VOODOO Experience: Day 2

VooDoo Music Experience and Rehage Entertainment presents… Blink 182, Snoop Doggand many more in City Park, New Orleans, Halloween weekend 2011.

Voodoo Experience day two started out a little warmer and a little bigger crowd than Friday’s cold starter, and people rallied to the stages early as bands got going mid morning again for the days’ lineups. Voodoo main stage and 4 secondary stages made up the setting and before noon music was pumping throughout the park as sets were under way from Andrew Duhon, R. Scully’s Rough, Carmine P. Filthy, and the Happy Talk band. Several New Orleans style brass bands hit the stages on Saturday as the crowds built for the afternoon headliners. Tao Seeger, Cyril Neville, and Treme Brass Band brought a true N’awlins feel to the park and set the mood for a full day of revelry.

The main Voodoo stage and Ritual field got under way by midday with the Revivallists, a local New Orleans soul/rock band who has gained national recognition and has opened for notable acts such as The Black Crowes, Tab Benoit, Dr. John. The band featured songs from their latest 2010 release Vital Signs, and have been emerging on the festival scene and making and impact on the traditional rock devotees.

Performances continued in the afternoon from Chris Thomas King, Daedelus, Fort Know Five, City and Colour and a not to miss set from Lost Bayou Ramblers, who featured Gordan Gano from Violent Femmes and brought out a big clique of fans to see the pop/folk cajun stylings of the Ramblers joined by Gano plucking fiddle. Through the afternoon a mix of genres emerged on the stages with Z-Trip, Bobby Rush, Kreayshawn, Girl Talk, Ivan Neville and Tommy Malone as day progressed to night.

Legendary punk rockers X - Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom and D. J. Bonebrake hit the Bingo! Parlour stage by playing their debut Los Angeles album in it’s entirety. The band played through “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not”, “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline”, “Soul Kitchen”, “Nausea”, “Sugarlight”, “Los Angeles”, “Sex and Dying in High Society”, “The Unheard Music”, “The World’s a Mess/It’s in My Kiss” and it felt like 1980 was yesterday. X continued on to play favorite tunes “White Girl”, “The Have Nots”, “True Love”, “Breathless”, “Devil Doll” and more before ending out the set and Billy’s notorious shots of the Voodoo crowd for his collection. The mix of Exene’s strong vocals with Billy Zoom’s rockabilly guitar, backed with Doe’s heavy punk bass and D.J.’s pounding drums made for a furious high energy performance.

Former Saints football player Kyle Turley made a appearance on the Bud Light stage with his band of “power country” players for a local hero music treat. Turley cites Slayer and Pantera as musical influences along with Johnny Cash, hence the “power” in the “country”. The band delivered on tunes “Smokin’” and “Anger Management” to fans of both Turley and Saints all around.

Back to the Voodoo Stage and the Ritual field where the fans amass to see the big name draws for the second day. Jesse Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal) dons the main stage giving a fun and comedic performance with his ongoing project and pseudonym Boots Electric, and playing songs from his recent release Honkey Kong. Hughes is known for goofy, honkey tonk, tongue-in-cheek songs as well as persona, with blues to balls styles emerging in the mix. The six degrees of separation (for those not in the thread) follow Hughes from Eagles with Josh Homme (from Kyuss), who was instigator for Queens of the Stone Age, who was joined by Dave Grohl for a short time. Grohl cameos in Boots earlier video “Death By Sexy”… Boots is, well, sexy. Somehow. And that is about how this band rolls.

Next up on the Voodoo stage was sludge metal masters Mastodon, and the field quickly went from loose to packed in as fans got ready to surf and slam. Mastodon’s bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders took control and center stage and the band swelled into opener “Dry Bone Valley”. Mastodon touched a few new songs of the newest LP The Hunter including “Black Tongue”, “Curl of the Burl” and “Spectrelight” as well as peppering the set with earlier singles “Crystal Skull” and “Colony of Birchmen”. The show ended with fists and horns flying across the legion of headbangers to title song “Crack the Skye” from the 2009 LP.

The atmosphere changed for next performers Social Distortion and their post rockabilly/cowpunk sound as a different set of fans clamored to the front. With 6 stages going at the same time the Voodoo crowd was ever mixing and merging, with the aura changing dramatically between some acts. Social D’s crowd was a little more laid back, a little more sing-a -long, and the band rolled into biggest hits “Story of My Life”, Machine Gun Blues” and “Ball and Chain”. Vocalist Mike Ness has a effortless swagger on stage and the impressive tight sound shown throughout the performance to the final “Ring of Fire” Cash classic on the encore.

Once again the atmosphere shifted as the first of the nights heavy hitters donned the stage. Snoop Dogg can’t help but talk about women and weed and you could smell it for a mile when Snoop walked out on stage and rapped into “I Wanna Rock” and “PIMP”. Snoop had the field rapping along and a stage of dancers and players by his side as he rallied to “Drop it Like It’s Hot” and “What’s My Name?”. HOLA.

The festival crowds all headed towards the Voodoo stage for the finale and last Headliner of the night, Blink 182. Blink 182 is touring in support of the newest LP Neighborhoods, the first collective LP from Mark Hoppus, Tom Delonge and drummer Travis Barker since their touted reformation in 2009. Neighborhoods shows a turn away from teen angst and a little growing up, but the band still leans on the teen pop roots. Blinks heavy pop/punk sound has generated a legion of fans, many of the bands’ inked and flash-driven drummer Barker and his amazing style live. The Voodoo show was no exception and Barker was mesmerizing on the drums as the group blasted into punk pop “Feeling This”, “Up All Night” and “The Rock Show”. Hoppus and Delonge trade vocal duties while Barker tears up the back end for a energy driven stage show that lasted well into the night. Blink maneuvered through “Violence”, “Heart’s All Gone”, “All The Small Things”, “I Miss You” and a host of others until rounding out the set with “Dammit” and “Family Reunion” before calling it a night, and Voodoo calling it the end of another day.