Intern Insights: Sophia Talks Hangout Fest

June 16, 2022

My Experience at Hangout Music Festival 🙂

Picture this; it’s a random day in April. I’m sitting on a bench in front of Daniel Hall (because where else would I be) when I receive a call from my cousin with an offer that I couldn’t refuse. 

“Would you come with me to Hangout Music Festival if my mom buys you a ticket?”

While in utter confusion because I’ve never heard of Hangout Music Festival, I tell her that I’ll call her back. My first move is to look it up. I see the names “Post Malone” and “Doja Cat” and I immediately call her back and say yes without hesitation. Believe it or not, I have never been to a concert other than Bruce Springstein with my mom (ugh) so this was really exciting for me! My aunt wanted me to come because my cousin is 17 years old, and she needed someone to watch over her.

My cousin’s cat, Snooki 🙂

Fast forward to May 19, 2022– it’s time to go! Hangout Fest is in Gulf Shores, Alabama. My cousin lives a few hours away from there, in Fort Payne. On the

Thursday of May 19, I flew to her house, where I was warmly welcomed by her adorable cats. 

The next morning, we drove down to Gulf Shores. We stayed in an RV park, which was something I never thought I’d do, but it was actually really cute and convenient– a 5 minute walk from the festival! After spending 2 hours covering ourselves in makeup, bubble braids, and glitter, it was time to go. It had to be 90 degrees out, but we didn’t care. As soon as we walked in, I was shocked by the atmosphere; the entire festival was on the beach! There were food stands everywhere, 4 stages, a DJ tent, hammocks, and so many people. We started at the Surf Stage where Oliver Tree performed. I was really excited to hear him because of his song “Alien Boy.” The crowd was ecstatic when that song came on! After this, we went to the DJ tent for quite some time. Though it was blazing hot in there, it was probably the most fun little tent to be inside. We were dancing our butts off for hours while multiple DJ’s came through!

Post Malone singing “Stay”

We can skip the rest of these little performances and start talking about the headliners. Zedd was amazing, with a strong start and lots of flames. Following Zedd was my favorite artist, Post Malone. We didn’t leave the crowd during the hour break between Zedd and Post Malone, and we spent this hour shoving our way to the front. We got pretty close! Post Malone was amazing– his performance was so meaningful and you could tell that he cared so much for his fans. I even cried when my favorite song, Circles, came on.

The next day, we were supposed to see Doja Cat, however she unfortunately canceled due to issues with her tonsils. On the bright side, Lil Yachty had to be the most fun performance ever. He handed out water bottles for his performance, and made everyone open them and throw them in the air at the same time– it was awesome!

Overall, Hangout Fest was the experience of a lifetime and I will definitely be returning next year. Not only was it so much fun, but it also brought me so much closer to my cousin!

–Sophia Wilkins, Junior, Communication