Gallery: Voodoo 2010
It’s more than an average sweat-your-brains-out, suffer-in-the-mud music festival. It’s the Voodoo Experience, and it went down at City Park this weekend in New Orleans.
Voodoo Fest, one of the world’s largest Halloween parties, housed thousands of attendees who, for three days of musical bliss, watched some of the world’s most notorious names — including Muse, Ozzy Osbourne, MGMT and My Morning Jacket — and donned costumes ranging from zombies to superheroes, fictional characters to condiments and anything and everything in-between.
Ian Smith and Kevin Rivers of Utah were found at the electronic tent sparring with the canes that went along with their “A Clockwork Orange” attire and had plenty to spill about their Voodoo experience.
“There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on here,” Rivers said. “Voodoo is great because it’s spread out, and you’ve got the water view, the shade of the trees and some awesome acts you can’t find all together anywhere else.”
Smith, a Utah Valley University aviation administration sophomore, said Halloween weekend made the festival much more fun.
“The cool part about it is we can wear our costumes and be whoever we want to be while listening to our favorite artists,” he said.
Rivers said Muse blew him away.
“I’ve seen Muse a few times and never had such a good time,” he said. “They’re definitely the biggest rock stars of our generation, that’s for sure. Apparently, they’re going to replace Bono and U2.”
Emily Haines, Metric’s lead singer, enchanted the masses with her delicious performance and got personal with the crowd.
“It’s inspiring to be in your city, really inspiring to be in your city,” she said.
Jimmy Shaw, Metric’s guitarist, expressed his sentiments for the devastation New Orleans experienced since Hurricane Katrina.
“It’s a great festival and so nice to give pleasure to a town that has experienced so much heartache,” he said.
The most important thing to Shaw about Metric’s performance was the beauty of the city and the atmosphere of Voodoo.
“It’s a beautiful sunset with beautiful people, which make a beautiful show,” he said. “It’s easy to just lose your inhibitions have a good time.”
Lorn Johnson, a New Orleans native dressed as Batman, said Weezer’s performance was one of the best he has ever seen.
“I was right in front of the stage, right up in the music,” he said. “It wasn’t all crowded and depressing and hot and sweaty like most outdoor concerts are.”
The recently re-added electronic tent burned up the festival with interesting activities, including a screen where attendees watched their bodies move as Technicolor masses and big-time disc jockeys such as Deadmau5 and The Crystal Method performed.
Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan of The Crystal Method prepared a special Halloween set for Voodoo.
“Our show is a combination of a lot of different things we were inspired by growing up,” Kirkland said. “You know, a little bit of rock and hip-hop and a lot of ’80s dance stuff and the ’90s with the rave scene. It’s a dirty, chunky, danceable monster mash of music.”
Jordan said New Orleans is like the Southern version of their home, Las Vegas, which is why they have a special relationship with the city.
“We love the festival, and we play early enough to where we get to hang out and see some other acts like, oh man, Ozzy Osbourne,” he said.
Kristyn Archer, a psychology sophomore at Macon State College of Macon, Ga., said her most memorable experience of Voodoo was getting on stage at a show.
“I danced on stage with Big Sam’s Funky Nation,” she said. “He came down off of the stage, and he was playing his trombone, and then I got to get on stage with him. You can’t even imagine how freaking awesome it was.”
The Noisician Coalition of New Orleans, a zombified marching band, made its way around the festival every day with members making noise with not-so-common instruments, such as trash cans and antennas.
Rion Fish, a film, television and communication arts graduate student and teacher at the University of New Orleans and member of the Noisician Coalition, said the band has the spirit of a New Orleans marching band with an eccentric twist.
“We take the classic marching band ethos of New Orleans and add a little punk rock confrontation,” he said.
Fish said the band has performed at the festival every year.
“The best thing about performing at Voodoo is that it’s a part of us,” he said. “Even if we’re twisting the marching band tradition around, New Orleans has a cultural touch on us. And we wouldn’t be able to perform without that.”
Rachel Ramaker, New Orleans preschool teacher, said Florence and The Machine was her favorite performance.
“Florence and The Machine was awesome,” she said. “Florence was like a fairy dancing on the stage. She just belted out her songs and floated around the whole time.”
Elexa Ruth, Tulane University English senior, worked as a vendor at the festival.
“It’s great to be in one place and be able to listen to a lot of different things all in one shot and to check out the costumes, of course,” she said.
Jason Eikner, zombie/Texas State University journalism senior, said Voodoo blows other festivals out the water for reasons beyond the music.
“I’ve been to other festivals this year like Coachella and ACL, and it’s been really hot,” Eikner said. “I like the weather, and it’s nice because it seems a lot less crowded than the other festivals.”
Chad Heidingsfelder, a University accounting freshman, said he skipped class Friday to head to the festival and gushed about the artists, atmosphere and overall experience of Voodoo.
“I get to chill, hang out and have a good time with good friends and good food,” he said. “It’s just a relaxing weekend and one of my favorite weekends of the year.”
The Gulf Restoration Network held a news conference the final afternoon of the festival to raise awareness about the Gulf Coast oil spill. R.E.M., a former Voodoo headliner, and My Morning Jacket are joining forces with other bands to spread the word with the slogan, “No coast, no music.”
John Michael Rouchel, New Orleans native and Voodoo performer with the band Mynameisjohnmichael, stood among fellow musicians and professed his feelings about the restoration of the coast and livelihood of those affected by the disaster.
“I don’t even know if it’s going to happen in my lifetime,” Rouchel said. “We’re entertainers. That’s all we are. Knowing what I am, knowing my shortcomings, I’m just trying to educate myself. … The Gulf Restoration Network, it’s a wealth of information. Educate yourselves. That’s all I can say.”
 
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Contact Cathryn Core at [email protected]