GULF SHORES, ALABAMA — Dillon Francis is pulling double duty at Hangout 2013, performing and working as a guest correspondent for MTV … though for a minute on Thursday, it seemed like neither of those things would happen.
Shoot, Francis barely made it to Alabama.
“I woke up at 6:25 a.m., stayed in bed a second like ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to go to the airport …’ but I was doing fine, going to the airport, and when I get there, I realized I didn’t check in on my phone,” he laughed. “So I go to check in and the lady at the counter is like ‘No, you can’t check in on the flight.’ So I call my management, we’re freaking out, because there’s no planes to Alabama, ever.“
Somehow, Francis managed to snag the last seat on a flight headed down south, but when he finally landed, he was still more than an hour away from the fest itself (Hangout is many things, close to an airport is not one of them) … and his set time was quickly approaching.
“I was counting Piggly Wigglys to calm myself down while we were driving here,” he said. “I finally got to my set six minutes late; I ran up on stage, set up my computer and just did it.”
And his set went off without a hitch. Francis even said it was one of his all-time favorite gigs; and not just because he was basically winging it.
“I tweeted that I might not make it to the festival, and I started getting messages from fans saying, like ‘I traveled 500 miles to see you,’ and that’s amazing,” he said. “It actually helped my performance a lot, because I was so excited to get there. It doesn’t even matter that I was at the airport at, like, 8 a.m.!”
MTV, VH1 and CMT are live from Hangout 2013, bringing you all the latest news, interviews, performances and more from the Shores. If you’re not able to be there, be sure to check in and watch live streaming performances all weekend.
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