Suwannee Hulaween—The
Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park—Live Oak, FL—Oct.31st-Nov.2nd,
2013
Suwannee Hulaween
was held at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park (SOSMP)
in Live Oak, Florida, October 31- November 2, 2013; the
weather started out perfect for festival goers with cool
afternoons and campfire nights. With no overlapping
sets, fans got to see every set if they wanted to, and
never had to worry about picking one band over the
other. Larry and Jenny Keel kicked off Hulaween
with a relaxing and delightful songlist that included
“Love”, “Ramble on Rose”, and “Panhandle”. The perfect
Halloween equation has proven to be 3 sets of The
String Cheese Incident, plus Van Ghost, and
add Larry and Jenny Keel with Brett Bass
on steel guitar and Fil Pate on mandolin.
Multiply by the Ferris Wheel, Starship 2000 (AKA The
Gravitron), The Spirit Lake, and a Suwannee Shakedown;
and now you have the most unique production that has
ever come to SOSMP.
Among the crowd was a
colorful array of costumes including: a pack of
kangaroos, Captain Insano and Towlee from South Park,
the many girls who dressed as Leeloo from the 5th
Element, and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Hulk Hogan (a girl
that surprisingly pulled off Hulkamania complete with a
mustache!). The String Cheese Incident (SCI)
kicked off the night with “Desert Dawn”, “Let’s Go
Outside”, and closed with “Texas”. The second set
started with a haunting steady bell that rang, signaling
to everyone that AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” was about to
begin. SCI appeared with a voodoo theme, complete with
feathered headdresses and face paint. As Cheese fans
know, costumes just aren’t enough; but painted
Aztec-like dancers, fire, and giant inflatable pumpkins
crowd-surfing towards the stage certainly was. They
finished the cover set with “Voodoo”, “Zombie”, “Spirits
in a Material World”, “Monster”, “Voodoo Child”, and
“Black Magic Woman”; the night then was blasted into
full force. The third set’s highlights were “Rosy”,
“Black Clouds> Big Mon> Black Clouds”, “Joyful Sounds”,
and encored with “Miss Brown’s Teahouse”, “I Saw the
Light”, and “Sledgehammer”. Everyone soon started to
make the walk to The Spirit Lake which was filled with
spooky cutouts, purple lights, metal works, the Jelly
Swing, and The Spirit Lake Stage. Van Ghost
played on the Spirit Lake Stage, which was one of the
most visually striking stages to experience at SOSMP.
Van Ghost was a delight with shredding guitar solos and
duels, trombone and trumpet solos, and the beautiful
voices of Jennifer Hartswick and Michael
Harrison Berg; the crowd quickly filled the space
and the performance was a huge success. Next was
Larry and Jenny Keel with Brett Bass and Fil Pate
with a performance just as mesmerizing, making the crowd
boogie in the dirt. Brett Bass wore a Jason hockey mask
and Fil Pate was a barefoot Pirate, delighting the crowd
with “Foggy Mountain”, “Try Me”, “Coconut”, and “420
Blues”.
As soon as everyone
recovered from Thursday night, Friday started with
Catfish Alliance, Van Ghost, Steve Kimock
and Friends, and Moon Taxi. String Cheese
Incident then played two killer sets that included
“Daryl”, “Black and White”, “Freedom Jazz Dance” with
Steve Kimock and Bernie Worrell, “Just one Story”,
“Sirens”, “Bumpin’ Reel” with Dominic Lalli,
“Restless Wind”, and “BollyMunster” as the encore. The
Ferris Wheel was the place to be when Bill Nershi
gave a shout out to those of us taking advantage of it
and the Starship 2000. Shortly after The Main Squeeze
started on the Amphitheater Stage, the monsoon started.
Four hours later, we found ourselves under a canopy by
the Bat House with friends and several Robin Hood’s
during a lightning storm. Some campsites flooded,
ruining tents, clothing, shoes, and anything else in the
path of the small rivers taking over. Sadly Big
Gigantic, Conspirator, and Jennifer
Hartswick were canceled due to weather conditions.
Friday morning
started with slight showers; then out came the clothes
lines and tarps to dry wet clothing and shoes, and a
very long line for Free Lovin’ Foodery, a favorite for
most campers between the Bat House and Spirit Lake. Like
most who camp at SOSMP, good neighbors are easy to come
by. Ours were hospitable, nice, and quickly became our
friends; we even got to have a bluegrass session with
Brett Bass and Fil Pate, which was a perfect Saturday
morning. The day’s music lineup was one not to miss with
Savi Fernandez on the Spirit Lake Stage, Brock
Butler, The Heard, Leftover Salmon,
and Elliot Lipp alternating between the
Amphitheater Stage and Main Stage, preparing for the
final night of Hulaween. String Cheese crushed
the third night with “Sometimes A River”, “Zombie
Jamboree”, “Drums” with Jeffrey Lerner (STS9) and
Luke Quaranta (Toubab Krewe), “Best Feeling>
Howard”, “Pack it up> Shake Your Body Down to the
Ground” with Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie
Cressman, “Rivertrance> This Must Be The Place/
Naive Melody”, “Outside and Inside”, and encored with
“Kashmir”. As you can imagine we all danced our booties
off all night long. Everyone concluded it was a perfect
ending for Cheese. We then introduced our neighbors to
the Gravitron and sat around for STS9. After an
exhausting 3 nights and long walks back to the Bat
House, we deemed the night a campfire night. Regretfully
we missed Applebutter Express, but we have seen
them many times, and heard that their Hulaween set was
excellent. I highly recommend for everyone to give them
a listen because the power of Applebutter Express will
draw you in! The Silent Disco was a hit Saturday
night with all available headphones in use, and a 45
minute wait just for a chance to listen. Jason Haan
made an appearance and by what we could see, but not
hear, everyone, including himself was having a blast!
Suwannee Hulaween
delivered the fun filled weekend we all knew it would
be. Everyone in attendance was thrilled to be a part of
the experience, and the overall consensus was that
people would love to see Hulaween return in 2014. When
you combine the audio and visual art show that is String
Cheese Incident with the caliber of artists that
performed and The Spirit Lake, you’ve just had yourself
a festival that will go down in the books. Suwannee
Hulaween outdid themselves and put together one of the
most fun festivals I have ever had the chance to go to.
FULL PHOTO
GALLERY
HERE
Written by: Kristi Pye
Photos by:
Joey Pye
Edited by: Rosemary A.W.
Roberts
