It all started with a finger. Richard Finger that is.
After catching the enigmatic electronic duo earlier this year, we knew we wanted to see them again. While looking through their upcoming tour dates, something caught our eye. A festival that had been on the edges of our radar for years but had never quite come into focus: Hulaween.
What started as a search for another Richard Finger show turned into plans for four days at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida. A few months later, we found ourselves pulling into the sprawling campground about to discover a festival world (spoiler alert) we wish we had found much sooner.
And fittingly, the first act we caught after arriving was none other than Richard Finger.
It was admittedly a mild crime to have the duo performing in the middle of the afternoon, when their music begs for darkness, flashing lights, and lasers. But that didn’t stop them from doing what they do best: delivering a hard-hitting set that had the crowd throwing down and having a great time.
While their name and larger-than-life personas might suggest otherwise, Richard Finger takes their music seriously. Their sound is heavier and more intricate than the absurdity surrounding the act might lead you to expect. But they never lose sight of the fun. It’s that combination of serious music, but with a refusal to take themselves too seriously, that makes any Richard Finger set such a good time.
With so much music packed into Thursday’s schedule, there was little time to explore everything else Hulaween had to offer. Spirit Lake and the festival’s many other attractions would have to wait for another day. For now, we had more music to catch.
Next up was AHEE, who kicked things off by announcing that he’d had something special planned for the crowd, but it wasn’t going to work out. Instead, we were getting a raw set, just for us.
Frankly, we’re not sure we could have handled whatever Plan A was, because Plan B ended up being one of the most talked-about performances of the night. AHEE came out swinging with a set that was considerably harder than anything we’d anticipated, catching even longtime fans off guard. As one audience member put it, “If I didn’t know who was on stage, I would never know it was him!” And they meant that in the best possible way.
We’re counting the loss of Plan A as a blessing in disguise. What we got instead introduced us to a whole other side of AHEE’s music, one we’re now eager to explore further.
Unfortunately, the next item on our schedule was an unexpected trip back to camp. Somehow we missed the memo that the sunshine state sometimes gets cold at night. We grabbed some long sleeves and headed straight back out. There was too much music to miss.
Our next stop was our first visit to Hulaween’s famed Amphitheater, where Riordan was keeping the party going.
The rising British DJ and producer was an artist we’d heard of and listened to occasionally. But he’d really caught our attention while we were digging into the lineup ahead of the festival. Blending UK garage, house, and tech house, Riordan has quickly made a name for himself, and we were eager to see what he could do live.
The Amphitheater turned out to be one of our favorite settings of the weekend. Its bowl-shaped layout creates a surprisingly close connection between the artist and the audience, with tiered seating overlooking the dance floor. Of course, with music like this, hardly anyone was sitting. Instead, the seats provided an excellent vantage point over a pit full of dancing bodies, bobbing totems, and nonstop movement.
We would have happily stayed longer, but there was another set calling our name. It was time to make our way to Crankdat.
By the time he took the stage, a massive crowd had gathered for one of Thursday’s most anticipated performances. His rise over the past few years has been as explosive as his bass. And with so many recognizable tracks and remixes in his arsenal, he had plenty of material to keep the crowd moving.
We’ve caught Crankdat before, but this felt like it was on a different level. All the wild energy and fun that made his earlier performances so memorable were still there, but now there’s a headliner’s polish to the whole production. From the music to the lights, everything felt bigger and sharper, without losing any of the chaos that makes his sets so much fun.
Down in the pit, things were intense. There was barely enough room to dance, but just enough space to headbang at the rail as the lights washed over the crowd. Stepping back from the stage revealed the full picture. What had felt like a packed, chaotic pocket of fans up front was actually an enormous field of people moving together. He’d managed to sync the entire crowd, turning the field into one pulsing sea of motion.
If Crankdat had pushed the energy to its limits, Excision was about to see just how much further it could go.
Somehow, we’d managed to go years without seeing Excision until earlier this year. Our first encounter had been at another festival, where the crowd had thinned considerably by the time his late-night set began. Hulaween was a completely different story. With the field packed full of fans, we finally got to experience the full force of an Excision performance.
Up until now, one thing that had surprised us throughout the evening was the relative lack of lasers. The earlier performances had relied primarily on lighting effects, leaving us wondering where all the lasers were hiding. Once Excision took the stage, we had our answer. Apparently, he’d stolen all of them.
With lasers slicing across the field and a massive crowd ready for whatever he threw their way, Excision delivered a career-spanning set that showed just how many different ways he can get an audience to move. His collaboration with ILLENIUM and Wooli on the cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” sparked a huge singalong, while “Bonebreaker” had fans headbanging and throwing themselves into mosh pits. Then there was “Feel Something,” his collaboration with ILLENIUM and I Prevail, which turned the field into a massive, cathartic scream-along.
It was part singalong, part headbanging frenzy, and part communal therapy session, all delivered with enough bass and lasers to make sure nobody forgot it. We’d enjoyed Excision the first time around, but Hulaween finally showed us that extra spark we’d been missing.
And we weren’t supposed to be finished yet.
We had every intention of staying up for Magoo and the secret dj sets at Spirit Lake. We were going to make our way to the Incendia Stage to dance, or at least listen to music while other people danced, until the early hours of the morning. But after five hard-hitting sets, the exhaustion of an eight-hour drive finally catching up with us, and a temperature drop nearly as dramatic as one of Excision’s, our plans fell apart.
We headed back to camp, crawled under the blankets, and decided to rest for just a little while.
And… the next thing we knew, it was Friday morning.
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