Day two of 2024 Hangout Fest shines after early rain delay
The Hangout staff couldn’t hold off the weather forever for us, and day two started with an hour-long delay. The BLANK crew received regular updates via the official WhatsApp group, from 5 a.m. all the way through doors being open. The official festival app refreshed and reorganized the schedule, changing set times, stages and even days for some artists, with real-time notifications displaying on our phones’ lock screens. So long to the days of paper schedules and asking your nearest festival wook if they knew how far behind schedule the day was. The Hangout Fest team may not control the weather, but they certainly are in firm control of the organization of their festival. Here are our favorites from day two.
Willow Avalon
As soon as we made it through the gates, the crew and I went straight to the Mermaid Stage to catch a few Willow Avalon songs. The up-and-coming country singer from Nashville is catching the wave of Sierra Ferrell, Molly Tuttle and other female singers slinging oversized guitars and sharing their oversized hearts. She kept her set simple, performing in a cute white dress with a band of smiling Nashville boys that kept it locked down. Her crowd was criminally small, but we’ll blame it on the rain delay and cross our fingers she returns to the beach sometime soon.
Chappell Roan
I have never been so sure that an artist is on their way to being a global superstar than I am with Chappell Roan. Take a drive through East Nashville, downtown Asheville or South Knoxville, and you’ll hear “Good Luck, Babe!” pouring out of coffeeshops, repeating on independent radio and taking over boutique retail playlists. She commanded headliner energy even as only the second act of the day on the main stage. Despite the rain delay, a rushed setup and even bouts with some sound overlap from a nearby stage, Roan was professional and firing on all cylinders from start to finish. She welcomed us to what she called her Super Bowl, as the performer was, in fact, adorned with shoulder pads, a custom red “Good Luck, Babe!” jersey and eye black to match.
Delivering hit after hit, she commanded a crowd of screaming and crying superfans through singalongs and a “YMCA”-style hand-motion routine during her song “HOT TO GO!” A lot of her songs are about the experience of a queer woman, but her songwriting is eloquent and accessible enough that people from myriad different relationships and situations can identify. As a result, I saw people of all kinds singing along. Never afraid to be herself by letting out a scream, taking a draw from her big metal water bottle or shouting out her ex for the song inspo, she is an icon for queer women and Gen Zers everywhere.
Qveen Herby
I wasn’t familiar with Qveen Herby when I stumbled upon a “Beetlejuice”-esque set design on the Shoreline Stage. It was complete with a red velvet chair and a black and white-striped changing booth. It even featured a slick white-haired butler. The audience was assigned a spirit guide who helped move the set along from song to song and transformed the crowd into a community of believers. Her sexy, witchy stage presence was theatrical, and her voice was incredibly strong and clearly classically trained. It’s rare to see a combination of styles like Qveen Herby espoused, but her blend of “Addams Family” musical and hip-hop worked well and was highly entertaining to watch.
Cage the Elephant
Cage the Elephant has been a festival staple for years, and for good reason. Lead singer Matt Shultz has still got his youthful spirit, running back and forth on the stage and back and forth through the photo pit nonstop. Touring behind the recent release “Neon Pill,” there were plenty of new songs shared and not nearly enough time to squeeze in all the hits. Driving electric guitar and hard-hitting vocals surged through the crowd and felt right at home on the festival main stage. Cage’s sunset set was the perfect transition from the beach vibes of the day to the electric aura of the nighttime headliners.
ODESZA
I decided to camp out at the Hangout main stage after Cage the Elephant to get really close to the barricades for ODESZA. I’d never seen their show before but had heard from others that it was quite a spectacle. ODESZA has been doing a similar sort of show for a long time, and while it might get old for some, through talking with others camping out, it seems some have grown to love it even more. Either way, it’s obvious that time and repetition has turned the performance into a well-oiled machine. The drumline is the focal point of the performance, with each drummer rotating through costumes and switching out marching snares for massive bass drums. They were perfectly in sync (even down to their facial expressions) and brought intense energy, motion and traditional instrumentation to the otherwise electronic set. Complete with fireworks, pyrotechnics, lasers and lots of LED walls, ODESZA delivered everything you could want out of an electronic headliner in a consistent, highly efficient package.
Hangout Fest continues with its final day today, featuring Zach Bryan and the rescheduling of Sexyy Red. Will they give the people the collab we all want to see? Stay tuned.
