The Friday Voodoo line-ups are usually pretty slow, so I came into City Park expecting to have a lot of downtime (which ended up being a good thing because for some reason Voodoo never deems it necessary to label anything, so every stage is always unmarked). After my interview with the fabulous Royal Teeth (more to come on that), I had some time to kill before the night truly began, so I marveled at all of the extraordinary costumes festival goers brought to the park (Walter White was an obvious favorite).
The night began with Desaparecidos. I’m a huge fan of post-hardcore—I love Fugazi, Minor Threat, Rites of Spring, you name it, I probably at least like it. I’ve also been to (probably more than) my fair share of post-hardcore shows (getting stuck in an Against Me! mosh pit is arguably the punkest thing I’ve ever done), so when I say that Desaparecidos’s Voodoo performance was the best post-hardcore show I’ve ever seen, it definitely means something. Conor Oberst definitely brought his best cynical self to the show, spouting political statements and really getting into the music with major head banging.
Macklemore is remarkably consistent. I had the chance to catch his set this summer at Bonnaroo, and his performance tonight was (nearly word for word) exactly the same, save for his Pelicans jersey. That said, the show was actually pretty entertaining. He has a huge stage presence, and even if you don’t agree with his way of expressing his views, you can appreciate that he knows how to entertain a crowd.
Pearl Jam was, of course, wonderful. Introduced by former Saints player Steve Gleason (with his voice synthesizer, as he is battling ALS), Eddie Vedder seemed happy to be back in “The Big Easy,” sharing anecdotes about the time he was arrested by NOPD and quipping about how he thinks Macklemore is a stand up guy (both are from Seattle). The show was standard Pearl Jam—the group didn’t need fancy lights or pyrotechnics to aid the set because it was good enough without all the bells and whistles.