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Here’s to Voodoo

Another year, another Voodoo Music Experience.  Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, this year’s VMX was scaled down to say the least.  It went from 5 stages and an estimated attendance of 80,000 last year to 3 stages with no more than 20,000 people in attendance this year.  To control the crowd, TCB Events, the Memphis promoter/organizer, decided to sell two types of tickets.  One ticket would let you get up close and personal (ie. pit ticket) and the other ticket limited fans to the stadium’s general admission seating.  As fans trapped in the stands soon realized, a baseball stadium is not build to be acoustically pleasing.  It is built to bounce noise around (like screaming fans).  Most of the sets that I watched from the stands down right sucked.  The audio was bad and you could not see a thing from that vantage point.  There were a few advantages to being trapped in the stands, however.  You got a chair to sit down on, non Port-A-Potty restrooms, and close proximity to food.  Unlike Voodoos past, there were no Creole cuisine booths set up near the stage.  Red Beans and Rice were replaced with nachos and hot dogs. 

But enough complaining, Voodoo did not disappoint this year despite being scaled back.  Right when I arrived at the venue (20 minutes after the gates opened), I noticed that the main stage was quiet.  I asked about this at the press tent and they found it strange that the main stage had not started but had no answers.  Later I learned that the Decemberists had cancelled and that left the organizers with no other option than to start the stage late.  Samurai Deli was a neat little punk rock band.  Mindless Self Indulgence put on the best show of VMX.  Jimmy was very animated, bouncing around stage and climbing on everything that he could.  At one point he jumped off the stage, nearly taking me down.  It made me wonder if he spiked his bottle of Nyquil with a little “something-something.” Cowboy Mouth put on their typical show.  If you’ve seen one Cowboy Mouth show, you’ve seen them all.  Fred did debut two songs from their new album.  Both songs dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Better Than Ezra rocked the stage after Cowboy Mouth but I didn’t take anything outstanding away from their set.  Cake’s set was plagued with technical difficulties.  The band took the stage 30 minutes late due to a faulty microphone connected to front man John McCrea’s acoustic guitar.  Once taking the stage, the microphones barely worked, the monitor speakers were too low and the lighting was sub-par.  At one point McCrea announced that he would like to see the stage hands “do your damn job” and fix the setup.  In the photo pit I also heard him turn to his band mates and ask if they wanted to walk.  Cake did end their set about 15 minutes early.  After Cake, I watched Queens of the StoneAge from the stands and the audio was terrible.  At one point I had to cover my ears because of the screeching from the amplified PA system.  Before QOTSA took the stage, it was announced that the venue had become open general admission (the way it should have been all day).  Fans flooded the field and rocked out to QOTSA and the New York Dolls.  I waited by the main stage to be let into the photo pit for the band I had driven 450 miles to see, Nine Inch Nails.  Trent Reznor did not disappoint.  He opened with his debut single Head Like a Hole and closed with Hurt.  In between he sprinkled in some new (Only, The Hand that Feeds) and a lot of old (Terrible Lie, March of the Pigs, Burn).  In traditional NIN style, Trent threw his guitar at the bass drum and tossed a hot microphone stand across the stage (at that point they ushered everyone out of the photo pit). 

Voodoo was thrown together this year but it is understandable.  They had merely weeks to plan the festival.  All of their previously laid plans failed when the venue was changed and bands backed out.  For the low price of admission ($35) and the purpose of this event (all proceeds going to Hurricane Relief), there’s no reason anyone should complain. 

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