Hangout Music Festival 2018 Recap

Hangout Music Festival is a unique gem in the festival world. With new festivals large and small popping up every year, you need more than a good lineup to standout and breakthrough. Hangout does that with its placement on the beautiful beaches of Gulf Shores Alabama and the overall beach, chill vibes throughout the festival. From the strategically placed over-sized unicorn floats, to the hammocks, over-sized Hangout beach chair and the VIP pool, it’s certainly an experience that pulls you in and you don’t want to leave.

Hangout Music Festival 2018 took place Friday, May 18-Sunday, May 20. Every year on Thursday, there is a kick-off party for early festival goers. Unfortunately, this year, it was cancelled due to weather and everyone was refunded their ticket for the evening. That is the one negative of a beach festival. Any outdoor festival is subject to Mother Nature’s will, but that is tripled when you have to worry about high tides and possible hurricane like winds from the ocean. Thankfully, after Thursday the rest of the festival went off just as planned and the good vibes, music, and high flows were endless.

This year, I had the pleasure of being press for the festival. I arrived Friday mid-day after a quick 6 hour drive. We first checked into our condo, Tidewater Condominium , which was located about 15 minutes away in Orange Beach. East Beach Boulevard where the festival is located is lined with great condo, house and hotel options as far as the eye can see on either side. For those that stay close, it’s an easy walk. For those that are a bit further, there are great shuttle options provided by the festival, bike rentals or you can Lyft and/or get a taxi everyday like we did. Free parking is limited so I suggest one the above options.

Once we got our credentials, we headed over to Sour Punch Candy. Hangout was the first stop of “The Embrace Your Punch” Inaugural Tour. The tour includes a unique pop-up experience where festival goers could sample three special Sour Punch flavors, play games and win prizes. I had the change to speak with Kylie Martin, brand ambassador, about how people can spread happiness and kindness at and beyond the festival. “Our goal is to not only deliver smiles with delicious treats, but more importantly a sweeter =message from the heart, Embrace Your Punch. Love yourself and everything that makes you unique and appreciate e those differences,” said, Kristi Shafer, Vice President of Marketing at American Licorice Company.

After enjoying some Sour Punch candy, we went to check out the media and VIP area. Then we went to enjoy Oh Wonder at the Surf stage. Corona always had a great activation with a DJ that we stopped at for a quick dance. My favorite brand activations were Bai, Diet Coke, JBL. Bai has quickly become my favorite drink due to the natural green tea, vitamin C and antioxidants. It comes in a variety of tasty flavors that are island inspired. Diet Coke was showing off their new flavors. I tried 3 and definitely will say the Mango was my favorite. JBL Audio had a great booth that allowed attendees to try their various headphones and portable speakers, play games and have a chance to win VIP tickets to next year’s festival. Music is always the main attraction of any festival, but it’s nice when brands go the extra mile to create dope experiences to fill time in-between sets.

I also stopped by Head Count to learn more about their organization. They are a national, non-partisan, non-profit that registers Millennial voters at concerts and music festivals. They have a cool alert system that will text you when a local election is happening in your district. You can catch them on the Warped Tour happening now.

Saturday, we had a full day of beach and music. My favorite set was the last set of the night, ChainSmokers. We also saw Logic, Anderson Paak and Halsey. Anderson Paak was also amazing, he not only rapped, but played the drums for a few songs. I was certainly impressed and will def be checking out another show when he’s in Nashville. I unfortunately missed day 3 as I had to get back to Nashville for an event. I am already looking forward to next year and will make sure I can go Thursday through Monday. 2 days on the beach just isn’t enough.

Have you been to Hangout Festival before? If not, I recommend you sign-up for the email list and try to attend next year. From the beach to the music, you will not be disappointed. There are GA, VIP and Super VIP options. No matter what ticket you choose, you’re sure to have a good time at Hangout. What other festivals are you attending this year? Festival season isn’t over yet. Let me know if you have any other questions about Hangout in the comments below.

love,

Leigh