Hangout Fest came to Gulf Shores, Alabama, Friday-Sunday, May 19th-21st.
Hangout Fest returned to the beaches of Gulf Shores and dodged some bad weather on its first day — though thunderstorms could derail some of the music later in the weekend.
Dueling headliners Phoenix and Dillon Francis put on high-energy shows, with Phoenix closing the main stage in place of Frank Ocean, who bailed on the festival just over a week earlier.
Phoenix played new jams and old favorites to a crowd that was heavy with late twenty-somethings, while the majority of the ‘90s babies partied in the Boom Boom Tent for Dillon Francis. Phoenix brought a killer production to the stage, using a mirror to project the screen under their feet on top of the band.
Rock elder statesmen Weezer played 75 minutes on the Surf Stage, a set comprised of their many radio hits and also a brief cover of Mike Posner’s “I Took a Pill in Ibiza”. There might not have been a bigger sing-along moment all of Friday than for “Say It Ain’t So” in the closing ten minutes of their set. Halfway through, at least a dozen inflatable swans went flying through the crowd, the wind picking them up off people’s hands to send them flying.
A$AP Ferg had the Boom Boom Tent pretty “turnt” as the kids say, with the area surrounding the tent on all sides packed as tight as inside the tent.
MGMT played some new material among older favorites like “Electric Feel” on the Hangout Stage. I’d heard from numerous people that MGMT plays inconsistent live shows and I witnessed it for myself for the first time. The actual music sounded solid for the most part, but their set seemed really disjointed as they often let the time between songs linger too long.
Earlier on the same stage, Charli XCX delivered a high-energy show. “Are you guys fucked up?” she asked, to which the crowd responded enthusiastically. “Good, me too!” she said. Despite possible inebriation, her show didn’t miss a beat.
Portland folk rock sister trio Joseph was one of the most impressive sets early in the day on the main Hangout Stage. Though the crowd wasn’t huge, those that made it into the sand early enough seemed really into it.
Stay tuned for coverage of the rest of the weekend at Hangout Fest!
-words: Mark Ortega
-photos: courtesy of Hangout Festival
