OT - Hangout Music Festival, Gulf Shores AL

[luna_virgo]

http://hangoutmusicfest.com/

I'll be attending this in May. Foo Fighters and Primus are playing, as well as lots of other bands. This is the second year for this festival, bringing much needed $$ to the Gulf coast after the oil spill.

Gulf Shores in May - no snow on this trip!

[empty]

Did you seriously just say that out loud????

*hopes she doesn't jinx it*

Girl, very happy for you. The Foos are kickin' ass this tour. Have a blast.

[luddite lady]

Sounds fabulous! I wish I had the time and the money for more madcap adventures down South. You'll have to report back to us.

[luna_virgo]

I plan to take many, many photos. I wasn't able to get a hotel on the beach (those are going for $200 a night and up that weekend), but the Econo Lodge in Foley (8 miles away) has a pool, hot tub, and breakfast, so it is several steps up from the Knight's Inn. Hopefully I will get to have some time on the public beach as well.

[luna_virgo]

I'm driving down to the beach tomorrow. I can't wait to see Foo Fighters, Primus, and Motorhead Saturday, and Paul Simon on Sunday.

Hopefully I'll have some good photos next week.

[DirtyMartini]

Have a great time, luna_virgo! Looks like a great lineup. I love the idea of seeing the Flaming Lips and Motorhead in the same day.

[empty]

woooooooo! Have a blast! Don't slip on the ice (in your drink I hope this time)!

[Divemistress of the Dark]

We looked at that one too but I had some unavoidable conflicts Friday and Monday.

That said, Lips & P Simon were both awesome this week in Nashville. I look forward to your report!

[luna_virgo]

So, two days of the festival down, one to go. Just a few quick notes, I'll give a full description when I get home.

So far I've seen STS9, Widespread Panic, Primus, Motorhead, and Foo Fighters. Did not get to see Flaming Lips since they were playing at the same time as Motorhead. Every band I've seen so far has kicked ass. The beach setting is great. I will definitely consider coming back.

Quote of the evening from Dave Grohl: "This is the most fucking fun I've ever had at a festival, and I'm fucking old!"

That said, if I get hit by one more sand-covered flying beach ball, I am snatching that shit down and stomping it flat.

[luna_virgo]

Festival review:

There weren’t any bands playing Friday that I really cared about seeing, so I just wandered around, to check out where the stages were and listen to whatever caught my ears. STS9 was pretty good. I’d never even heard of them before, but their crowd was happy and bouncy, and it put me in a good mood. So I was off to a good start.

Then I saw Friday’s headliner, Widespread Panic. I’ve never been a fan, but my friends who are fans have told me that I should see them live to really appreciate them. So I finally did. God help me, I haven’t seen so many white-boy dreadlocks and smelled so much skunky weed since the early 90’s. Took me right back to college. But they weren’t bad. There was one song with a lot of tribal-sounding drums that was really good.

On Saturday, I made sure to get there early enough to get a good spot near the stage for Primus. As I was walking the long sandy distance across the beach from the bathrooms and beer tents to their stage, I heard a voice from the stage behind me that sounded familiar. I thought, “Damn, that guy sounds a lot like Dave Grohl”. But the Foo Fighters weren’t playing until 8:45, and I was focused on Primus, so I trudged on. And I was rewarded by an amazing hour and a half set by Les Claypool and company, who kept the audience jumping even in the blazing sun. It’s got to be hard to mosh in sand, but this crowd managed just fine. But even the moshing wasn’t too aggressive. People were happy and laid-back all weekend, just having a good time. I guess it was the beach atmosphere.

Next on my agenda was Motorhead. They played at the same time as the Flaming Lips, so their crowd was smaller. I was glad, because I got to be at the front of the stage again. They were a little more sedate than I would have liked, but they are getting pretty old. Lemmy is not that exciting to watch or photograph, he pretty much just stands in one spot. But when they ripped into Ace of Spades, the crowd went nuts, and I was headbanging along with them. I really am a metalhead at heart, and it was freaking awesome.

But I had to leave Motorhead’s set early to have time to stand in the bathroom line again and get to the Foo Fighters’ stage. I got there just before they started, and it took me several songs to get through the crowd, close enough for good photos. They were incredible. I think the only show I’ve seen that was better was Jane’s Addiction in 1990. So, best show I’ve seen in 20 years. Dave said onstage that it was the most fun he’d ever had at a festival, and then proceeded to describe his day: swam in the ocean, drank 6 Coronas, and then the festival people called and asked if they could fill in for Cee-Lo, who was late. So they did. That WAS Dave’s voice I heard earlier. I could have seen them twice, if I’d heeded my ears instead of the schedule. But then I wouldn’t have seen Primus. Hard to say which would have been better, but I’m still kicking myself. Then Dave finished describing his day by saying “and then I went back to the hotel and ate a fucking lobster”.

Taylor said that his family used to go to Gulf Shores for vacation when he was a kid, and Dave said they would be coming back to Hangout. They were obviously happy to be there, and it showed. High energy show from beginning to end. They played for two and a half hours, with no encore, “we’re just gonna play until they tell us to leave”. And they did. Fantastic.

So there was no way Sunday could have topped that, but it was still pretty good. I had planned to see Ween and The Black Keys before finishing up with Paul Simon, but I got there late and there was no way I was fighting through the crowd for Ween. I underestimated the size of the crowd and the time it would take to get to the stage, on the far side of the beach (my whole lower body is sore from walking back and forth through the sand all weekend). But I met up with some friends and we got food and sat on the beach listening to Michael Franti & Spearhead from a distance, then got in place for Paul Simon with plenty of time to spare. He didn’t disappoint us. He played a lot of songs from his new album, and old favorites as well. For his first encore he did Sound of Silence alone, without his band, followed by a full-band version of Kodachrome. Those two songs were worth the ticket price themselves. Beautiful. I was surprised at how many young people in the audience were singing along with his old songs. I thought it would be just us old farts who knew Slip Slidin’ Away and the rest. He finished with Still Crazy After All These Years. Perfect ending.

Photos are coming soon.

So who wants to join me down here next year?

[ltwoman]

Thank you for your report, l_v! You should have been a correspondant (maybe you are?) It sounds dingy, but WISH I WAS THERE!

[luna_virgo]

Photos from the weekend are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/luna_virgo ... 689694463/

If you lust over Dave Grohl as much as I do, you'll like the Foo pics! I can't believe how lucky I was to be able to take them.

[ltwoman]

Photos from the weekend are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/luna_virgo ... 689694463/

If you lust over Dave Grohl as much as I do, you'll like the Foo pics! I can't believe how lucky I was to be able to take them.

Excellent pictures, Gina. You really were up close and personal (maybe not as personal as you would have liked, but...)

[luna_virgo]

Here are a couple of videos I took. I'm not very good at it, mainly because I'm 5'1" and I have to keep my arms up over the crowd. It sucks being short at concerts.

Widespread Panic drums: http://youtu.be/1n7UHWkFCJw

Paul Simon, Hearts and Bones: http://youtu.be/hVb_U_PBHdg

[luna_virgo]

The lineup for this year's festival hasn't been announced yet, but I had so much fun last year I decided to go ahead and make hotel reservations for that weekend (May 18-20). If I don't like the lineup, I can cancel it.

I thought reserving in January might get me closer to the beach than I was last year, but no luck. Nothing still left in Gulf Shores that weekend that I can afford. So it's a hotel 10 miles away for me!

If I go, I will again report with photos.