Though Friday was hot and sweaty, Saturday’s cold front made day two of the Voodoo Experience cloudy and overcast, leaving concert-goers shivering at the stages. Even so, the day delivered some high-energy, memorable sets, and people turned up in droves to catch the show.
I arrived around 1 p.m. this afternoon, just in time for Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, who stayed true to their name with dirty, brassy blues that sounded right at home in New Orleans. Though their set was early in the day, Sister Sparrow’s stunner vocals and her bandmate/brother’s gift for ripping a killer harmonica solo brought in a decent crowd.
People packed the grass when K’Naan took the main stage around 3 p.m. to play his signature brand of soulful, world-infused rap. The crowd loved his reggae/hip hop vibes, and K’Naan wasn’t afraid to level with them about immigration, education and his complicated relationship with his native nation, Somalia.
The Features played one of the smaller stages while The Revivalists took the main stage, and both bands got crowds moving with catchy alternative rock jams that brought in eager listeners from all over the festival.
AWOLNATION took the main stage at 5:30 for what turned out to be the most electric, involving set of the day. They announced that Voodoo was the last stop on a two-month tour for them, and they seemed determined to go out with a bang. The only moment of the set better than the moment when the crowd heard the first chords of “Sail” was when frontman Aaron Bruno crowd surfed on an actual surfboard.
Though AWOLNATION built the momentum for the evening, Silversun Pickups were a bit underwhelming when they took over. Maybe it was just bad sound mixing, but they sounded muddy and it was hard to even distinguish vocals from guitars. Eventually all their songs started to sound the same and the whole set blended together. I lost interested about halfway through and wandered across the park to the Sony Stage Across the park, local band The Vettes put on much more a lively show.
While Justice queued up a pounding set on the Red Bulletin stage, headliners Metallica came onstage a fashionable 30 minutes late. Though they really hit their stride about half an hour in when the pyrotechnics and light show kicked off, the crowd was with then from the beginning. It was impossible to get close to the stage without getting hit with an errant, moshing elbow, and even in the back of the field, people head-banged along to “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” They whipped out the classics after schooling the crowd with some of their newer material, all of which was just as heavy as their older work.
All in all, day two was a full day of memorable performances. For me it was topped off with two great interviews — I got the chance to do a Q&A with two members of New Orleans electronic soul outfit Big History and Arleigh Kincheloe, aka Sister Sparrow herself.
