BIG SLAY WEEKEND
I don’t even know where to begin re:Hulaween. It was such a spectacular, magical, expansive and electrifying weekend. It was a semi-whim choice that ended up being one of my most favorite weekends of the year and in turn, my new favorite US festival. Plus, it’s the combo of my two favorite things: camping festival and Halloween!
Earlier this year when I couldn’t get anyone to mobilize for Wakaan Fest, my friend, Mike, kept trying to convince me to join him and some others down in the swamps of north Florida for four days of music and fun. Once I saw Jantsen on the lineup, I was there!!!! (And also a Wakaan takeover, even though I ended up going to Wakaan as well 😊.)
Mike, Dan, Brian, Santi and I traveled the highly-regarded and much-loved Spirit of Suwanee, a music/camping venue about 90 min outside of Jacksonville. We ended up with a nice lil camping spot in the woods with just a 20 min walk into the festival. Again, for me, camping festivals are absolutely the best. My philosophy: the harder they are to get to, the better crowd they attract – and that couldn’t have been truer for Hulaween.
Even though we didn’t even stay the full four days (we bounced on Sunday because there was no bass music 🤭), the effects of the festival were fully felt by each one of us. It was the music and reputation that brought us, but the overall experience made it the most unique. The music, while spanning ~6 stages or so, isn’t as jam packed nor does it go as late as usual camping fest. This meant we had so much more time to explore and play and wander (and stumble into renegades at 4 AM) all night long.
My biggest theme of the weekend focused on how good and important it is for our inner child to play and explore in this way. Sure, that might not seem like the craziest concept, but in being so present and open, I was, at least, much more aware of it. I loved being able to get lost in the lil mazes, go down the rabbit holes, watch projections on the lake, stop by silent discos and everything else in between. Some of my favorite moments weren’t even the music. One in particular being our stumble into Trap Chi in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The perfect way to ground and connect as we closed out our evening before hitting some renegades on the way home.
Nightly lake show
Hulaween truly felt like an electric adult playground. Everyone was so happy and excited to be there. It was a blast to run around with the boys, stumbling into anything that called us. It seemed like everything was a reminder of alignment and intuition – which have also been big themes for me overall this year. It’s kinda crazyyyy!!!!! how everything aligned so well. It was all because we followed our intuition and let it guide us to what called us most. Mike and I often checked in about this throughout the weekend as we all (semi) joked about different instances throughout the weekend being a ~metaphor for life~.
And how fun it was to dress up (y’all f’ing know how much I love a theme and Halloween!!!) and seeing everyone else get into it – especially on the Horror Disco evening! (see my lewks below)
Player Dave
Music wise, it was a slay and a half all around for (pretty much) everyone!! While Hulaween was started by The String Cheese Incident and has been jam-band heavy, we were able to get a juicy taste of bass as well. I have seen both Clozee and Of The Trees each 3247584802 times this year, and their Hula sets were hands-down the best I’ve seen all year!!! Clozee closing with Boogie T/TVBOO/Bawldy was NOT!!!!!! on my Clozee set bingo card (I lost my mind), and you know my soul absolutely left my body when OTT played “Noxious” by LYNY (song of the year!). I thought Liquid Stranger’s set was even better than his Wakaan closing set (!!!!), too. My other two faves were (of course) Eazybaked (insane) and Player Dave (king!!).
Some others I really enjoyed included:
Manic Focus Live Band (loved his lil Reel also!)
And a special shoutout to Louis the Child for playing “Gasolina” !!!!!!!
We also caught pieces of other sets, including a couple from String Cheese. And of course, we went to the Saturday night shebang. This year’s what Horror Disco themed, so they played all these great throwbacks from that era, all while dressed up like Beetlejuice. I got cheesed on our way in and danced my lil heart out – even doing 53k steps that day alone!!
I also gotta give it up to my lil crew for the vibes they each brought to the weekend. I don’t think my Hulaween would’ve gone even close to how good it was should the group been any different. We all synced and aligned incredibly well, and I cherish the memories we made immensely. It was so fun to bop around together, dance for hours, hit the renegades, go to yoga and turn up at the campsite at 6 AM together.
Hulaween is without a doubt my new US festival and in the overall ranks, is now tied with Shambhala for my favorite festival! This was the first festival in a MINUTE that I didn’t come home completely physically unwell. I have been on such an energetic, loving, positive, open and creative high since our return – much like how I was post-Shambs. I am so appreciative and grateful for this weekend.
Hulaween, I cannot thank you enough! Until next year 🧡🖤 (with renegade sets from me and Dan every night!)
