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Voodoo Fest 2006 Top Ten: Back In NOLA, Its About The Music
by Meghan Jones  photo by Meghan Jones Dispatches from Voodoo Fest 2006: 10. The Southern Comfort-sponsored beverage tents sold SoCo & Lime daquiris with extra shots of Southern Comfort. They were the perfect frozen consistency - like adult Slurpees - and absolutely delicious. I suppose I should also say that there is a good chance they colored my opinions about most of Saturday. 9. The well-known New Orleans children's group, The Imagination Movers, had an appropriately early Saturday morning set. In their matching blue overalls, they were less than run-of-the-mill as far as musical fare went for the rest of the weekend. However, rumor has it that a teenaged girl did try to throw her bra on-stage amidst the sing-alongs and lullabies. Would that I had been there to see it. 8. In the middle of Pete Yorn's Sunday afternoon set, which was lovely overall, he played a few Smiths' covers, to my surprise and delight. His dry, unique voice did a fantastic job covering the ironic, tongue-in-cheek lyrics of Morrissey. 7. The Flaming Lips' set began with Wayne Coyne's usual antics of inserting himself into a bubble and running out over the crowd. I had seen this once before at Langerado last Spring and was kind of expecting it, but the magic was very much still alive. I think it had a lot to do with how excited Coyne himself was, despite the probably unbelievable number of times he's done this shtick – his cheeks were rosy and his smile was humongous, like a little boy on Christmas morning with a brand new paintball gun - mischievous, but benevolent. He also shot off his rainbow streamer guns and used what must have literally been tons of confetti; the entire stage was orange and blue and had a circus feel to it. There were even people on opposite sides dressed up as Santas and green aliens. I believe they were supposed to represent some sort of battle, and astronauts were in the middle as mediators. As a whole, their show was pretty much the happiest thing I've ever seen on stage. 6. At night, the New Orleans Museum of Art would light up in this amazing orange hue that was perfect with the crisp fall weather and the surrounding Halloween revelry. It looked even lovelier on the big screen behind the main stage. 5. I felt like the cool kid who already knew about The Whigs during their set. This does not happen often for me. There were only a handful of us, presumedly from Athens, who were singing along with Parker and head-bobbing along with Hank (he is my favorite one to watch). Mid-show, though, the hip parents in front of me started clapping along and by the end of the set, I really do believe that everyone waiting to see My Chemical Romance was pleased with their performance. I bet some of them would even go see them if they make their way back to NOLA in the future. And the fact that Wayne Coyne was smiling in approval stageside during the beginning of their set couldn't have hurt their confidence either. 4. Kermit Ruffins, along with the rest of his BBQ Swingers, donned Saints' jerseys, completely and whole-heartedly lied to us as they started off Sunday with their jazz brunch performance. In between songs Kermit would yell out exciting things about the Saints' game in the Dome (which was happening at the same time), saying things like, "Awww, yeah, yall, McAllister just returned a pass 75 yards for a touchdown!" It wasn't until the end of the set when I called home to share the good news about our team that my mom informed me we were losing by about 13 points. Kermit had completely made everything up, but the performance was a great one anyway. 3. Lucky for me, I happened into the Preservation Hall tent just in time for Gospel singer Martha Wright's tribute to Mahalia Jackson on Sunday morning. Her performance was way better than Church has been for me in quite a while, and almost made up for the three years of Jazz Fests I've missed out on because of poorly scheduled finals. I just stopped in for a minute, but it was during an amazing rendition of "I Will Survive" in the tent that was set up to look just like the real thing. Lots of old wooden shutters and a stage backdrop that resembled the one behind the stage of the same name in the Quarter made my minutes in there completely worth it. 2. While waiting in line for the port-o-lets (affectionately known as Pot-o-Golds in New Orleans, which I had no idea was indigenous to the Crescent City until that weekend), I first heard and then saw flambeau carriers and a drum line starting to parade around the neutral ground (also New Orleans speak, meaning median). It was at this point that I was filled with the specific joy that comes only from witnessing something that could happen nowhere but New Orleans. 1. I left the festival grounds after the first night covered up to the knees in the mud I had been dancing in. I was walking away from the WWOZ stage where The Original Meters had been playing their best – ie: "Hey Pockey Way" – on my way to finally get something to eat when I heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the main stage playing my favorite song, "Apache Rose Peacock." The Peppers' love for New Orleans is showcased: "Yes my favorite place to be/ Is not a land called Honah Lee/ Mentally or physically/ I wanna be in New Orleans." My sentiments exactly. Honorable Mentions: Lots of other things happened that weekend to make the Voodoo Music Experience 2006 a glorious one, but did not make it into the Top Ten. For starters, I kicked off the whole weekend by going to the world's only voodoo museum, complete with still-operating worship altars and a tree stump that you could make a wish on by throwing in some money and carefully following the posted directions. Also, it turns out most of the voodoo gods prefer offerings of alcohol, tobacco and money, so said altars had tiny airplane bottles of Smirnoff and an abundance of Camel Lights. Broken Social Scene was the first band I saw when I arrived a bit late Saturday afternoon – all sixteen of them. The stage was filled with people and instruments, and although they weren't as amazing as I had built them up to be, they played my favorite song last: "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl." And the girl who sings that song has just as beautiful of a voice in person as she does on the recordings! The Brazilian Girls played mostly new stuff, which is decidedly dancier than their trancey, loungey self-titled album. The lead singer, Sabina Sciubbia, who I have a big huge girl crush on, was up to her usual antics but amplified for the costumed crowd. Her whole face was covered by a tightly-fitted white sheet, and in between songs she would apply makeup over it. And her dancing was as amazing as ever. Most of the Drive-By Truckers is a blur to me – too many SoCo and Lime daquiris – but hearsay is that they played a nice version of "Louisiana 1927" with steel guitar and lots of pedal. Evidently it was one of many NOLA tribute songs gracing the stages this year. Curiously enough, the Truckers were the last band to play the legendary Tipitina's before the hurricane. Big Sam's Funky Nation was a band I've always heard a lot about because they used to play every Monday at the now-defunct Funky Butt at Congo Square at the edge of the Quarter. So I knew I wanted to see them when I saw them on the Voodoo Fest schedule. I guess the name should have given them away, but they were definitely more funk than I was expecting, to the point that I relegated it to elevator music of sorts and left to sit under a tree and read a free magazine I'd picked up at the Voodoo Market. I read this article about police interrupting second lines at jazz funerals and processions, which is really disheartening. Juvenile took the place of non-commital and missing Wu-Tang Clan and was the background noise while the Flaming Lips were setting up. I have to say it was a really nice juxtaposition; I could hear "Back That Ass Up" all the way at the main stage as I eagerly awaited Wayne's arrival on stage. Kings of Leon were wearing tight pants and lots of leather. I think they're cute, so I didn't mind. They played stuff from their first album and stuff from what will, I suppose, be their upcoming album, and skipped over most of Aha Shake Heartbreak all together. As my friend and fellow attendee put it, they play music that makes you want to dance, but stand there on stage stiff as boards. Could be because of those tight pants. All in all, there was about a 60,000 person turn-out on Saturday, but only half of that on Sunday. There were lots of costumes since it was so close to Halloween, and being that it was a music festival, they were very inventive. There was, in fact, a man from Atlanta dressed up as a keg who actually dispensed beer from a hat atop his head! Ultimately, Voodoo Music Experience 2006 possessed the mark of any good music festival: you missed half the people you wanted to see because there were simply too many acts to keep up. Comments [post a comment] |
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Friday, July 25, 2008
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