A lot of planning goes into a big festival: vendors, talent, permits, security and setup just to name some obvious things. If any of these are done poorly the whole festival can suffer. The Voodoo Experience has been known to attract younger more mainstream talent to New Orleans City Park for 15 years now in successful fashion. This year though the opening day was plagued with unbelievable sound issues that stemmed directly from the grounds arraignment.
The culprit could be found all day long on the Le Plur Stage which moved from its normal edge of the festival grounds to being dropped smack dab in the middle. Featuring act after act of EDM artists, the stage was heavily populated all day by lasers and dancing teen bodies, yet they could not contain the incredible bass levels emanating from artists like Keys N Krates and Destructo. The sound infected all of the other stages including the huge Ritual Stage; when Preservation Hall Jazz Band trumpeter Mark Braud dipped into his solo, the techno beats of Boys Noize were audible to even those fans in the front row.
Getting away from the sound was impossible and artists had to deal with it anyway they could. ZZ Ward plowed ahead with her mix of blues, soul and funky folk, showing why she is a must see while bands like Flambeau Stage headliner Royal Teeth were visibly upset with lead singer Gary Larsen mentioning “I feel like we are playing with the beats up here”; when one stage’s music affects another stage’s headliner there are some serious issues.
Ignoring the constant noise bleeding some highlights were Shovels and Rope with their engaging stripped down country rock and the food vendors. Festivals in New Orleans easily have the best food in the country, tasty bites sampled this time were the Fried Alligator on a stick, a Duck Confit Po’Boy and Potato Skins loaded with Crawfish.
Back to the music, the dual drumming pop rock of John Michael Rouchell was moving as was his “Walk On The Wildside” Lou Reed Tribute. The crowds were extremely light all day even though they were not selling one day passes because they were “sold out”, yet space was never an issue. On the flipside Desaparecidos played to a tiny crowd on the Carnival Stage but their post-hardcore vibe was powerful even allowing for Conor Oberst’s convoluted political statements.
The was a noticeable exodus after Macklemore’s set and the Le Plur stage wrapped up but fans who stuck around were treated to a heartfelt blast from Pearl Jam. Introduced by former New Orleans Saint Steve Gleason who is battling ALS, Edder Vedder mentioned he was “basically part of the band now,” as the group seemed at home opening with their new song “Sirens”. The band’s 25 song set (which was created by Gleason) was back ended with the hits, but early tunes like the smooth “In My Tree” and the punky “Mind Your Manners” found the group clicking.
Vedder was in great spirits giving out Macklemore’s phone number in case anyone got arrested and singing with the sign language interpreter for “Even Flow.” Jeff Ament broke out what looked like a 12 string spangly silver bass for “Jeremy” as the crowd sang along. The showstopper of this set was the emotive “Black” with mega guitar riffs while fan favorite “Yellow Ledbetter” ended the night on a positive note.
Why the powers that be decided to alter the stage set up is mind boggling, as in year’s past bands as diverse as Cheap Trick, Cheeky Blakk and The Meters would be playing side by side and things went well, this year you couldn’t help but hear multiple artists no matter where you ended up. For a festival of this size and yearly success to have this issue is shocking. Hopefully it will be rectified next year, all music fans deserve to “worship the music” in better fashion.