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The link to the full photo gallery craziness is below. (Getty Images)
On Day One of the legendary Voodoo Experience, which was Friday, October 30, the warm, humid day took a downturn just as the party started with Janelle Monae took to the Voodoo Stage and the Black Keys started up across the meadow at the Playstation/Billboard.com Stage. The temperature dropped 20 degrees in about 10 minutes, the clouds blew in, and it started pouring rain. And didn't stop!
But in classic NOLA style, the hordes of music fans that had gathered at for the 11th annual "ritual" in City Park simply whipped out their rain gear, and the party kept right on going on the three big stages, with Silversun Pickups rolling into the Knux and on to Justice as the rain beat down. By 9:30pm, when Eminem reunited with D12, his skeleton-costumed band, and played his first gig in five years, only the strongest, and his biggest fans, were still standing (and shivering). And he gave those thousands of rap lovers just what they wanted, playing his biggest hits to roars of appreciation.
"Hey New Orleans, I'm back y'all. Did you miss me?" he shouted to the crowd. Santa Claus was especially appreciative, as were the others who started the dress-up early -- some posing as Jesus, or white-trash zombies (mullets and all), and, of course, as Elvis.
As Halloween dawned Saturday with a bit of drizzle, Voodoo Day Two got going early, with fans slogging through some serious mud puddles to check out bands like Fatter than Albert, As Tall as Lions, and New Orleans native Andrew Duhon and the Lonesome Crows. Big Sam's Funky Nation and Walter "Wolfman" Washington kept the local vibe alive as the weather cleared; then, as costumed crowds poured into the gates just past the New Orleans Museum of Art, the big shows got rolling.
Gogol Bordello brought their gypsy-ska-punk-reggae groove, then Aussie favorites Wolfmother started the hard rock/heavy metal vibe that went straight into the night. Teeming multitudes of crazily costumed partygoers of every age pushed in tight to check out the reunion of Jane's Addiction, as Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, and Eric Avery blasted out their biggest tunes, accompanied by a duo of mostly naked Asian dancing girls.
Navarro went shirtless as always, but Farrell, wearing a spangly green space invader/superhero get-up, was well into the spirit of the night. He slurped from a bottle of wine, contorted with the geisha twins, and screamed into the mike, "This is the perfect place to spend Halloween, wouldn't you say so? Let's celebrate death!"
They even welcomed costumed revelers onto the stage to dance along to "Jane Says"; Elvis made another appearance there, the Fat Elvis that never really goes out of style as a Halloween costume.
In style, too, were KISS, who closed out Day Two of Voodoo in full regalia, from their signature makeup and amazing black-leather get-ups to fireworks, exploding sets, and giant cannons filled with paper confetti. As Gene Simmons proudly shrieked, obviously taking a dig at the currently on-tour and always politically correct band U2, "If you are looking for a rock band to preach about the environment and global awareness, we are not that band! Those problems will be here tomorrow, so we're here to party tonight!" And kill a couple of hundred trees in the process to make all that confetti, it seems.
The party raged all over town after Voodoo closed up, from the French Quarter to the serious madness of Frenchmen Street in the Marigny, but despite staying out until the break of dawn, the NOLA party crowd was back in the park for Day Three of Voodoo. On a perfect, crisp, sunny fall day, fans wandered the food booths, mini art galleries, and shops that lined the walkways to the stages, taking in a day filled with more music. Widespread Panic, the Pogues, Shooter Jennings, and Squirrel Nut Zippers enlivened the daytime scene, while the Flaming Lips and finally Lenny Kravitz closed out the main stages with crowd-pleasing shows.
But the best set of the weekend, hands down, was the homegrown "gumbo" created by Cajun blues guitar man (and hottie) Tab Benoit. His "Swampland Jam" brought together Cyril Neville, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Sansone, and Wayne Thibodeaux for a rollicking 90 minutes of NOLA blues, funk, and rock that blew the top off the Preservation Hall Tent.
As Tab, whose diligent work to save the Louisiana Mississippi Delta wetlands seems to really be making a difference, reminded us, "I know you all love it here in New Orleans, we love it here, too. That'' why we have to make sure it is here forever, by protecting our environment. Everyone has to do their part."
Amen to that, brother. And KISS be damned!
