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10 Years of Hulaween

September 28, 2023 - By Sasha

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They say time flies when you're having fun. That old adage is proving true this year, as Hulaween celebrates its 10th anniversary. It's been so much fun down at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Florida that a decade has flown by in the blink of an eye! As this legendary festival gets ready to celebrate the big milestone from October 26-29, we here at CashorTrade are reflecting on all the good times at Hulaween over the years. Let's start by going back to where it all started...

2013

Hulaween-2013

Way back when in 2013, String Cheese Incident had an idea to throw a big Halloween party. As their fans have a tendency to tote their hula-hoops, Hulaween seemed like the perfect name. For that first edition, they went with voodoo as the theme. A highlight of the theme set was a Voodoo Child > Black Magic Woman to close it out.

They brought along STS9 and Big Gigantic to keep the party going late into the night. The 14,000 in attendance knew they were on to something special...

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2014

For its sophomore year, Hulaween came out with an afterlife theme. The set featured the Antibalas horns and several excellent cover choices, including Don't Fear the Reaper and Stairway to Heaven.

After the success of the first year, the festival expanded to include a Thursday night pre-party with jamband supergroup Electron. In addition to the three Incidents, other notable acts on the lineup were JRAD, Greensky Bluegrass, and Thievery Corporation. They even added a silent disco to keep the beats going well into the night.

2015

Hulaween-2015

The third iteration of Hulaween featured one of the coolest themes it's ever had - ghoul train. That's right - the special Cheese set was a ghostly version of the 70's show "Soul Train."

SCI brought the horns back for this set that featured classic tunes such as Brick House and the apropos I'm Your Boogie Man. Other headliners this year included Pretty Lights, Primus, and Chance the Rapper, showing they could branch out from being a jamband fest.

2016

Going off the popularity of the TV show, this year had a "Stringier Things" 80's theme. The highlight of this set was definitely the epic medley of Another One Bites The Dust > White Lines > The Safety Dance > Come On Eileen > Relax > Thriller > Never Gonna Give You Up > Don't You Want Me.

Joining the party in '16 were My Morning Jacket, Disclosure, and Umphrey's McGee atop the most eclectic lineup yet. The secret was out at this point, as it was the first year they had to cap sales at 20,000.

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2017

Hulaween-2017

For this year, Hulaween went with a loving dead theme. As you might guess, the special Cheese set was full of love with tunes like Love Rollercoaster and Turn On Your Lovelight.

The festival kept pushing the envelope with diverse headliners joining Cheese, such as GRiZ, Ween, and Run the Jewels. At this point, the pre-party basically became a can't-miss 4th day of the fest and it's stayed that way ever since.

2018

The 2018 edition of Hulaween featured a creatures of the galaxy theme, with the special Cheese set focused on women of the galaxy. Various female singers joined on vocals for classics such as Respect and Heartbreaker.

Janelle Monae also got a well-deserved headlining slot this year. Other headliners included the legendary Jamiroquai, ODESZA, and Tipper. For the 3rd year in a row, Hulaween sold out with 20,000 costumed revelers descending upon the Spirit of the Suwannee.

2019

Hulaween-2019

Having covered the 70's and 80's, it was only fitting that SCI finally took fans to the 90's. Their Saturday set ranged the gamut from Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit) to TLC (Waterfalls) to Radiohead (Creep). They even covered Phish, playing The Wedge off of 1993's Rift.

Hulaween continued to deliver on its eclectic lineups, bringing Anderson .Paak, Jason Isbell, and Big Wild along as fellow headliners. By this point it had become a bucket list destination for festival goers, setting an attendance record of 21,000.

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2021

We all know what happened in 2020, so there's no need to explain why there wasn't a festival that year. Hulaween made a triumphant return in '21 with a monster mash theme. The Saturday Cheese set was full of tunes encouraging festival-goers to shake their tail feathers, with tunes such as You Should Be Dancing and Lose Yourself to Dance.

Other big names joining the fun this year included Leon Bridges, Zeds Dead, and Khruangbin, who ended their set with an epic Ghostbusters > Thriller after a costume change.

One of the most talked about moments from '21 was the surprise b2b set put on by EDM legends Bonobo and Skrillex at the fiery Incendia Stage. You just never know what kind of magic you're going to stumble upon at Hulaween!

2022

Hulaween-2021

Just like that, we've walked down memory lane all the way to the most recent Hulaween. Last year's fest had a Suwannee Horror Disco Show theme full of bangers such as Highway to Hell, Disco Inferno, and of course the track Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The 2022 edition reminded fans that the real headliner of this festival is the grounds itself, especially Spirit Lake and all of the art pieces around it. This is festival that you go to for the vibe just as much as the music.

Of course, they brought along a ton of incredible artists as well, from Louis the Child all the way to Portugal. The Man. Perhaps this was a nod to how the festival itself has grown up from its humble beginnings in 2013 to the world-class event that it is now..

2023

What do SCI and Hulaween have in store for us this year for the 10th anniversary? They're pulling out all the stops with headliners including the returning King of EDM Pretty Lights, Trey Anastasio and Classic TAB, and Goose. They just dropped the schedule and it looks amazing.

Stay tuned for the theme announcement which should come sooner than later. In the meantime, don't miss out on this huge anniversary party and jump on CashorTrade to get your Hulaween tickets from real fans for face value or less.