This past weekend’s Voodoo Fest was outstanding. It was music, culture and fun. I was a little worried because going into the weekend, I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep and worked a lot but everything worked out fine. Granted, I did sleep on a hotel room floor Saturday night, but after all it is a music festival, you have to rough it sometimes.
Here is a run-down and critique of the bands I saw at Voodoo Fest:
Lil’ Wayne
Maybe it was because he was the first act I saw, or maybe I did not have my Voodoo Fest legs under me, but Lil’ Wayne just did not impress in his hometown. I am not a lover nor hater of his but his live show left much to be desired. He talked about God, the Presidential election and P*&&# all in the same sentence. One word: classy. Then he played a bunch of slow songs that no one was really into. I noticed many people made an early exit during his set.
The Mars Volta
Those guys got the prog rock going. They made a lot of sound and danced around like crazy. It was good, the only problem was that their set turned into one long song almost and that kind of made my attention drift. Overall, solid performance though.
Nine Inch Nails
NIN dropped one of the better performances that I have seen in my life. They played a great mix from all of their albums and Trent Reznor sounded just as crisp live as he does on CD. The light show was crazy and some of the other special effects made me rub my eyes.
Cold War Kids
Overall, these guys surprised me the most with their performance. I had heard that they were really good live, but I did not expect them to be that good. They came out rocking and mashed up all of their sounds organically and with real skill. During one song, lead singer Nathan Willet was clanging around on his piano, while another member of the band was banging maracas on a cymbal, another guy was hitting an empty whisky bottle with a drumstick and yet another guy was playing the clarinet. I was blown away and I am very excited to see them again at the X-Mas Bash on December 4th.
Dashboard Confessional
Sonically, those guys were very solid. They played their biggest songs and peppered in a few covers like U2’s “One” and Pink’s “So What”.
Lupe Fiasco
Where Lil’ Wayne failed the hip-hop community, Lupe Fiasco came through. He played his hits but the crowd equally enjoyed all the songs he played, hit or no hit. He brought tons of energy and gave it his all. Not to bad for a guy performing in all black with leather pants on while facing into the sun.
Panic at the Disco
I saw Panic perform years ago before they made it big. I was surprised at how much better they were at playing there instruments today than they were back then. They sounded great and looked to be having tons of fun. They played some of the old and some of the new, conversed with the crowd and even made a comment about an airplane that was flying a Hand grenade advertisement over the festival. They closed out their fun set with a very fitting cover of “Shout” by The Isley Brothers.
Butthole Surfers
They went on an hour late in the Bingo Tent. It was so packed that I was standing 10 deep outside the tent. The acoustics were bad and all I could see was someone’s hand playing a guitar, so I bolted. With the circumstances I could not get a really good read on if they did a good or bad job.
REM
They put on a spirited performance and really spoke to the New Orleans crowd, they also got political. I got stoked when they played “What’s the Frequency Kenneth”. They played a ton of hits but it was the end of a long weekend and I was starting to feel out it, so my mind was drifting a little. They still did a good job, though.
Dan Day’s Dish
Cold War Kids
“Loyalty to Loyalty”
Since these guys recently blew me away at Voodoo Fest, I figured that I would feature them in the Dish. This is a sort of a laid back, bluesy album. Opening track “Against Privacy” is as political of a song as you will hear from these guys but it has a good message and groove to it. “Something is not Right with Me” is one of the better songs of the year that is one of the reasons why it was featured on an episode of HBO’s “Entourage and why we play it here at 104 the X. It really shows off lead singer Nathan Willet’s vocal talents. Track number six, “Golden Gate Jumpers” is a slower track but talks of people in a fragile state of mind and it really makes you think. If you want something that is not your typical sounding album, pick this disk up and experience good musicianship form these Long Beach, California boys.
