The Voodoo Music and Arts Experience

Day Three Headliner Reviews:

Beats Antique: “I didn’t know what to think of them, but they were good,” a friend of mine said shortly after Oakland-based burner band Beats Antique left the stage. The band did their signature performance, featuring intricate VJ sets to go along with their particular musical style. Although they couldn’t bring in the full stage set from their A Thousand Faces tour, which came to New Orleans just recently, they still put on a memorable performance for the college-aged party crowd. Zoe Jakes, the groups’ only female member and belly dancing act, put on a wild performance, alternating between dance solos and bass drum solos in the middle of the stage. Next was a striptease by another female dancer as Jakes did an outfit change. The dancer took off over six layers of costumes before exiting the stage in her underwear. The band played a bunch of songs from their new album, A Thousand Faces, as well as a few unreleased songs and an instrumental of Daft Punk’s famous single, “Get Lucky.” The band closed their set with a circus-themed dance party, complete with costumed dancers in animal heads as the stage lights illuminated the surrounding trees to create an eerie energy around the stage. The group paused for a moment before introducing New Orleans bounce legend Katey Red for an encore performance where the dancers twerked and Katey strutted around the stage rapping over their music. “Let’s give it up for Beats Antique,” the queen screamed before strutting off the stage and letting the lights go out.

The Cure: Shout out to Robert Smith for keeping the same hairstyle for so long, and for rocking red lipstick better than I can. The band took the stage around 7 p.m. and played for the next two hours, playing some of their bigger hits on the Ritual main stage and showing that they’ve still got it. They opened the show with “Shake Dog Shake” and played other hits such as “The Hungry Ghost,” “Close To Me” and “Let’s Go To Bed” before closing the set and the festival on a well-rounded musical note.

Dr. John: Local New Orleans jazz and blues legend Dr. John did a slow stride into the piano seat centered on the Le Flambeaux stage just before his 7 p.m. show started. His hair slicked back in a long ponytail and capped with a fedora, this guy seethed a type of cool that made you feel like a punk ass teen for even thinking the words, “Let’s go to the rave across the park.” The stage, now adorned with fake moss and candles, was set up to look like a Louisiana bayou and the tree-like glowing umbrellas around the front and back of the stage gave an eerie, warm glow across the stage. The jazz band took the stage and Dr. John closed the festival on the Le Flambeaux stage as a representative of true New Orleans sound. If you ever find yourself in this wonderful city and have the opportunity to see Dr. John show you how jazz music should sound live, don’t pass up the opportunity.

Bassnectar: Heavy bass and experimental funk took over the park as Bassnectar began his show that closed the festival on the Le Plur stage. Bassnectar’s original sound takes away from the average EDM show by adding a well-needed dose of psychedelia and a dash of hard, heavy bass that created the perfect concoction for a good acid trip⎯if only I did acid. The crowd bobbed back and forth to the beat in a tightly packed area, as with any electronic concert, and the overly drunk, high energy assholes were shunned to the back, as they should have been all weekend. The DJ’s stage energy showed he was probably more into the music than anyone, as he jumped with every beat and tossed his long head of hair around. I’d heard this guy was disappointing live, but I was extremely impressed.

This year’s Voodoo Music and Arts Experience was one of the better music festival experiences I’ve had. Although the stages were a bit close together and made it hard to focus on one band at times, the bands worked well with it. If you’ve never been to New Orleans, there’s no better time than during a music festival—nothing captures the aura of the South better than a good music experience with some local flavor (which Voodoo had copious amounts of). The 16th annual Voodoo Festival will take place on the first weekend of November in 2014 and tickets will go on sale here.