Voodoo Music Experience 2008
I love going on a music related vacation. My trip to NOLA was long overdue and the music part of my vacation was really just the icing on the cake. Here’s my breakdown by day.
Friday, 10/24
(Mars Volta from Main Stage)
Didn’t get there until later in the day - I had seen a bunch of the bands on the schedule so no one we were dying to see. Started off at the WWOZ/SoCo stage (after getting a Sparks* - hey, better than crappy Miller Lite). Caught a bit of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and then Reverend Horton Heat. Then headed towards the main stage and caught some of TVOTR before heading towards the 2nd main stage to see Devotchka, who I can best describe as gypsy music for indie rock kids. Not a bad thing at all. We did stick around for Stone Temple Pilots, but Weiland was not at his best so we bailed. We ended up meeting people who stayed for their entire set and they told us STP got better, but I somehow doubt that.
Saturday 10/25:
(Andy from Manchester Orchestra)
Because the Dungeon is evil, we were less than motivated to hang out to listen to music on Saturday. But I wanted to see Manchester Orchestra. They did a lot of new material from their forthcoming album. Good stuff. But there was a surprising amount of people singing along with me when they played “Wolves at Night”, “Golden Ticket” and “Where Have You Been”. After their set, we found some shade to sit in stuck it out through the rest of the day before NIN. Caught most of the day’s performances from the big screen (Thievery Corporation, Mars Volta) - nothing too earth shattering. And I don’t get Ghostland Observatory.at.all.
(NIN during the Ghosts portion of their set)
I already wrote about the NIN show - you can check out that review here.
Sunday 10/26:
(Chris from Dashboard Confessional)
Another day where other things took priority in the morning. But there was no missing Dashboard Confessional or Panic at the Disco. I needed an emo sing-a-long and neither DC or P@TD disappointed. I only half-heartedly took notes during Dashboard, mostly because I was singing. Of course, the crowd loved the older material - a good back to back was “The Good Fight” (I begged you not to go/I begged you/I pleaded) and “Saints and Sailors”. The epic “Screaming Infidelities” with “Again I Go Unnoticed” were also great. Then they had some fun - first, they covered Weezer’s “El Scorcho”. I had heard them do that when Chris toured “unplugged” and really enjoyed it. A couple of songs later, they covered Pink’s “I’m Still A Rock Star” (thanks to Lushy for filling me in on that one, cause I was clueless). They ended their set with “Vindicated” and of course, “Hands Down”, where all the emo kids and I had a moment together singing along at the top of our lungs.
During our break between the bands, we got more Sparks. So we were sooooo ready for some Panic. I have to say I am really enjoying their live sets these days. They seem more relaxed up there and are having fun, which is good. Ryan (who writes the lyrics to the songs) seems to be more active in their live set than in the past and does quite a bit of singing along with Brenden. Their set list was pretty tight (full list if you rawk on). The new material from Pretty.Odd fits right into classics such as “Lying”, “Martyrdom” and “Sins”. But they pretty much brought the house down by covering “Shout”. No, not Tears for Fears.....you know you make me want to “shout”!
We didn’t stick around for R.E.M...had some eating and drinking to do to finish off the weekend. I did take a few more photos - you can view here.
*evil alcohol tinged energy drink in case you were not in the know - tastes like fanta
