The Hangout Music Festival Gulf Shores Al

GULF SHORES, Ala. -- Local business owner Shaul Zislin received permission from the City Council on Monday night to put on a $3 million, three-day music festival at the public beach in May, and said he plans to unveil much of the lineup Jan. 4.

Zislin -- proprietor of The Hangout, an 18,000-square-foot restaurant at the terminus of Ala. 59, as well as the Surf Style chain -- has said that he anticipates spending as much as $2 million on bands to fill the festival's four stages. He will also reimburse the taxpayers for any expenses Gulf Shores incurs hosting the event.

The Hangout Music Festival is scheduled for May 14-16, and paid attendance will be capped, as a condition of the organizers' special events permit, at 35,000 each night. By awarding the permit, organizers are able to run shows on the larger of two Gulf-front stages until 11 p.m., an hour later than would normally be allowed under city noise laws. But they still must receive permission from state environmental regulators to put the stages on the sand, and cordon off a large swath of beach for five days.

Zislin cited ongoing negotiations in declining to reveal any of the acts that might play the festival, but said that the headliners will be household names.

"We're shooting for the stars," he said Monday. "We want the best that are available in the business to come here."

A.J. Niland of Mobile's HUKA Entertainment, one of several experienced firms Zislin has enlisted, said organizers are planning to put on a surfside equivalent to the Rothbury Festival and Coachella, both well-known music festivals.

The Rothbury Festival, held on Lake Michigan's eastern shore in July, has featured performers ranging from big names Bob Dylan and the Dave Matthews Band to more cutting-edge acts, such as Of Montreal and Modest Mouse. Coachella, the three-day southern California event, was headlined last April by Paul McCartney, The Cure and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Zislin said that his team is assembling the lineup with an eye toward appealing to a wide range of tastes, to draw concertgoers from well beyond the Gulf Coast.

City officials said they are excited about the promise of such a large event during an otherwise down time of year, between spring break and Memorial Day. But they were cautious, without seeing how the first year went, not to promise that it would become an annual event, as organizers hope.

"We're going to have to gauge the impact on the community, and I don't just mean the financial impact, but the impact on our citizens not being able to access the beach, and the traffic and the crowds, and all of that," Mayor Robert Craft said. "I have no doubt it will have a positive business impact."

Right now there are rumors of Kings of Leon, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, and of course, the Buffett.