Hangout Fest 2018!

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My sister has been in Pensacola, FL the past few months and earlier in the year, we decided to meet up for Hangout Fest, a three-day festival in Gulf Shores, AL.  There were several bands I was excited to see and I knew that at a festival like that, I’d make several new-to-me discoveries.

I flew in Friday morning and took an Uber to her house.  After I made sure that their bulldog Peaches wasn’t too disturbed with my presence, I let him out of the bedroom and gave him a few pats.  He was so happy, I received a drooly shake of the head.  Brady came home for lunch and we packed the car for the Fest.  I went to drop her off at work but good news- her afternoon class was cancelled.  Hooray!  After a stop at the Mini-Mart, we were off to Alabama!  We picked up some Everclear and dropped off our shuttle passes for resale by StubHub, which were successfully sold later that day.  Yay!  

We stayed at a group house rented by one of her classmates.  They were a really great group of people and a lot of fun to hang out with.  Brady and I stuck together all weekend while the group slightly shifted depending on who wanted to see which act.  There were several overlaps where choices had to be made.  Brady and I were pretty happy with our chosen line-up!

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Friday was the highlight day for me, which was why I had taken the day off.  We saw half of the Cold War Kids set, Portugal. The Man, Zedd, and the Killers.  I really liked Portugal, who had a more modern rock sound than their radio single would suggest.  Zedd was a surprise as he ended up DJ’g a huge party on the beach.  It was so much fun.  Finally, although I love the Killers, I feel like Brandon Flowers’ vocals have been better.  The band was good, though.  Maybe I’m just snobby since I’ve seen them with excellent shows in smaller venues.

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Saturday featured Anderson.Paak and the Free Nationals, Poolside, Halsey, and St Vincent.  I really liked Anderson.Paak- his energy was awesome.  Poolside was a bit more mellow and I didn’t realize that a band, rather than a computer/synth, made their sounds.  Brady and I spent an hour on “Corona Beach,” one of the three beach access points.  Swimming and taking a quick snooze made for a fantastic break.  As the evening approached, Halsey was awesome and way better than her radio singles would suggest.   Finally, St Vincent put on a great show, which we enjoyed rather than seeing the Chainsmokers, which we were both “meh” about.

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On Sunday, Brady dropped me off at the Florabama bar since my flight left at 7, which was too early to make going to the concert worth it.  I sold my ticket to a friend of hers and then spent the afternoon sunning, swimming, and drinking Bushwhackers.  It was a relaxing afternoon.

Then, it was off to the airport.  Although all the flights went through, there were massive delays I didn’t get to my final destination until 4:30.  People were going through TSA for the morning flights by the time we arrived.  Yuck.  Work was a little rough since I had such little sleep but it was worth it for an amazing weekend!

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