Voodoo Fest
Monday, May 21, 2012
Y@ Speak: Voodoo camping, prison escapees and more
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Voodoo Music Experience: Campout — and glampout — info
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, May 15, 2012 at 10:55 PM
- VOODOO MUSIC EXPERIENCE
The inaugural camping experience will offer festival goers the chance to sleep under the stars amidst two hundred year old oak trees, picturesque lagoons and waterways of New Orleans’ historic City Park and located just steps away from the Voodoo entrance. Camping options range from general tent camping with basic amenities to a luxurious all-encompassing camping experience, where concertgoers can arrive to move-in-ready 10×13 safari style tents complete with cots, bedding and pillows along with exclusive Artist Access throughout the Voodoo site.
Yes, there are rules. Lots of them.
Prices are all over the place, and do not include Voodoo admission (you'll need to purchase a three-day pass in addition to camping fees). A basic campsite for two people is $150 and gets you a 12'x12' square of ground; you pretty much do the rest, though "showers, food and beverage vendors, special activities, 24 hour security and medical services will be available."
The LOA big-shot glamping pass gets you some swank in your accommodations for $1,500. Jeez, you could get three nights at the Ritz for less. Anyway:
Guests at the LOA Grand will sleep in comfort and enjoy unparalleled backstage access throughout the weekend with 2 Artists Passes. Upon arrival you will receive a ready to go fully pitched 10 x 13 safari style tent with 2 cots and bedding just steps away from and overlooking the Voodoo site. You’ll enjoy a water view plus complimentary breakfast, late night snacks, a reserved parking space conveniently located near the LOA Grand site, 24 hour security & medical services, upgraded restrooms, showers, concierge services and more. All campers must be 18+.
Plus there will be electrical outlets in every LOA tent, so let that iPhone run down without worries. Or have your concierge recharge it.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Green Day to headline 2012 Voodoo Fest
Posted by Alex Woodward on Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:35 PM
- JULIE GARDNER
Festival organizers announced the 2012 Voodoo Experience preliminary lineup today. Heading the bill is Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Green Day. Other additions include Skrillex, Justice, Tomahawk, Say Anything, Bootsy Collins, Gary Clark Jr., Awolnation and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Neil Young last appeared in New Orleans at the 2009 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, with a showstopping performance that ended with The Beatles' "A Day in the Life" and a deluge of rain. Young will perform with Crazy Horse, and the band is releasing Americana on June 5, their first album together in nine years, which revisits classic American folk music. Preview the album here.
Green Day last performed in New Orleans in 2009 during its 21st Century Breakdown tour and was also at the 2004 Voodoo, which featured a killer lineup of Beastie Boys, The Pixies and Sonic Youth.
Voodoo also announced on-site camping at City Park for the fest, a la Bonnaroo. A press release says "the inaugural camping experience will offer festival goers the chance to sleep under the stars amidst two hundred year old oak trees, picturesque lagoons and waterways of New Orleans’ historic City Park and located just steps away from the entrance to the annual Halloween weekend music celebration."
Campers can use general camping amenities or upgrade to a "luxurious, all-encompassing camping experience" with safari tents, cots, pillows, bedding and VIP access.
Voodoo is Oct. 26-28 at City Park. Tickets to the festival are available online; a three-day general admission pass is $175 and the Loa VIP pass is $500.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Jazz Fest lineup to be announced; Voodoo tickets on super sale
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 2:07 PM
First: the schedule for the 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival goes online at midnight (we'll have it here on Blog of New Orleans). The dates of this year's Jazz Fest are Apr. 27-May 6, 2012. So check back here at midnight CST for the scoop.
Second: If you know you want to go to the 2012 Voodoo Experience, now's the time to ask Santa to get your present early. Tickets to the three-day weekend in City Park go onsale tomorrow for what they're calling the "10 Days of Voodoo" — buy now through Dec. 23 and get a 3-day pass for $77. That's a bargain, considering that 3-day passes purchased the week of Voodoo will set you back $175. Plus, if you buy before Dec. 23, you'll be eligible to win prizes:
We’re giving away a Voodoo gear shopping spree, LOA Lounge//VIP upgrades, stage passes, a music shopping spree from Basin Street Records (home of the Grammy-nominated Rebirth Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, Irvin Mayfield and many more) and dinner certificates to some of New Orleans best restaurants including Dickie Brennans Steakhouse, Ste. Marie, Sylvain and more.
So: the lineup for one festival (with no presale yet) and a presale for the other (with no lineup yet). Obviously it's time to get right with Santa, and pronto.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Odd Future/Voodoo: more from another photographer
Posted by Will Coviello on Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 4:43 PM
I saw some of the events involving Odd Future members and press photographers at Voodoo, as I noted here. I contacted Odd Future's publicist Heathcliff Berru last week to request comment and to see if Left Brain would answer questions about the incident. Berru responded via email: "I don’t condone abusive behavior nor does the group. Left Brain is not available to speak at this moment. Sorry!"
I followed up, noting that I had seen Left Brain take a swipe at a camera and saw him kick over a tripod. I asked how Left Brain's behavior was explained by saying the band does not condone abusive behavior. I have not gotten a response.
At the show, I saw photographer Erika Goldring in the press pit. I also contacted her last week to ask what she saw. Here is her emailed response:
I had never seen Odd Future so when they started criticizing the photographers, I looked at one of my guy friends next to me and asked if it was real or part of their schtick. He didn't know either but said stand back. I intended to shoot the whole set, as I was the staff photographer assigned to that band. Not after that. I saw the guy swing at the photogs up in the front against the speakers but didn't actually see him hit her. I did see the red mark on her face a few hours later. I'm curious as to why the band even allows photographers if they hate them so much.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Photographer in Odd Future/Voodoo incident files police report with NOPD
Posted by Kevin Allman on Sun, Nov 6, 2011 at 11:02 PM
Photographer Amy Harris has filed charges against Odd Future singer Vyron "Left Brain" Turner after the much-publicized altercation between the band and the credentialed photographers in the photo pit at last weekend's Voodoo Experience.
The website Venues Today is reporting Harris filed charges with the New Orleans Police Department's Third District:
Left Brain is facing one charge of simple battery for swatting the photographer in the head, knocking the lens off her camera and leaving a red mark on her face. According to the Louisiana criminal code, simple battery is a misdemeanor offense and carries up to 6 months in jail and fines reaching $1,000.
Harris has posted a statement on her own website:
It is my understanding that a police report I filed in New Orleans on Friday has now become public knowledge and is being reported on various websites. At this time, I do not wish to discuss the filing of the police report other than to say that, upon further reflection of events of the past week, it is something I needed to do. The week’s events have been extremely upsetting and culminated with an email from an unidentified person threatening to kill me and rape me and my family. While it is certainly possible that the email came from an overzealous fan of Odd Future, and not from the group itself, it has become clear to me that this is a matter for the police.
Meanwhile, Left Brain continues to deny the incident occurred. A post that was removed from his personal Tumblr site insisted "I Didn't Slap That Old Bitch."
More bad news for Odd Future: the group has been dropped from an upcoming music festival — New Zealand's Big Day Out. After protests from the New Zealand gay community over the content of Odd Future's lyrics, the group was disinvited from appearing at the 2012 event.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Cheap Trick: We didn't lip-sync at Voodoo!
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 2:32 PM
After reports that Cheap Trick was lip-synching some of the band's performance at the Voodoo Experience on Sunday, we heard from Ben-David Fenwick, the band's publicist, this afternoon, who says any talk of lip-sync shenanigans is "completely untrue."
Fenwick also has statements from the group's sound engineer and manager:
Bill Kozy, Cheap Trick front-of-house sound engineer:
"No pre-recorded vocal tracks, or any musical content whatsoever, were ‘flown-in’ or played back during the Cheap Trick performance at Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Sunday October 30, 2011 (nor anytime EVER in the nearly ten years I have worked for the band). I use (antiquated?) analog gear to mix the band, and Robin Zander's vocal is not manipulated with any pitch correcting or ‘auto tuning’ devices at all. If anything, a 30 year-old Yamaha effect unit is used for a touch of chorus on the vocal, and I also employ my very analog fingers to tap on a delay-echo foot pedal to do things like repeat the word 'crying' in the song “I Want You To Want Me” or add long delay, and sometimes an 'Elvis' slap repeat to the vocal as the particular song dictates."
Dave Frey, Cheap Trick's manager:
"Cheap Trick's biggest songs were from a LIVE record that sold 6 million units and people are surprised to find the band sound exactly the same at a LIVE concert. And lip-synching can be so challenging. A band would require a very specially trained sound-person to time exactly when to insert ‘...go, get away from the stage!’ just prior to a storm arriving that in part caused a 45-ton stage roof to fall on the band and their crew during their performance in Ottawa this past July."
Both commenters on our original post expressed their belief that Robin Zander was indeed singing live. Here's one of the vids of the band at Voodoo (they seem to be taken off the Web as soon as they're posted) — you can definitely hear that delay-echo pedal in use:
Monday, October 31, 2011
Voodoo 2011: reflections on the weekend Experience
Posted by Alex Woodward on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 1:58 PM
Another Halloween weekend comes to a close, as does its Voodoo Experience counterpart, a fertile playground of really high young people, their chaperones, great musical moments, "sexy" costumes and bathroom lines stretching into infinity.
I thank Voodoo for the extra Port-o-Lets brought in for Sunday, though I tricked my body into waiting until I got home.
At the closing night of Day One, pre- and post-grunge icon Soundgarden, amid glowing stage fog and doom-y laser lights, performed a wrecking ball-sized setlist of hits from '90s mammoths Badmotorfinger, Superunkown and Down on the Upside — from "Rusty Cage" to "Pretty Noose," which singer Chris Cornell (looking very Jesus-y, or circa '91) prefaced with a tale about being pulled over and busted for pot by Louisiana DEA agents in the '90s. "F— those assholes," he concluded. Really the only difference from the Soundgarden of '91-'96 is now everyone has a beard (except drummer Matt Cameron, who under his Pearl Jam contract must not overshadow Eddie Vedder's facial hair). The crowd roared along to "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman," and the sound mix amped up Kim Thayil's wailing guitar solos and bassist Ben Shepherd's growling, thunderous riffs.
So, Saturday...
Did Cheap Trick lip-sync at Voodoo?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 9:26 AM
I wasn't there for Cheap Trick's Sunday night set at the Voodoo Experience, but the consensus among several people who did go was that CT performed a real cheap trick and lip-synched through most (if not all) of their set.
Gambit A&E editor Will Coviello:
On the disappointing side, Cheap Trick was scheduled to play the Bingo! Parlor stage, the notion being that the show would be a more intimate affair. The band sounded exactly like it does on its albums — because it appeared to lip-sync the entire set.
The Times-Picayune's Alison Fensterstock:
[Robin] Zander’s voice, which couldn’t really be expected to stay in its pristine register after 40 years, got help. There were a couple of awkward moments when he didn’t quite sync up with the vocal track that was laying a comfortable foundation for his live efforts. One local musician was upset. “It’s undignified,” he said, before skipping out to catch the Meters.
Based on the YouTube captures from the show — well, the vocals sound awfully good, pitched in an arena register that doesn't quite match the small Bingo! stage at Voodoo:
"I Want You to Want Me":
Were you there? What did you think?
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Voodoo 2011: Sunday
Posted by Will Coviello on Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 8:41 PM
Voodoo 2011 concluded Sunday with an eclectic mix. Fishbone offered up both mad and frenzied ska and some detours into the madness of Dr. Madd Vibe. Angelo Moore brought out the theremin for the tune "Crazy Glue" and that seems like a chapter in the band's history that should be retired. But when the horns are blaring and the band is sticking to its funk-punk roots, it still puts on a great live show.
Ray Davies' set also was best when he broke out The Kinks' biggest hits, and that seemed to be what the crowd wanted.
TV on the Radio put in the best show of the day, playing many of the songs on Return to Cookie Mountain. The whole ensemble was tight, but Kyp Mallone really stood out on guitar. (Mallone also claimed the band was unable to find a drinking establishment Saturday night after checking into the hotel. I am not sure where they are staying, but he might want to consult with Boots Electric's Jesse Hughes, who claimed Saturday that he hasn't left One Eyed Jacks before 7 a.m. for four straight days.)
The Preservation Hall and Del McCoury bands seem to really enjoy the partnership they have stuck up in recording Preservation and American Legacies. From the latter jazz/bluegrass roots fusion, Pres Hall trumpeter Mark Braud led the two groups in what he called the "anti-diabetes anthem," "Sugar Blues." It's a fun tune lamenting the taste of sugar going sour, but it's got the rather unromantic line, "Baby, cut your toenails / they're ripping the sheets." That's a line I hadn't noticed before, but if Braud was looking for a moment in the song to highlight a public service announcement message, that one did the trick.
On the disappointing side, Cheap Trick was scheduled to play the Bingo! Parlor stage, the notion being that the show would be a more intimate affair. The band sounded exactly like it does on its albums — because it appeared to lip-sync the entire set.
And not living up to many expectations at all was Odd Future. The group might want to consider renaming itself Sad Future. It's garnered great buzz because of its Internet-released songs and videos, because of the odd story of Earl Sweatshirt's absence from live shows and long features in publications like The New Yorker. It's also been the subject of debate over frequent use of the term "faggot." The crew that showed up at Voodoo offered little in the way of an original or distinctive sound. And if there was any suggestion that homophobic lyrics or their stream of abusive profanity is meant with some irony or to tweak the PC crowd, the band revealed that it simply doesn't have a very big vocabulary besides the incessant chorus "faggot bitch" and motherf_ker. For some reason, the members of the band also taunted press photographers in the pit, calling them "punk-ass n—-s," physically swiping at their cameras and kicking over a tripod. If the band doesn't like photographers, it could have the pit closed, as many bands do. Allowing photographers in and then taking shots at their equipment is a lame way to try to strike a tough (and meaningless) pose. The crew is full of young rappers. Hopefully they'll find a way to expand their vocabularies and their horizons.
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