Hangout Music Festival took place on the sandy white beaches of Gulf Shores, AL on Friday to Sunday, May 20-22nd, 2022 for the first time in nearly three years. Although the weather tried to stop the festival a few times, and succeeded with a few delays, Hangout Fest pushed through and made for an amazing weekend in Gulf Shores. With arguably one of the best festival line-ups of 2022, containing headliners such as Post Malone, Tame Impala, Halsey, Fall Out Boy, and Maren Morris, there was no way the weekend could not be perfect.
The festival kicked off on Friday, May 20th, with a slight weather delay just after gates had opened. After being closed for about an hour or two due to threats of lightning, gates re-opened and the festival resumed as soon as it was safe. It was made very obvious throughout the whole weekend that the festival’s main priority was the fans in attendance. On this note, there were numerous water refill stations spread across festival grounds, as well as signs consistently being displayed across screens reminding fans to hydrate and re-apply sunscreen. There were also so many different aspects of the festival that made the experience even more special and fun for attendees. For example, there was a Ferris Wheel, disco roller skating, side stage pools for VIP, and tons of areas for photo-ops, one of which being massive blown up flamingos that attendees seemed to love. The festival did an amazing job at creating a blissful and carefree weekend for everyone who stepped foot through their gates.
With gates opening later and the schedule being changed a little, the first act caught on Friday was Oliver Tree at the Surf Stage, who was a great start to the weekend! He came out fully dressed in an astronaut suit, as he started off his set with his hit “Forget It” featuring Getter and then transitioned into another smash hit, “Alien Boy”. The crowd was loving every second of his set.
Then came Maren Morris on the main Hangout Stage, who was perfect to enjoy from the side stage pools. She put on a beautiful set that was made even better by the fact that we were on the beach. She entered the stage in a red sequin dress and started out with “Circles Around This Town” and played many other hits such as “Bones” and “My Church”.
Over on the Boom Stage was Emo Nite, who the crowd was thoroughly enjoying, as they played covers of some of the most loved emo songs! Up next at Surf Stage was Kane Brown, who put on a killer set. As he played hit songs such as “Heaven”, “One Mississippi”, “Be Like That”, and “Memory”, there were not many people in the crowd not dancing. After performing his hit “Memory”, which features Blackbear, he then covered Blackbear’s smash hit “hot girl bummer”, which the crowd loved. As his set came to an end, he ran down the barricades separating the crowd and touched hands with as many fans as possible. It was an absolutely packed crowd at the Boom Stage for T-Pain. He played hits that had everyone dancing, such as “I’m In Love With A Stripper” and “Bartender”.
Up next were Friday’s biggest headliners, Fall Out Boy and Post Malone. Fall Out Boy entered the Surf Stage with flames blazing, literally. They performed hits such as “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down”, “The Phoenix”, and even did a few throwback songs such as “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me” and “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”. Fall Out Boy’s production did not disappoint, one example being that bassist Pete Wentz quite literally had flames coming out of his bass throughout most of their set. They closed out their set with smash hit “Centuries” as fireworks shot into the sky over Gulf Shores, right before going into the song they end every set with, 2003 release “Saturday”.
After Fall Out Boy’s set, fans ran across festival grounds to get to the Boom Stage that Post Malone was about to perform on. His set did not disappoint either. He entered with the 2019 hit “Wow”. and then kept the party going with hits “Better Now” and “Saint Tropez”. Almost everyone on the beaches of Gulf Shores that night were dancing and singing along as Post Malone delivered hit after hit. Halfway through his set, we even realized we were standing right next to Saturday’s The Band CAMINO, who were enjoying his set just as much as we were! Post Malone finished out day one of the festival with smash hit “Congratulations” as fireworks were set off over the beach, it was such a beautiful moment to be a part of.
