Organizers of the inaugural Hangout Music Festival have released the first wave of performers for the new three-day event, set to bring a major touring festival to the beach in Gulf Shores for the first time.
The festival is scheduled for May 14-16, 2010, on the sand at The Hangout, the popular restaurant and entertainment venue on the Gulf Shores public beach. The initial lineup includes bluegrass and country star Alison Krauss, mash-up DJ Girl Talk, R&B singer John Legend, the Zac Brown Band, the Black Crowes, guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, Gov’t Mule, Michael Franti and Spearhead, reggae artist Matisyahu, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and Ozomatli, among others.
Organizers followed up with a second round of additions, bringing in Guster, Brett Dennen, Keller Williams, Jerry Jeff Walker, ALO, the Whigs, OK Go, Orianthi, Pnuma Trio, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Toubab Krewe, Matt Hires, A.A. Bondy, Rachel Goodrich and Moon Taxi. The full festival is expected to feature roughly 60 acts once the complete bill is announced.
Three More Acts Join the Bill
As the festival’s May dates approached, organizers announced three additional performers: Robert Randolph & The Family Band, known for their high-energy pedal steel guitar shows; New Orleans-rooted guitarist Papa Mali, appearing with his band Friends; and the Honey Island Swamp Band, a Louisiana roots-rock outfit with a growing Gulf Coast following. Organizers also said additional late-night performances, beyond the main daytime and evening schedule, would be announced separately.
Lineup Grows to Include National Headliners
By the spring of 2010, the confirmed bill had expanded well beyond the festival’s first two waves to include Trey Anastasio and TAB, Ben Harper and Relentless7, the Flaming Lips, Ray LaMontagne, Jakob Dylan performing with Three Legs featuring Neko Case and Kelly Hogan, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the Funky Meters, North Mississippi All-Stars, Davy Knowles & Back Door Slam, Needtobreathe, and Jeff Austin & Friends featuring Larry Keel, alongside a run of regional and emerging acts including El Cantador, Kristy Lee, Roman Street, Kirsten Price, Wild Sweet Orange and Rustlanders. With four stages planned, including two set up directly on the Gulf of Mexico beach, organizers were promoting the debut as a full weekend of music paired with beach activities.
Tickets and Local Sales
A limited allotment of three-day passes went on sale early for $115 through The Hangout in Gulf Shores, Surf Style stores in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Serda’s Coffee in Mobile, and Blues Angel Music in Pensacola. National ticket sales were set to open Feb. 15, with the three-day pass price rising to $159 once the broader public sale began. Organizers later added a limited number of single-day passes at $79, along with VIP ticket and travel packages starting at $500, available online or by phone.
A New Kind of Festival for the Alabama Coast
Shaul Zislin, owner of The Hangout and the Surf Style retail chain, said more of the festival’s roughly 60 scheduled acts would be announced around the time national ticket sales opened. The event marked an ambitious bet on bringing a large-scale, multi-day music festival to the Alabama Gulf Coast, an area better known at the time for spring break crowds and beach tourism than for hosting national touring acts across genres ranging from bluegrass to hip-hop-inflected DJ sets.
The festival would go on to become an annual fixture in Gulf Shores, drawing tens of thousands of fans to the beach each spring in the years that followed its 2010 debut.