Review #12: Hulaween 2023

HULLLLLLLLLLA 

Another magical year once again. The energy was so intense but much needed. 

Where to begin? 

I highly recommend getting early entry to Hulaween as it gets pretty crazy the closer to Thursday it is. 

Couple of my friends said it took them an hour to find a spot and they arrived midday Wednesday. I then bought early entry and arrived Wednesday night around 3 AM and it took me 45 minutes to find a spot.

Luckily, we weren’t really a big group this year so we were able to squeeze in right on the slither of space. We ended up being right in front of this group of people that had the sickest renegade I’ve ever seen. The music was always good and they had lasers and everybody was hanging out all night.

The renegades in the campgrounds are always so freaking cool I love that they do that so much. 

Security staff shut down the renegades around 5 AM. I guess that is pretty fair, but there was a good amount of people still awake listening to the music. I wish that they would have just told them to lower it but I get it people need to sleep maybe we should have a quiet camping area? 

Hulas camping has always been a free-for-all so you can camp wherever your heart desires. They were making people take down their caution tape this year as you were not allowed to save spots. I still saw people doing this and using their cars to hold spots which I don’t really because I’ve done that before. 

Security was chill going into camping. But there were cops, undercover cops, and security staff walking around all over the festival. The security to get into the venue was way more strict this year and there was a lot of items that were previously allowed that weren’t allowed in this year. For example, I couldn’t bring a tote bag with extra pairs of clothes super weird because people were bringing wagons in and chairs, but I couldn’t bring a bag with clothes in it, I’ve never seen security like this, so it was pretty interesting. The lines were pretty long each day to get in and we went in around four or five each day. They did say it was a new security team this year and I will say that no one checked my wristband once. 

Medical was on it as usual. One night this guy was on the ground still responsive but pretty out of it and this guy was taking a video of him. I thought it was so fucked up I went up to him and said, are you really taking a video right now? And as I was saying that a security guard also was telling him to stop, so I appreciated that they told him to stop. Super weird vibes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone like that at Hula. 

The production was pretty good. The only stage that I felt was kind of low was the hallows. And I thought they could’ve done more with Spirit Lake stage. 

The crowd is always a little older, which is nice because it’s not a bunch of fucked up kids being stupid. It’s all ages so it’s not uncommon to see children which we saw all weekend and it was super cute. I love that people are able to take their kids to experience a festival with them and Hula the chillest even though at night I wouldn’t say it’s the most appropriate in some areas but I still think it’s cool. Also, proper hearing protection for kids is definitely a necessary thing.

The vibe is always super awesome but always intense. I feel this is due to it falling during Scorpio season every year and of course it was an eclipse and a full moon on Saturday night so the energy was INSANE. The theme on Saturday night was werewolves, which is warlocks all of those magical things, and during the last cheese set of the night everybody was howling at the moon. It was so cool but so crazy. 

I would also like to reiterate that Hulaween is NOT and edm festival.

That being said, I think that the EDM stage could still use some work, which is spirit lake. I think they just need to make the stage bigger. The sound is getting better each year but the stage itself is really not that cool. 

The amphitheater was never too crowded this year, and always had good sound. 

I felt mainstage for lights was a little low. I also felt like it was absolutely insane for pretty lights. a lot of people felt that it was sold over 25,000 this year which it definitely felt like that for cheese and pretty lights. I would hope that they didn’t go over 25,000 because 25,000 is what HULA  can hold. 

Spirit itself was absolutely amazing. I loved that it went all around the lake. The light show on the lake was insane and so well put together. All all of the art was absolutely incredible. I love that incendia was on the other side of the lake. There was an art gallery, which was so cool and they just had so many things to interact with and do. I miss the sand tables they used to have though those are my favorite. 

The silent disco was so freaking cool and so much fun. There was a house DJ one night and I can’t remember her name but she was absolutely killing it.

Huge shout out to all of the artists, all of the art was absolutely incredible, and so nice to look at.

I typically use HULA  as a time to learn new music and see people I wouldn’t normally see or experience. That’s why I like HULA  so much. This year I discovered a band called Couch. They were so amazing the singer was a girl and she was such a vibe, the energy on the stage, and then the crowd was so cute. 

The crowd is a mix. There was a lot of people that had absolutely no manners, and there was a lot of people that did I would say the majority had more manners than not mostly because like I said, it’s an older crowd and people are just chiller.

The bathrooms were pretty clean for the most part they were on it as much as they could be and I think they were on it a little more than last year only a couple times I didn’t have any toilet paper in a porta potty I went into.

Showers were free. We took a shower in the bathrooms the first day, but then we showered right next to our campsite with the freewater spouts. They turned off the wooden showers at 1 PM which I can’t understand for the life of me why they would turn them off that early. I don’t know how the fuck they expect everybody to shower before 1 PM, but some people got their showers turned off on them while they still had soap in their hair. That’s crazy to me. 

The weather was OK I was super pissed off because of course the weekend after this was freezing and in the 70s during the day while we got 80s during the day and 60s at night it did get pretty cold around 3:58 AM. I was freezing at times in the tent, but during the day, it was so fucking hot out.  Global warming is still a thing.

The food was OK it’s not ever my favorite HULA  but it’s not ridiculously expensive like other festivals. It’s definitely pricey, but not like others. Everything I ate was pretty good.

I love the different genres at this festival. You can go from a jam to an experimental, basic to a jazz set and so on and so forth. 

Overall, HULA still remains one of my festival favorites. I always have such an incredible time, and I always find new music. The art is so worth it and the vibes are always there at Suwanee. I’m at such nice people and I just love the environment so much and it keeps me coming back every year. I got to see and hang out with so many of my friends that went. Such an awesome time.

NEXT UP EDC ORLANDO (pray 4 me)