Hangout Festival 2013

Thursday Pre-Party Impressions

Traffic / Parking / Arriving At Festival

I drove from Mobile, took the "back way" because I'm an OG. Traffic in Foley was standard beach traffic. Pulled right up to the T with just a small amount of traffic, around 2:15pm. They have the roads into the neighborhoods one wayed now, it was a smart move. Found street parking pretty darn close to the Hangout with no problem.

No line to get into the gate. Moderate bag search. I was asked to open my glasses case, but she didn't say anything about my e-cig or the various tins of snus I had. At this point the crowds at the festival were super small. During Future Rock I wandered around, filled up my Camelbak, got my bearings. Couldn't get on the beach yet, but as far as the street side goes I didn't notice any large changes.

Wick-It The Instigator

Started at Reptar, but wasn't really feeling it. I think I could dig them, but wasn't familiar, and felt like something more high energy, so I went over to the Boom Boom Room. Glad I did, this was a great time. I'd describe it as hip-hop / dubstep / mashup. Wick-It just looks like a big ole southern white boy, like a dude you drank beer with at a lot party sitting on the back of his truck. He definitely had the crowd going, lots of crowd pleasing rap numbers, and cool mashups I can't really remember right now. I know he did a long string of 90s rock stuff, rage/nirvana etc, van halen Jump was in there somewhere, all I do is win, clique (kanye west), really all over the place. His transitions were more of the fade out fade in variety. At one point during a song he pulled out a guitar and played a pretty decent solo, it was fun. He also had a turntable he did actual scratching on.

After he stopped the music he thanked everyone, told us to take care of each other this weekend, and had us all hold up the peace symbol, and on the count of three we all said "peace". right when we said peace he started playing the ignition remix and walked off the stage. it was pretty gangsta, definitely put a smile on my face.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones

Neo soul act out of B'ham. I swear the lead singer looks like Drew Carey but sounds like Otis Redding, it is nuts. I really enjoyed both of their short sets, they played some old soul stuff and some of their own stuff. Talented players, could probably use a little more time to polish up their sound, but they were still pretty damn tight. Will definitely continue to follow their career, check them out if you dig old soul.

Quixotic

A drummer, a guy on a violin and a laptop, and half naked women dancing and contorting themselves all over the stage. It was strange but pretty cool. Middle eastern electronic vibe.

Conspirator

awwwwwwww daaaaamn! Conspirator was awesome. A little noisy and chaotic, but these guys are a live band that gives the feel of seeing a good DJ better than any other jamtronica band I've seen, if that makes any sense (and that's a compliment, their sound although live was very tight and controlled, if a little busy, without deviating too deeply into cheesy techno/rock territory). Brownie seemed really stoked and happy the whole set. I don't know enough of Conspirator's stuff to comment on specific songs, but I know they had a piece of "another brick in the wall" somewhere in there. I've never been a big Bisco fan but I will definitely catch Conspirator again (Bonnaroo).

The Mad Wikkid

DJ. Played a lot of Brassft Punk, some other stuff. I'm guessing he is a NOLA guy. I honestly was just chilling on the benches during this set, wasn't paying too close attention. Small crowd.

Lotus

What I always forget before I see Lotus is how boring their music is. I know, I know, people like them, and I believe they are good at what they do, but what they do is play really low key jamtronica that doesn't really go anywhere. The crowd was eating it up, but the only thing I was eating up was my SPICY PIE OOOOOOHHHHHH!!! Early in this set the cops busted some guy, I didn't see what for, but two cops were standing there talking to him, he wasn't restrained or anything, when he suddenly decided to make a run for it. Unfortunately he ran directly into the arms of another cop not seven feet from where his great escape began, and said cop took his ass down, and other cops joined him. In my unprofessional opinion in was a clean take down, the kid was struggling and the cops handled it well. But it was still a huge bummer, I don't know what the kid did but I'm guessing it was just corn related. So take note, if it hasn't been said enough in this thread, cops in Gulf Shores don't play. Be smart.

After that I left Lotus and went to Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, but I didn't pay attention, I just sat down and watched videos of my dogs on my phone. Cute dogs!

Quickie Mart

DJ. I'd say it was trap. Not annoying though, kind of fun actually, very bass focused instead of lazer sound focused. Crowd was loving it. He said he was bringing a special guest out, it turned out to be a female vocalist, apparently they have a group together called Bang You're Dead. The vocalist said she had a song for all the drinkers in the house, anybody got a drink in their hand? and everyone was like "wooooooo". So I was quite mystified when the song was called "Wasted" and was about being too wasted to achieve anything in life, like "all the missed opportunities because you're too wasted..." and "how can you be a good father if you're always wasted..." Not exactly the kind of party anthem that her introduction made it out to be. Hell I haven't drank in eight years and it still depressed the hell out of me. She wasn't exactly nailing the vocals either. The crowd was confused.

Railroad Earth

My first time seeing them, in fact I only started listening to them based on longinus's recommendation in this thread. Really great set, well played, and I even recognized a few songs, not by title but by ear. Well played jamband newgrass, will definitely catch these guys again.

Umphrey's McGee

The #1 reason I was here, it all built up to this. Over the past few years Umphrey's has become my #2 favorite band to see live, and in my opinion they are the most talented touring rock band that I've heard. Here is the setlist via The Bort:



Set was AWESOME. Crazy high energy rock and dance party. Bridgeless opener clocked in at 17 minutes, if I timed it right, as usual UM made it clear this was serious business right from the start. Slacker was great, Triple Wide arose seemlessly, and sounded very different from other versions I've heard. The crowd was completely at UM's mercy when In The Kitchen started. Day Nurse grooved things down for a bit, and then The Floor was huge, lots of cool unique improv in this one. Come As Your Kids (with you spin me right round at the end, not sure if they always throw in a verse from this) was fun, but I was secretly hoping for a Forty Six & Two to close it out.

What a set! I saw UM for three nights over New Years, and it was amazing, but I love that even in just one festival set they can make me feel like I caught a whole show. Very glad I made this show, will be acquiring the tape and listening to it many times.

Exiting the festival was easy, as usual very little traffic coming home. Got a vanilla shake from sonic (half off after 8PM).

I need to shower. Stoked for tomorrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if nothing this weekend tops that UM set.

Hopefully meet up with some of yall before Jim James. Behind the SBD?

they were really good.

they may have passed milo greene on my bonnaroo schedule.

Hey guys been watching the board for a long time and thought I should get in on the conversation. At hangout right now and let me tell you the police presence in the fest is a complete turn off, at lance Herbstrong this am watched security taking peoples corn, bust people and patrolling like crazy, there is a big guy in orange shirt who is an undercover walking in the crowds harassing people. You cant walk for 5 min without seeing a cop. Yesterday at lotus we watched the same thing happen as stated above, saw several cops watching from the outside of the tent. During each show we have been to there have been cops watching from the outskirts of the venues. I know they have to do there job but it totally blew it for us. I've been to plenty of shows and 11 festivals over the years and this by far is the worst I have ever seen. I remember at camp bisco in 06 at hunter mtn getting searched and patted down by cops to get in but that was it the were not in the venue. Sorry for the rant. Now UM last night put on a hell of a show... Cant wait for the rest of the weekend.

It s truly a privilege being an Umphrey's fan. Everywhere they go, they absolutely slay. Wish I was there.

I think they are the first band ever to go from ACL headliner to playing the fest not billed in the top three. It seems like they are trying to regenerate some buzz by playing all of these fests they may have passed on when they were at their peak in popularity. It will be interesting to see if they take a lower spot on the card at some other fests they headlined previously.

No idea, but I was definitely enjoying it too. They definitely look and sound better than the last time I heard from them. I still wish they'd officially take a mulligan on Come Around Sundown though. That whole album was utter garbage.

Friday Impressions

Traffic was a little thicker than yesterday, but again no big deal. Paid to park today because I didn't want to be late for The Breeders. Very little line to get in, although my bag search was extremely thorough today.

Logistically, I noticed they have laid out wider passageways entering the beach, and have put grass down in these areas. A smart move, as before it was just stairs, and these always created bottlenecks. I have to hand to to Hangout, every year they review what they could do better and continue to slowly improve.

The Breeders

I admit beyond Cannonball I know nothing of this band. Apparently on this tour they are playing The Last Splash in its entirety, and man that must be a great record, because I really enjoyed this set. I can't vouch for how well it was played, due to my lack of familiarity with the music, but I definitely liked what I heard. Some light banter between the songs kept things upbeat. A great way to start the day! I'll definitely be listening to more Breeders stuff, and would definitely catch them again if I have the chance.

Toots and the Maytals

What can I say, its reggae on the beach, it was awesome. I got a perfect position directly behind the soundboard. This was the Chevy stage, a stage I have ranted about at length primarily due to the sound not being loud enough, but of course it sounded great where I was. The soundboard also is further back this year, and visually is much wider open, providing better sightlines to the stage for those standing behind it. It was a well played set, and the crowd was going nuts for Toots, they loved it. I don't know enough about Toots to comment on song selection, but he did do a cover of John Denver's "Country Roads" swapping Virginia for Jamaica, it worked surprisingly well.

Jim James

I love MMJ, and Jim James is one of my favorite vocalists. I also enjoy listening to the new album at home, its good, 3/5 stars for me, but not great. James did what he has been doing this whole solo tour, and played the solo record in its entirety. While I enjoyed some of the jams in the songs, most of this set was a snoozefest. Its always exciting to see James, and hearing his angelic voice is always awesome, but the material is slow and a little weird, and I found myself wishing I had chosen Afrojack instead. After the album he played one more track I didn't recognize, could have been MMJ, more likely something from MOF or another side project.

So if you are planning on skipping something else you wanted to see at Bonnaroo in favor of Jim James, keep in mind you are going to get the new record, and a few other tunes. If you are not OK with a slower, more chill show then you are used to seeing with MMJ, then I suggest you attend another set, and get your Jim James party down fix at the superjam.

Grizzly Bear / Ryan Bingham / The Weeks

Wandered around and caught a bit of each act. Nothing turned me on.

Passion Pit

My second time catching them this year, previously saw them for the first time at Buku. Again they delivered. Fantastic high energy set, well played, lots of fun. I was on the rail in front of the left speaker, sounded amazing and had plenty of room to dance. I'll continue to catch Passion Pit again and again so long as they keep playing at this level of awesomeness.

And that was pretty much my day. I caught a little bit of Anders, but I was so incredibly exhausted I called it a day. Can't remember the last time I was so tired at a festival. Hangout just wears me out, must be all the sand walking. So in the end not the greatest festival day ever, but it was worth it for The Breeders and Passion Pit primarily.

Going to NOLA tomorrow, y'all have fun. Ready for a long and awesome day on Sunday!

I skipped Hangout last year for the first time last year and I have the say the new layout makes this fest damn near perfect. Plenty of room to enjoy shows and maneuver. The cops are are part of the deal here in Bama. You have to know that before you come. I was able to smuggle in a bottle of Vodka and my wife even brought in a couple of beers though.

Passion Pit put on the best show of the day for me. Played ball in the sand with the boys and danced danced danced. Sheepdogs also put on a heck of a show. Lissie on the beach was a great way to start the day. Glad I caught Jim James solo. Chill set but not mind blowing. Moderately disappointed with Grizzly Bear. I love their albums and they played well. Just wasn't feeling their vibe yesterday.

Friday was a perfect day. Hoping for a repeat today. Shooting to get there for Bassft Punk and make the full day run. Making it a priority to ditch the kids for Kendick Lamar. Ha!

My Friday Impressions:

The Breeders: EXCELLENT
Jim James: Meh
Macklemore/Ryan Lewis: More like MackleSNORE (left early)
Passion Pit: Not Bad
Kings of Leon: EXCELLENT

Kings of Leon sucked ass live, who takes that many breaks between songs, it was like 30 min of combined breaks between songs and they quit before 11, they ever hear of song transition, thats total bs UM played right till 11. Guess they didnt have enough songs to fill the gaps. Where we were at vocals sounded terrible, like a drunk guy slurring all over the mic, bass was set for a dj not vocals, and we were only half way back.

Big Gigantic was an awesome show, he should have had the main stage would have been so much better.

Jim James, Toots and the Maytals, The Shins, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Kings of Leon were all awesome. And that surprised us.
Didn't expect too awful much from the last three on that list but was pleasantly surprised in each case. The Shins basically played a greatest hits set, and it was ten times better than the Roo set because of it.
I hate those popular songs that Macklemore/RL plays, but that show was a ton of fun. They had Flaming Lips confetti guns and inflated about 40 enormous whales, one of which is sitting behind me. Tons of energy and very glad I went, even though I don't really dig the music that much.
Kings of Leon were about 50 times better than I thought they would be. It was a very similar set list to their previous show from what I could tell. At least at the beginning. That new song they played rocks, hopefully the album is more like that than the poopers they've put out recently. Luella and the Sun were also really good.

Black crowes brought the heat

I'm liking the stream today ... cr****

Sunday Impressions

Got there real early today, 11ish. Really awesome walking into the festival when there is almost no one there. In general it took the crowds longer to fill in today, a lot of folks were probably sleeping in after a long weekend. Generally speaking the crowds seemed thinner overall on Sunday than Friday (and generally thinner all weekend compared to the previous two years), but there were still plenty of fans in attendance. Less people meant it was much easier for me to get around, get to restrooms, etc.

Zion I

First act of the day, and the only act playing during this timeslot. I knew nothing of them going in, but there was nothing else going on, so what the hell right? Boom Boom Tent was about a quarter full maybe, enough people to call it a crowd. Turns out Zion I is a hip-hop duo, conscious rap would be the term I believe. Pleased to say they put on a fantastic set. The DJ did a bit of his own thing at the start, then the MC came out, and he was very talented. The mix was perfect, beats and vocals were both easy to make out. The crowd, though small, was enthusiastic. The DJ also had an MPC (I think that is the right term, whatever araabmuzik uses) and did some live beats as well, it was a cool. A very good set, I'll be checking out some more Zion I.

The Revivalists

A recent discovery for me, I saw them at Voodoo this past year and thought they were pretty good, then started listening to their studio stuff, which is good, then saw them open Gentilly at Jazzfest this year, and they were amazing. They are a NOLA rock/jammish kind of band. Super high energy live show, every member plays like they are a headlining act, they all seem very happy to be doing what they do. The lead singer has this Iggy Pop carved from a piece of wire look, but less punky and bloody and more beer drinking hippie kind of thing. It was a good set, really looking forward to catching their Cafe Where set at Roo. Hope some inforoo'ers check them out as well!

Baauer

Oh man this was bad. I watched Baauer's set streaming from Coachella and it looked pretty fun to me, but this set, at least the first half that I caught, was awful. It was like one big drop, just the worst kind of "dubstep". The mix was horrible, a complete 180 from the good mix I heard from Zion I just an hour before on the same stage. Loud, abrasive, waaaay too much top end/brightness, not nearly enough bass impact. Sounded like the speaker system in a car where all the speakers are blown out. Nothing is worse in an EDM show than when you can't even feel the bass. I need a clean mix if I'm going to get down. So we left and walked down the beach for...

GROUPLOVE

Pleasantly surprised by this set. The girl singer it turns out is cute as all get out, and I had a great time just watching her. I'd heard their single and don't care for it, but the rest of their stuff was cool. I'll have to listen to their studio stuff.

Galactic

Awwwwwww yeeeaaahh! Galactic is always talented but can be hit or miss for me, but today I was really digging it. Corey Glover was outstanding, great song selection, fantastic playing. In fact one of the best times I can remember having at a Galactic set. The time just flew by, I could have listened to them play for another hour easy. I think them being on a beach stage this year helped the vibe tremendously. We were right behind the soundboard, and the sound was perfect, sightlines were perfect, and we had plenty of room to dance. Love this band.

Porter Robinson

Again in the boom boom tent, and while the mix wasn't nearly as bad as it was for Baaeur, it was still really loud and I could have used more low end. Not that I'm complaining about the volume, once I put in my etymotics they lowered the volume and cut off just enough of the top in to let the bass and SPL come through. I'd much rather it be too loud than too quiet, because too loud can be fixed with earplugs. Porter put on a decent set, definitely not as good as Buku 2012. I could use more minimal electro and less ZOMG LASERS PEW PEW IN YOUR FACE electro. Had me thinking I might actually catch Pretty Lights instead of Porter at Roo, but we'll see how I feel when that LN rolls around. Plenty of people in the tent, but not so packed that it wasn't easy to get a nice spot to the right of the soundboard. I danced and had fun, so it was all good.

moe.

I haven't seen moe. in probably 10 years. Song selection was good, playing was good, but on the whole I wasn't inspired. Probably just because I'm not as into them as I used to be. The set started at 4:15pm, which means festival social hour had begun, so there was a lot of people chatting, which was also distracting. Huge crowd for the Letting Go stage, so I couldn't get to a spot where the sound was loud enough to drown out the chatters, so that was distracting as well. I wandered over to Space Capone for the last 15 minutes of their set, and wish I would've caught it all, because they were bringing that hard funk, very cool stuff.

Steve Aoki

Oh man this was pretty bad too. Mix was better than Baauer but worse than Porter, and by far the loudest of the three. Aoki doesn't even pretend to be doing anything up there, he hits play then just stands on his rig and flails his arms around. He threw his customary cake into the crowd. I could have dealt with the sound and him not doing anything issues, but the music just wasn't moving me. Again just very in your face non-stop peaks, just peak peak peak peak peak peak, no cool midbass beats or anything. I like to feel that bass in my chest getting my blood pumping, not a wash of bright treble coming over me. I did not stay long at all, maybe half hour tops. I went and posted up at the Chevy stage behind the soundboard for...

Trey Anastasio

I'm a Phish guy, and am always happy to see Trey live, but putting on my critical phan hat this was a subpar set. Again, its still Trey, and I love him, but the set was flub heavy on Trey's part and the song selection was low energy for the most part. Highlights include Money Love & Change and Simple Twist Up Dave and the customary rocking Push On. First Tube could have been awesome but Trey completely blew it, worst First Tube I've ever heard. He missed all the good parts, it was bad. Still the two hours flew by pretty quick, I danced and made the best of the set. Even though it was mediocre I am glad to again have had the experience of seeing Trey on the beach.

Stevie Wonder

First half of the set was my favorite music of the weekend. We Be Jammin, Higher Ground, I Wish, a handful of awesome covers. Stevie's band is razor sharp, and his vocals were awesome. Stevie told a genuinely touching story about his mom being born in Alabama, and how back then society told her she would never amount to anything, but then she had him, and he was so grateful to everyone for giving him the opportunity to give his mother some comfort before she died. Stevie actually cried on stage telling this story, it was really uplifting. After this though his mind sort of seemed to wander, seems like he went off the setlist, started doing a lot of random acapella stuff, ordering his band to play certain things and whatnot, and became kind of obsessed with getting the crowd to sing certain parts. This is fine and everything, but when an artist I paid money to see gets to obsessed with getting the crowd to sing all kinds of stuff (See Dave Gahan) in literally every single song it starts to piss me off. I paid money to hear YOU sing the chorus famous rock star, not you spend ten minutes getting the "ladies to sing la di da da da" and the "men now you sing do do dee do da", like training us before you even start the song. We made it till about 10:30pm and bailed, my buddy had to work the next day. Heard Signed Sealed Delivered when we were walking out, don't know what we missed after that.

Kind of weird to see a set go from such a spiritual high to such boring lows. Curious what other attendees thought of the set.

In conclusion, Hangout 2013 was a success for me. I enjoyed it more than 2012. Definitely smaller crowds this year. Sound on all the stages was generally good, except for the Letting Go stage not being loud enough sometimes and the mix being awful in the boom boom tent sometimes. The sound on both beach stages was thankfully great this year, in previous years the volume has sometimes been too low. I totally would have bought one of those 2014 tickets had I known where to go to get one. Guess I'll buy them in the November/December presale like every year.

Thanks for another great year Hangout. Now the Bonnaroo focus begins!