LIVE OAK, FLORIDA – Suwannee Hulaween has been on my bucket list for over 5 years, so when I saw that the lineup announcement included jam band legend Trey Anastasio, coveted underdogs like Blu DeTiger, and a long awaited return of Pretty Lights, I knew I had to attend.
I arrived at the Tampa airport, and drove up with my friends to Live Oak, which was a 3 hour drive. Getting into the venue was easy. We arrived late Thursday evening, and there was no line. Everything went smoothly, until we realized that many of the prime camping locations were taken.
The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park has a massive campground. Spots filled up quickly, and unfortunately, groups would rope off large spaces, often more than they needed for their camp. If you showed up after early arrival, you would likely be driving around the venue for up to an hour looking for a spot. When you finally found a spot, it would likely be far away from where the music took place. In extreme cases, you could end up walking 15-20 minutes to get to the venue gate entrance.
To make matters worse, many areas that were reserved for people with RVs, electric and water hookups had no proper signage to tell campers not to park there. Many campers had their weekend ruined because their car got towed while they were dancing in the crowd, completely unaware. One vital improvement to the campground would be for the staff to include proper signage indicating where GA campers are allowed to set up camp.
Despite these challenges, The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park was the most magical festival venue I’ve ever been to. The sprawling pine and oak forests helped campers keep cool during the hot days. The Suwannee River, about a mile away from the main venue, offered a delightful swimming spot during the hottest times of the day, and there was even an hourly shuttle to get there.
The massive campgrounds were adorned with several renegade stages, art installations, and lighting effects that made the woods come alive. Some of the renegade stages, brought by enthusiastic campers, featured impressive lightning, laser arrays, and sound systems from the likes of Funktion-One and Hennessey. The campgrounds also featured free showers. There were hot showers near Spirit Lake, but these usually had longer lines. Cold shower stations were set up throughout the campground as well. Overall, the site had the best forested festival campgrounds I’ve ever been to.
Goose played their incredible 2-hour set on Friday.
📷: Tara Gracer
Once we set up camp, we were a 10 minute walk to the main venue entrance, which wasn’t too bad. The venue where most of the festivities took place was relatively manageable; you could walk from one side to the other in about 10 minutes. However, the campgrounds sprawled over a massive 800 acres.
There were six stages at Hulaween. The two main stages, The Hallows and The Meadow, switched off between each set so that there was no delay for set up and break down for each artist. The stages themselves featured basic metal frame designs, with large printed Hulaween graphics and LED screens.
The Amphitheater stage also had a basic design, but the area had raised platforms, trees, and psychedelic shade structures hung above the stage. The Spirit Lake stage had white columns on each side, but the sound was hard to hear in the back when big crowds gathered here. Incendia stage is an art installation that tours to multiple festivals. At Hulaween, it hosted impromptu and secret DJ sets, and featured large geodesic domes with pyro effects. The Campground stage was a smaller, basic stage that featured smaller acts.
The sound quality at the stages was overall very good. I was able to enjoy front-row, crystal clear audio during performances by Trey Anastasio Band, Dispatch, and Manic Focus. The music was usually not too loud even at the rail. I rarely had to use earplugs. However, there were some sets where the sound quality and volume were struggling, especially when the crowd was larger. I noticed that it was hard to hear the music clearly near the back of the crowd during performances by Pretty Lights, Lespecial, and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. The venue seemed overpacked at times, and it was hard to navigate crowds, especially when people set up barricades of blankets, lawn chairs, and inflatable couches.
The String Incident played multiple sets daily, and I especially enjoyed Saturday evening’s R&B and blues set, which included a modest firework display at the end. Pretty Lights played many of his classic tracks, like “I Know The Truth” for the first hour of his Saturday evening set, followed by what seemed like live-produced jam iterations of songs with his live band for the second hour.
Big Wild also featured a live band, with several electro-pop hits like “City of Sound” from his newer albums, but capped his set with his original future-bass and future-house hits like “When I Get There“. As a major headliner, Big Wild’s set could have easily taken place at one of the main stages rather than the Amphitheater stage.
There were dozens of food and merch vendors throughout the music park and campgrounds. The merch vendors offered a wide variety of fashion items, useful gear, and spiritual trinkets. The food options were excellent and catered to various dietary restrictions, including vegan and gluten-free options.
The Spirit Lake section of the venue was especially magical, with laser and light effects that hovered over the lake, and even projected holograms in the lake’s fountains. The Spirit Lake area came alive at night, with several interactive art installations, live painters, a workshop area, tea ceremonies, a spooky chapel, and more.
Overall, the vibes at Hulaween were unparalleled. I saw so many smiles on people’s faces, and people were polite and friendly. For me, Hulaween takes its place as one of the best music festivals in the United States, ranking high alongside other jam/EDM mega-fests like Electric Forest and Summer Camp. With its incredible display of interactive art, its wide array of vendors, and its magical setting in the Live Oak forest of North Florida, Hulaween 2023 left its mark as an unforgettable and incredibly magical experience.
