String Cheese Incident "Ghoul Train" dancers. Dave Vann photo.
Truth be told, festgrrl is still trying to piece together
all the spectacular-ness that happened at Suwannee Hulaween 2015, and she is sure
she is not alone.
Roller-skating disco dancers. Fire-breathing iron sculptures.
Primus thump-bass craziness. Head –spinning, hand-springing break dancers.
Giant stilt walkers “anointing” fans’ foreheads with orange cheese stickers
from a grocery store dairy department. Burlesque ladies twirling on trapeze
beside hard-charging British funk band The New Mastersounds in the wee hours. A big swingset
shaped like a jellyfish. A giant monster that Danish artists built in the
cypress forest out of recycled construction pallets. And, as has been the case
during the last two Hulaweens, truly inspired Halloween costumes from the
wackiest of fans (A whole CROWD of full-on giant Muppets!)
festgrrl photo.
One of those wavy figures you see at car lots! festgrrl photo.
Gorgeous Earth Mama. festgrrl photo.
festgrrl photo.
This Hulaween was the biggest festival to ever hit the
Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fla, with attendance reported at 21,000. In
comparison, about 7,500 people attended Hulaween 2014.
Before you say: That’s too big! Let me tell you, it worked
out just fine. Yeah, the lines to do stuff were a little longer. And yeah,
there were a lot more people moving to and fro. But this is a big park with
nice sightlines to all the stages, and I never felt “boxed in,” and even if I
had to stand way in the back sometimes, I could see and hear the shows.
An artist paints at Spirit Lake. festgrrl photo.
Creating a dreamcatcher pyramid. festgrrl photo.
Magical campsite. festgrrl photo.
Stilt walkers everywhere! festgrrl photo.
And
Hulaween has one thing no other festival at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park
has: the amazing “Spirit Lake” psychedelic forest, which dozens of artists work
hard to create for our pleasure and amazement. I spent many happy hours in there,
swinging on the jellyfish swings, chilling in one of the many available
hammocks, watching the professional light show swoop its way around the park’s
gorgeous cypress lake and wandering among the inspired art installations, some
of which were interactive.
Building the Spirit Lake monster. festgrrl photo.
The finished monster! Josh Timmermans photo.
Spirit Lake. Keith Griner photo.
Spirit Lake entrance. At night, a projector animated it. festgrrl photo.
Saturday night’s “Ghoul Train” (a Halloweeny-twist on the
classic 1970s, dance show, Soul Train) set by The String Cheese Incident was
one of the coolest, best executed, and creative performances I’ve ever
witnessed at a festival.
Not having any idea of what was in store, we arrived for
String Cheese’s second set of the night in the Meadow to see GHOUL TRAIN lit up
in lights in the Soul Train font above the stage. Then we noticed that they had
put staggered risers in place with Solid-Gold style dancers in glitter outfits flanking
the band.
Dave Vann photo.
Break dancers came out.
Keith Griner photo.
And roller skating dancers.
Dave Vann photo.
CRAZY! The String
Cheese Incident band members were unrecognizable in their Disco costumes as
they launched into an infectious retro-licious ‘70s dance party that made it
impossible to sit down for even a single minute.
Michael Kang of String Cheese Incident. Keith Griner photo.
GZA of Wu Tang Clan acted the
part of Soul Train’s emcee, the late Don Cornelius.
GZA of Wu Tang Clan (right) was emcee. Keith Griner photo.
Check out this groovy
classic hits set list:Brick House, Got To Be
Real, Dancing In September, Pick Up The Pieces, I'm Your Boogie Man, Car Wash,
Lady Marmalade, Cold Sweat, I Want To Take You Higher > Dance To The Music. Confetti and bubbles showered the dancing masses.
Dave Vann photo.
Thanks to our great and selfless taper, Sober Goat, you can
see this amazing set for yourself right here:
The fest kicked off with a badass dance pre party on
Thursday night, with New Orleans’ Ivan Neville showing up in a creepy clown
mask for Dumpstaphunk’s hard-charging party set.
Ivan Neville of Dumpstaphunk! Dave Vann photo.
The Dumpstaphunk set featured a cool cover of Led Zeppelin’s classic “Ramble On.”
You can see that
cover here:
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead hit the stage next, turning out a two-and-a-half
hour show full of high-energy, feel-good Grateful Dead covers. They turned a
packed ampitheater stage into a grinning boogie communion that started us all
off right. Thanks to our wonderful tapers, you can see that set right here:
Hulaween did a nice job of mixing genres: Plenty of
thump-thump for the hordes of enthusiastic electronic dance music fans in
attendance (who raved about the Pretty Lights, Odesza, and GRiZ shows, in
particular,) plus funk, bluegrass, prog-rock, reggae, folk, and a couple of
mixed genres that defy description.
Pretty Lights. Photo by Josh Timmermans.
Dave Vann photo.
An intricate Spirit Lake art installation. Chris Monaghan photo.
The String Cheese Incident continues to be stunning, turning
out seven sets over the weekend that each managed to be its own stand-alone
kickass show. You can call this band versatile, and the label fits, but it
hardly touches the intriguing variety these Colorado players produce. From the
afore-mentioned Ghoul Train set to the intricate Sunday afternoon bluegrass set
with guests Sam Bush, the Shook Twins, and Elephant Revival to Sunday night’s
face-melting closing improvisational jam, String Cheese showed plainly why they
are one of the top jam bands touring today.
The Shook Twins. festgrrl photo.
There has been a lot of talk about how this the “last year”
for Hulaween, but our hosts, String Cheese Incident, say they’ll be back with
bells on next year. You can read all about it in this great interview with
Cheese guitarist Bill Nershi by Livefor Live Music.
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds in "Back to the Future" costumes. Josh Timmermans photo.
Some of the Hulaween shows you just can’t explain with words. Check out this Primus
set:
Festgrrl stayed at the park until the bitter end Sunday, and
by the looks of things, so did most fans. The field was packed for the final
String Cheese shows and the ampitheater was packed, too, for Boston power-funk
band, Lettuce. You can see their Sunday night show below, as well as the
Sunday night show by STS9.
festgrrl photo.
If you missed Hulaween this year, I’d advise you not to make
the same mistake next year. This fest is happening.
The promoters did a great job picking bands, keeping on schedule, and
creating an intriguing, whacky world for all of us to escape to for a weekend. This
is the life, peeps, Get it
while you can.
Here's Sunday's STS9 closer set at The Meadow Stage:
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