Voodoo Experience

The Latest News, Updates, Photos and more from the music festival

Danny Bourque / The Times-PicayuneA fire dancer performs in front of the Noomoon Stage.

View more Voodoofest 2008 photos from the Times-Picayune »

Editor's note: Visit NOLA's complete Voodoofest coverage including live day-by-day blogs from Keith Spera and Molly Reid of the Times-Picayune, photos, videos and more, by going to www.nola.com/voodoofest/

Danny Bourque / The Times-PicayunePanic at the Disco's lead singer Brendon Urie performs at The Tenth Annual Voodoo Experience in City Park on Sunday, October 26, 2008.

What did you like or not like about this year's Voodoo Music Experience? At 1 p.m. on Monday, October 27, 2008, Music critic Keith Spera will host a post-Voodoo chat right here on nola.com.

Go ahead and send your questions, thoughts and outright rants via the chat box below -- and at 1 p.m. will get things started.

Editor's note: Relive Voodoofest 2008 with NOLA's complete coverage including live day-by-day blogs from Keith Spera and Molly Reid of the Times-Picayune, photos, videos and more by visiting www.nola.com/voodoofest/

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

During R.E.M.'s Voodoo-closing set Sunday night in City Park, Michael Stipe sang, "We are young, despite the years." In keeping with that line in "These Days," he and his bandmates played with focus and passion, as if still needing to prove themselves.

An animated Stipe was even infected with a bit of the bad language voodoo that afflicted numerous main stage acts. At the end of "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" he relished the line, "Don't f--- with me." Moments later, he asked, "Voodoo, how the f--- are you?"

If you sell suits for a living, you want the Blind Boys of Alabama to walk into your shop. Sell one suit, and you've sold five.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

The Blind Boys arrived on Voodoo's WWOZ/SoCo Stage early Sunday afternoon decked out in matching powder blue suits and open-collar black shirts - all except semi-retired Blind Boy Clarence Fountain. Fountain no longer tours with the group, preferring to live quietly in Baton Rouge. But he sat onstage for most of Sunday's set, singing on occasion.

Editor's note: Relive Voodoofest 2008 with NOLA's complete coverage including live day-by-day blogs from Keith Spera and Molly Reid of the Times-Picayune, photos, videos and more by visiting www.nola.com/voodoofest/

After tearing through the final show at the WWOZ/SoCo stage with typical jam-heavy bombast, New Orleans native Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews played nearly an hour past his scheduled finish, and brought onstage another native, rapper Juvenile, to keep the show rolling.

Reggae-infused enseble Ozomatli, newly-reunited with original band member and rapper Chali 2na, knew how to work the crowd at the WWOZ/SoCo stage Saturday afternoon:

Denounce President Bush? Check.

"In nine days, George W. Bush is outta there," said rapper Justin Poree, not quite taking into account the countdown to inauguration day. "In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he did nothing for y'all."

Declare your love for New Orleans? Check.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

Rapper Lupe Fiasco may have given the oddest dedication of Voodoo X: About three-quarters of the way through his afternoon concert at the PlayStation/Billboard.com stage, he declared he was dedicating the show to "this Rolling Stones documentary I watched last night."

Lupe, whose real name is Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, said he was inspired by Stones frontman Mick Jagger's tireless energy. He certainly sought to meet old-school Jagger's standard for stage acrobatics when he finished the show with a double backflip. The band rose to the occasion as well, with the two keyboardists jumping up and down with their T-shirts over their heads while still playing.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

The day-drinking has begun.

Thanks to rag-tag ensemble Tin Men, backed by the 20-plus men - and two women - who make up the Valpairaso Mens Chorus, festival-goers ready to start imbibing early were stomped and swayed in the right direction at an early afternoon show at the Bingo! Parlour.

Aside from Westbank rapper Ballzack's breakfast set and the gospel greetings of the Melody Clouds, festival goers learned that alternative rockers N*E*R*D* will not be performing Sunday, October 26 at Voodoofest.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.comThe Melody Clouds open the Preservation Hall Stage Sunday, October 26, 2008.

A few stage swaps and shuffling of time-slots later and those not basing their day around the Virgina Beach trio will hardly notice a thing. No reason was given for the cancellation.

Cold War Kids will be taking over the 1:50 p.m.time slot on the Playstation stage and the City Life have been moved to Voodoo stage.

Barring anymore changes, Sunday's headliner R.E.M. will go on at 7:10 p.m. on the Voodoo stage immediately following Cowboy Mouth's set on the Playstation Stage.

Related links:

NOLA's complete Voodoofest coverage »

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

Topping the list of Saturday's unexpected Voodoo Experience spectacles: Trent Reznor plunking away on a vibraphone.

Midway through Nine Inch Nails' closing set on the main stage, he channeled his inner Lionel Hampton during an overly long, overly ambient detour.

But give him credit for taking a considerable chance, especially in front of a vast, outdoor audience that easily eclipsed Friday's Stone Temple Pilots crowd.

At last year's Voodoo festival, electronica duo Ghostland Observatory played an impressive but poorly-timed afternoon set in the Bingo! Parlour.

Daylight, you see, does not do them justice.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

"Is that Rush?" my friend Christina asked, referring to the racket that erupted from the distant Voodoo Stage just after Thievery Corporation wrapped up on the Billboard/Playstation Stage.

If it was Rush, it was Rush on amphetamines. In other words, the Mars Volta had commenced.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

The Old 97's wrapped up six months of touring with a Saturday afternoon gig at the Voodoo Experience. Daylight is not the roadhouse-worthy alt-country band's usual domain. "Now we're waking up," singer/guitarist Rhett Miller announced after the third song.

He and his bandmates showed no obvious signs of wear and tear as they heaved themselves into the task at hand. Two guitars snarled with just enough bite; solos intertwined. The entire ensemble ambled along with an easy camaraderie born of many, many nights together.

Beatles fans were treated to a blissful set at the Bingo! Parlour by New Orleans golden boy Clint Maedgen and his "+9" band. Maedgen was actually backed by a 12-piece band, including three string players, two horns, two backup singers, a keyboard player and the usual guitars, bass and drum.

When the Voodoo music festival started almost a decade ago, it was in many ways the anti-Jazzfest.

Attracting a younger audience through the kinds of alternative rock and electronica groups that rarely found their way to the Fair Grounds, Voodoo portrayed itself as a haven for the moshers and ravers who wouldn't be caught dead in a festival hat and Bermuda shorts, much less at a Jimmy Buffett concert.

Editor's note: To view NOLA's complete coverage of the 2008 Voodoofest including live blogs, photos, videos and more, visit www.nola.com/voodoofest/.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.com

As day two kicks off, one thing is certain: Don't forget the sunscreen before heading to City Park Saturday for Voodoofest.

Highlights for Saturday's Voodoo Experience Music Festival include the day's headliner Nine Inch Nails, Ghostland Observatory, the Mars Volta and Thiervery Corperation on the two main stages.

New Orleans Jazz trumpeter Shamarr Allen, vocalist John Boutte and burlesque review "Fleur de Tease" add a touch of the Big Easy to the predominantly rock landscape.

Related links:

View Saturday's lineup »
Check out photos from Friday »

Editor's note: For complete coverage from this year's Voodoofest including live blogs, photos, videos and more, visit www.nola.com/voodoofest/

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.comStone Temple Pilots perform Friday, October 24, 2008 at Voodoofest in New Orleans.

"Rock 'n roll," explained Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland at Voodoo on Friday, "is a heart. It beats from us onstage to you. That's what feeds us after months on tour."

That, a cynic might add, is not all that has fed Weiland. He ranks among rock's most infamous outlaws of the past decade. A virulent drug addiction led to numerous arrests and rehabs; his frustrated bandmates finally had enough and disbanded Stone Temple Pilots in 2003 after a decade-long run of sold out arenas and massive rock radio hits.

But time and the prospect of six-figure paydays have a way of healing old wounds. So this summer, STP embarked on a lucrative reunion tour.

Producers of the Voodoo Experience did the Sister Gertrude Morgan Experience no favors by assigning them the Friday night "headlining" slot on the WWOZ/SoCo Stage. Most everyone remaining on the grounds at 9:30 Friday was parked in front of the main stage awaiting Stone Temple Pilots.

The 100 or so onlookers who found the Gertrude ensemble early in the set were enough to fill Preservation Hall, but not the field at Voodoo. But they were treated to an entirely new spin on traditional New Orleans music, the sort of boundary- and era-defying endeavor that has marked Ben Jaffe's stewardship of Preservation Hall.