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Review: Kings of Leon, The Shins, Macklemore at Hangout Fest

I’m sitting here on a lawn chair in the sand, watching the waves crash against the sand, as Jim James’ psychedelic musings drifted over from the Hangout Stage. Now that’s the way to see a concert.

Today we come to you from sunny Gulf Shores, Alabama. It is the site of the 2013 Hangout Festival headlined by the likes of Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder and Kings of Leon. We’ve covered a cornucopia of festivals in our day, but I can’t think of a better spot to host a weekend of great music than at the beach. When we originally circled this weekend on our festival calendar, I assumed we’d be battling fierce summer heat, but the temperatures have been quiet pleasant. They have been cresting out at 80 degrees, and there is always that nice cool ocean breeze to give you a reprieve when you’ve had too much.

The festival organizers have blocked off about four blocks of the beach as well as the street and businesses just north of. It is a fantastic setup, and it boggles the mind how they logistically got all these stakeholders to signoff on this ambitious undertaking. The grounds have the two main stages setup on each end of the beach, staring each other down. There are two smaller stages setup off the road tangled amongst the vendors.

They also have fun distractions to temporarily pull you away from the music. There is a megadrop which will shoot you four stories in the air before plunging you back to earth. There is a large ferris wheel that gives you the bird’s eye view of Gulf Shores in a slightly less exhilarating way.

We spent our early afternoon taking in the musical melodies of Ra Ra Riot, Jim James, Passion Pit and Ryan Bingham. We’ll talk more on this brood in our weekly wrap-up review, but today we’ll constrain ourselves to discussing the main acts – Kings of Leon, The Shins and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

At the Boom Boom Tent, we caught up with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who we last saw at SXSW in March. Although the chart toppers probably deserved a spot on one of the larger beachfront stages, it was nice to see them play for an appropriately large crowd of energized fans instead of the notoriously apathetic SXSW industry executives.

Taking the stage in a Mexican serape, which one can only assume was inspired by Florence Welch’s billowing wardrobe throughout last summer’s festival circuit, Macklemore wasted no time launching into tracks like “10,000 Hours” and “Thrift Shop” from their new album The Heist. Hangout Fest was the first stop on a tour that will keep them criss-crossing the Atlantic all summer long.

Based on their performance last night, 2013 is poised to be their year. Since their SXSW performances in March, their stage presence is more honed and nothing short of a spectacle, with Ryan Lewis taking a more prominent role in the performance, as well as saxophone players and a couple of incredible backup dancers who appear to be teaching Macklemore their “smooth moves” in between gigs. The amount of energy on stage is electric, and yes, Wanz is still “fucking awesome.”

What is truly remarkable about Macklemore is that in between all the showmanship, confetti, and catchy hooks are thoughtful, intelligent, socially relevant lyrics, that somewhat take you by surprise. Whether they are rapping about the pitfalls of the modern consumer society, marriage equality, or Malcolm Gladwell’s theories on work ethics, you can’t help by take note that there’s a little more going on here. Be sure to check out The Heist and catch Macklemore live as they perform all over the U.S. and Europe this summer.

The Portland-based Shins came to Hangout supporting their 2012 release Port of Morrow. It’s been a long road since the band first broke out with Oh, Inverted World and their contributions to the Garden State soundtrack. They’ve become indie royalty in the decade since, casting off band members and bringing new ones into the fold. Lead vocalist James Mercer has been the constant as he harvests the band’s creative edge.

They opened their set with Port of Morrow’s “The Rifle’s Spiral” as the sun dwindled on the horizon. Mercer and company sounded very tight as they drifted through their album catalog, sampling pretty equally across the 19 song set. They took the occasional pause, giving a shout out to the inventor of the bikini who they said needs to be sainted (amen brother). It was a nice segway into “Bait and Switch.”

The crowd was engaged if a bit subdued during the Shins set. All time favorites like “New Slang” definitely got them charged up, but the band’s more laid back tone has always seemed more at home in a dark club than an open air festival. Though they may have stepped out of their atmospheric comfort zone, The Shins sounded great, packed about as many songs as they could fit into their set time and did their fans proud. It’s been way too long since I’ve made their acquaintance live.

The Kings of Leon anchored Friday’s line-up. The band has largely been out of the public eye since a series of events in 2011 landed them on the wrong side of publicity. At a show in Dallas, Caleb Followill hit the stage drunk. After playing a few songs, Caleb left to get a beer only to never return. The concert was cancelled and the remainder of their U.S. took the ax as well. Let’s not even get into the bird poop fiasco.

They did manage to get off an Australian tour later that year, but the band went on hiatus soon thereafter. This only prompted loud rumors that the band was no more. At the time it seemed a sad demise for the indie group who rose to fame quickly only to be felled by alcohol and the trappings of fame. I mean Caleb did marry a Victoria Secret supermodel.

This was the Nashville band’s inaugural appearance at Alabama’s Hangout Festival. They’ve recorded their upcoming album, but we won’t see it in stores until September. They opened the evening with to the jangly chords of Come Around Sundown’s “Radioactive.” The “it’s in the water” chorus seemed very appropriate as the waves cascaded under the night’s veil.

The Kings of Leon may have caught the music world’s attention with their breakthrough Only By the Night, but they’ve been making acclaimed college radio hits since 2003. Sometimes I forget with the band’s new rock focus what a country tint they had in their earlier releases. Tonight was a fusion of the band’s sound in their continuing evolution.

The band didn’t get too far into the set before they thanked the crowd, and Caleb said he felt like being himself tonight. His vocal prowess has never been questioned as he gritted into tracks like “Crawl.” The band seemed to be reasserting itself. Come Around Sundown was a commercial dud following the single factory Only By the Night. The band seemed to be saying they weren’t going to be a pawn to the roller coaster of success. They let the music speak for them, and it put a exclamation point on the day.

Hangout Festival is the band’s only U.S. stop on the calendar this year. They will hop the pond for a performance at V Festival in August, and they’ve cobbled together a string of European dates leading up to the appearance. With the new album’s release in the fall, I’m sure you can count on a healthy tour to fill your Christmas stocking.

Day one of Hangout Festival went off without a hitch. Gulf Shores is a beautiful scene, and this is the perfect setup for a music festival. The only thing that may have enhanced the experience would be a way to get in and out of the festival grounds to cool yourself off in the ocean. I’m sure the logistics would make it near impossible to police and corral. We look forward to another day of sun and musical flavor in day two. Right now, we are planning to cover Tom Petty, The Black Crowes and The Roots, but you never know if another band might knock our socks off.

Check back in with us tomorrow and Monday as we continue our coverage of the Hangout Festival.

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The Shins Hangout Festival Setlist
Gulf Shores, AL : May 17, 2013

1) The Rifle’s Spiral
2) Caring Is Creepy
3) Australia
4) Simple Song
5) Know Your Onion!
6) Bait and Switch
7) Pam Berry
8) Phantom Limb
9) Saint Simon
10) It’s Only Life
11) So Says I
12) Girl Sailor
13) Kissing the Lipless
14) No Way Down
15) Port of Morrow
16) New Slang
17) Sleeping Lessons
18) September
19) One by One All Day

Kings of Leon Hangout Festival Setlist
Gulf Shores, AL : May 17, 2013

1) Radioactive
2) Crawl
3) Taper Jean Girl
4) My Party
5) The Immortals
6) Fans
7) Back Down South
8) It Don’t Matter
9) Molly’s Chambers
10) Four Kicks
11) On Call
12) Revelry
13) Notion
14) The Bucket
15) California Waiting
16) Pyro
17) Knocked Up
18) Sex on Fire
Encore:
19) Closer
20) Use Somebody
21) Black Thumbnail

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