the Material World (The Police) , Monster (Kanye Rap by Jason), Voodoo Child (Jimi Hendrix) > Black Magic Woman (Fleetwood Mac)

Set 3: Rosie*, Black Clouds > Big Mon > Black Clouds, It Is What It Is, Spirit of Suwannee Jam > Joyful Sound > On The Road

Encore: Miss Brown's Teahouse*, I Saw The Light (Hank Williams)*, Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)*

And then we were off and running. NIght two featured guest spots bymembers of Leftover Salmon,Toubab Krewe, STS9, Trey Anastasio band members Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman.

Set One: Sometimes A River, Mouna Bowa, Cedar Laurels, One After 909**, Zombie Jamboree**, Windy Mountain > Shine > Colliding > Drums*

Set Two: Best Feeling > Howard, Pack It Up > Shake Your Body Down To The Ground#, Rivertrance > This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), Outside and Inside

Michael Kang of String Cheese (festgrrl photo)

Encore: Kashmir

Sunday night featured sit-ins by Keller Williams, Nicky Sanders of the Steep Canyon Rangers, and Dominic Lilli from Big Gigantic.

Set One:

Search>Lost>Mouna Bowa>Don't It Make You Wanna DAnce>Pack it Up>Alligator Alley>Franklin's Tower

Set Two:

Let's Go Outside,Black Clouds,Sweet Spot,Birdland,Sirens,Rivertrance,Drums,Swamp,Rivertrance

Encore: Bollymunster

Wow, what a three-day run.

festgrrl spent a LOT of time looking at the art in the Spirit Lake installation, which had, among other things, a two-story tall Buddha metal sculpture that belched fire, a geodesic dome jellyfish swingset, a "sonic forest" where when you waved your hands, each of the "trees" made crazy noises, fire dancers, acrobats, an intricate natural mosaic made of moss, pine cones, mulch, twigs and other small things, a "dragon" made of organic materials that seemed to undulate above and under the ground, trippy light installations, and a huge, elaborate blacklight mural. And I know I'm forgetting some of the things, it was CRAZY! so grateful.

Below, you can see some of the performances I caught, as well as a look at some of the installations.
Seriously make plans to attend Hulaween 2015. This year had about 8,000 attendees, and it never felt crowded. It just felt FUN.