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Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Day 1 - I'm hungover and my feet hurt. Got to SVIP which is pretty cool. Celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez is curating the food and suggests I have the crawfish etouffe. It was delicious. The stages are all on a perimeter so you walk out the back and catch a golf cart to wherever you want to go. Viewing areas were good too. Only bitches are the entrance to the VIP section is inconvenient and you can't bring drinks out. They were hooking up shit like Don Julio tequila and Bulleit Bourbon, so they weren't skimping on quality. They also give you a poster and a locker so that's cool.
Shows.
Alfred Banks - good local rapper, lots of energy from him
Chicano Batman - very entertaining set. I'd been wanting to see them for a while. Set sounded good so we also caught some of their mini set at the Toyota Tent.
DJ Mel - caught the last 20 minutes including his Tom Petty tribute where he played the entire Free Faling.
SAINt JHN - solid rapper from Brooklyn. I got a little tired of the silk shirt talk, but he was entertaining. His DJ/Producer (Rami?) fucked up several parts
Bleached - got 3 songs in by them at their mini set. Sounded like some decent garage punk.
Marian Hill - Damn, they sounded really good. It was a bass/sax guy, the singer and a keyboardist/engineer. Their sound quality was very good. Not stuff I would ordinarily listen to, but I enjoyed them.
Kehlani- beautiful voice, great dancers and music. Way too pop, and she didn't play any guitar herself, but I'm glad I went to see her show. In an age of lip syncing, she put her heart out there and sang to everyone individually.
Benjamin Booker - was a little bluesier sounding than ACL and the band was good
LCD - Good set which shouldn't surprise me. Sound quality was very good for that show and people were into it.
Prophets of Rage - played a couple of the same songs from Tips and worked some other shit in. It was my favorite show of the day.
Kendrick - Kendrick was awesome but came on a little late and ended a bit early. Otherwise, that's why he's the headliner.
Apparently I'm on some of the streams 2 fisting. Look for your boy today in the combination brother love and specter costume with bling and dollar signs everywhere. Time for a red bul. \m/
Heard on the streets DJ Snake was cancelling or something and RL would be closer. He’s way better anyway but I’m not missing Foo Fighters for that and I get Black angels back if it’s true.
Day 2 - So here's what's up and why Voodoo will always be one of the most underrated festivals there is. Got in and ate multiple bowls of chicken and andouille gumbo and had fried sticky pork ribs. Shows:
Black Pistol Fire - yes
Saw some of Pell. Went to Boombox at Toyota Tent. Next was Colony House from Nashville. Kind of rocked. Walked past the record company who sounded good while on the way to Rich Chigga. That was one of the best shows of the day. He's a prodigy rapper and he brought out $UICIDE BOY$ for the last 4 or 5 songs. They just did that shit with Denzel Curry 2 weeks ago so I guess some mfs like them. Great ass set with Dat Stick obviously on top.
Next was 30 minutes of Live. Not hating. Boombox on the EDM stage came next. Lots of great drops and lots of pussy ass shit as anyone who ever saw Boombox knows. Next I went to Superduperkyle. Yeah, Kyle is a nerd and a chump but he went hard as he could. He dressed as Mario so that was okay. Next stop was a wildcard set from Brand New. I am blank on them but I always figured I'd see them. Show was more harder rock than I would have thought. Next stop was The Black Angels. I was on the way to RL but no way could I miss all of TBA. Money as always. Caught the ride to RL and was disappointed. He brought some shit but there was some wimpy soft chick pop. It's whatever. I've seen him as that and Clockwork. Eh. So I went to Foo Fighters and they laid out exactly why they are the best band on the planet. Thanks.
Foos were amazing as always. Brand New is such a live force
Black Pistol Fire. My lord. They decided to try to win over the foo fighters campers. What an inspired preformance they always bring it but yesterday was next level
Foos were amazing as always. Brand New is such a live force
Black Pistol Fire. My lord. They decided to try to win over the foo fighters campers. What an inspired preformance they always bring it but yesterday was next level
All 3 great rock shows. Can't wait for today. I'll be wearing a dark grey day 4 night hoodie. Someone is soundchecking. Miguel maybe? Whatever it is sounds good
Oh and just watched your videos for BPF on YouTube. Thanks for those.
Only went on Friday and had some issues leading to us being pretty late. Had planned to be inside by 5pm but didn't end up inside until about 7:30, which sucked.
Saw LCD Soundsystem which was awesome. We were right behind the relay towers so the sound was incredible. Went over for Prophets of Rage and had a real good time there too. Kendrick was the highlight of the day but we were bummed he played such a short set it seemed like.
Was surprised I didn't see anyone selling shirts outside the fest when we were leaving too. It was such a mess of people leaving we might have walked right past the tshirt guy. Hate missing out, my collection of Voodoo bootleg shirts if pretty good.
The LCD Soundystem after show was one of the best shows I've ever been to. The energy from the crowd and band were unreal. Whole festival was amazing, but that after show just put my whole trip on another level.
Day 3 done with a great Voodoo in the books. I'll get around to random stories and figure out a Top 10 later on when I get up. They hooked up the food again in Platinum with Chef Sanchez putting out red beans and rice, plantain chips with fresh pico and guacamole, street tacos (smoked carnitas maybe?) and bruleed bread pudding. I put on 5 pounds of non-drinking weight.
I started off watching the Saints game and walked over to Malik Ninety Five. They were having technical issues and got a 20 minute late start on a 30 minute set and fucked that up too. Good rapper but not ready for prime time show. Next stop was back to the altar for Ron Gallo. Ron has a 3 piece punk/garage band. I liked that set. We went over to where Mannequin Pussy was playing and watched about 4 songs from them which was decent. Decided to walk back to main and stopped in for Strand of Oaks. I'd walked past them before and just never paid any attention. This was a good decision as we ended up staying for the rest of the set. This was musically a very good show. Sound and playing were up there for an afternoon set. I'll look to see that project again in the future.
We watched about 20 minutes of Cold War Kids which was pretty much what you'd expect for them and headed out to G Jones. G. Jones is always great and one of the better up and coming harder producers. This was probably my favorite EDM set of the weekend though I didn't catch many of those sets. Next stop was 20 minutes of Amine. That was pretty fun. He had a good crowd at that set who knew a bunch of his raps. I hadn't seen him before, but he's pretty good. We went back to the main stage for The Head and the Heart. Main singer was dressed up as Freddie Mercury, and main guitarist was Slash. I liked that set It was very clean sounding, and you already know they are good. It's just odd for them to be a pre-headliner on a closing day because they are so dreamy and folky. I'd have rather seen them earlier in the weekend, but either way they were good.
Next stop was Miguel. I don't give a shit about Louis the Child or Post Malone, and Miguel was the option there. He had a 3 or 4 piece rock band that backed him who was good as shit. It wasn't quite as R&B "songy" as I thought, so that was a plus. Cool guy with a great voice and tons of chick fans. We then went to watch the first 30 of Dillon Francis. It was a mix of great shit and dance parts, but he was going harder than the last time I saw him. Light show was good too. Finally we walked over to watch most of the Killers' set. It was a little showman-y and Vegas-y, but there is no questioning the talent. We got a cover of Fats Domino's Ain't That a Shame. We left about 10-15 minutes before it was over, so I'm not sure if they paid tribute to Petty. Either way, might not be my shit, but they are clearly Headliner quality. More later
Everyone had a terrible time? Great!..glad I didn't go!
Brutally terrible. Haha. I’m too blahhed out and beat down. You should have been there. Some minor knocks here and there but overall pure greatness. I need a couple more beers in me before the rest.
Dulled down, but I'll give it a shot. Voodoo was great. It's pretty much always great. I've said it before, but it's why we won't go to Hulaween even though my whole family would otherwise be there on any other fall weekend. Platinum was awesome. It's tough to come to an agreement on the value of perks, so whether or not it was worth it would be up for debate. They took good care of you, and once the restriction of not being able to bring drinks out of the VIP was lifted for all day Saturday and Sunday, it was what it was supposed to be. All you could eat of very good food was nice. Chef Sanchez knows how to cook. He's a cool guy and was wandering around hanging with everyone on Friday and Saturday. For being one of the most famous chefs on television, he's always been very approachable and humble. And all you could drink good alcohol worked. The booze was higher shelf. You got a free locker and could take a mobile phone charger any time you needed it. There was water and/or redbulls at all the premium viewing areas, so that worked. Golf Cart Transportation from stage to stage was helpful and allowed for quick and easy point to point drop offs or all the way from wherever to Le Plur in like 3 minutes. And you got a free poster. A knock on SVIP would be that unless you posted up early for the major shows, you watched it at the rail but on the screen. Also, because you were so close but displaced from the center of the stage, you could get sound bleed being a little out of the speaker projection range. Whenever I was in the crowd or close to the front/center of a stage, that wasn't an issue at all.
In the regular part of the festival, I never stood in line for a bathroom, and the longest paid for bar line I stood in was maybe 3 minutes and that was at the end of the festival for a walk out beer. Weather ended up cooperating pretty well. It was the first cold weekend of the year, but with the sun out, it was almost unnoticeable. It's Voodoo so obviously people were partying. I only saw a couple of stretcher incidents, and I didn't see any fights. The crowds were pretty varied up this year and diverse. I guess that's to be expected with a diverse lineup that has acts different people want to see. Most everyone was friendly, and there were some great costumes. One of my favorites was a group of dressed as the meddling kids from Scooby Doo. There were great and random ones all around and people having fun role playing their costumes. There were more trash cans and recycling boxes than I can remember, and other than main headliner shows, the grounds were kept clean. They were again very easy to navigate and allowed you to walk from stage to stage in 5 minutes. Sound bleed was minimal though noticeable in parts of shows where a band would go quiet. I'm not bitching about some other shit being loud or anything because with only a couple of festival-sound issues this weekend, the quality was often extremely clean so that speaks for the sound production. Some shows (Miguel) could have been louder for the time he was playing, but that's okay. Lighting was good at all shows, but I was wondering why they put The Killers on the screen in black and white when the show was technicolor. Maybe it was the lasers? Lots of bands paid big respect to the city from hating to have to leave tomorrow (Head and Heart) to how honored they were (Colony House) to their favorite city or whatever.
It's difficult for me to rank a top 10 because there were way more shows I liked than what I expected. I think a lot of the wildcard stuff like Brand New being as good as it was has an effect for shit I otherwise might have loved and ranked higher.
1. Prophets of Rage preparty Tipitina's - Seems like a lifetime ago. People can hate all they want, but just go back to the setlist for this show. It was wild, and it was a perfect kick off to the weekend.
2. Foo Fighters - First of all, fuck Live Nation for booking a 90 minute Foo Fighters set. You cheated us out of an hour or hour and a half that we should have gotten. So they did a compressed set which was fucking Killer. They are the greatest live rock band there is. Dave loves the city, and we love him. He had your boy in the front row he called out for There Goes My Hero crying on television. He'll go down in history for that. Many people in the crowd were crying at various parts of the set too. I think the Foo Fighters have meaning to a lot of people, and in the context of seeing them live, they touch a lot of deep places in people. Intense, and arguably the best no-bullshit festival set I watched or streamed this year (I went to or watched almost all of them). Also, the Dave/Taylor Hawkins guitar/drums trade off they did was awesome for a festival bonus.
3. Prophets of Rage festival set - Unfortunately this was only 60 minutes after seeing them the night before for 90/95. It was never going to be able to compare. We had a lot of fun at this show.
4. Kendrick Lamar - Could have been higher on the list, but the set was too short. Kendrick is great and one of the top acts in the music industry. I would have liked another 10-15 minutes, but I'm not faulting the effort while he was on stage.
5. Rich Chigga - This was probably the most hype/fun set of the weekend and most surprising to me. The crowd energy was insane. It was loud and in your face with Suicide Boys joining him for the second half of the set as noted in the daily review. Rich gave them the shoutout for covering them in the past when he didn't have enough material for a show. All of them up there with the hype and chaos had everyone going. Finally it got to Dat Stick which was a fitting ending for what they gave you.
6. Brand New - I didn't know. This set was way more rocked in person than I expected. That was a great plus. I might have ever heard like 2 of their songs and came to this as a wildcard in that if Voodoo was going to be great and not just good/a lot of fun, some of the upper middle was going to have to show up. Many people were at the fest only for Brand New which is odd to me, but I know they have a dedicated fan base. Show was everything it could have been to be top notch. I'd recommend seeing them any time.
7. LCD Soundsystem - Sound quality on this was at least on par with Jane's Addiction in 2015. Ranking would be higher, as any of the sets below the Foo Fighters to this point would be interchangeable. Literally all 3-7 were "A" shows where Prophets and Foos are A+. Just like people who recommended Brand New said you had to see them live, many of you have recommended how great an LCD show is in person. Some bands I guess just translate that way. They were way better than I expected, and I'm very glad to have seen them. There was a bit of a fiasco with the tickets for the after-show where some people going needed to eat and ended up f'n up the program to the point there was no point in going to watch an encore. That's probably my biggest regret of the weekend, because based on the Voodoo set, I figured this was going to be good.
8. BLack Pistol Fire - I was told they were a show stealer act by one of my friends from Austin who loves them. I was very entertained by the big stage performance. The guitarist is nuts and goes wild in a similar way Reignwolf does. He actually had a chord holding dude helping him for much of the set as he jumped around and dropped to the stage. I enjoyed their cover of old Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" though the whole set was fun. I look forward to seeing them again.
9. G. Jones - I dropped by the EDM stage for a couple of rap shows, but I probably only passed by once or twice a day otherwise. I've seen G. Jones a couple of times, so I knew what I was going to see. It was fun to let loose and dance to that set. He brought lots of his shit along with some cool remixes and party drops. He is one of my favorite up and coming DJ's to see live.
10. Chicano Batman - Glad to have finally seen them live. The band is very talented, and I'm glad to see bands playing whatever it is they want to play and not trying to be pigeonholed as this, that or the other.
Honorable Mentions would be:
Kehlani - That was probably the only time I was ever going to see her. She has a beautiful voice, and she kind of has a way of being able to connect with the audience at a one on one level. Maybe I was just drunk, but it seemed like a lot of people were internalizing the set. The sit down version of I Like My Girls Just Like I Like My Honey was particularly memorable. They fucked it up and had to restart. I'm not sure if it was her DJ or whatever or if she just wanted to start it over. Either way, that song (Honey I guess) was a nice moment between her and the audience.
The Black Angels - Planning on seeing RL Grime and having Voodoo ban Crystal Castles fucked this set up for me. I could only get over there for about 20 minutes. It sounded great. That's my second time seeing them, and I appreciate what they are doing.
Strand of Oaks - Sound and playing was good at this show. It wasn't even a pass-by on my schedule, just what ended up happening.
The Head and The Heart - They were very entertaining. I see them more as an act I'd rather see at Jazz Fest than Voodoo Fest, but the playing and harmonizing was on point.
I saw tons of other shit, most of it good. When Voodoo is as good as it was this year, it's a hard festival to top. People may hate on aspects of the lineup or might want more legacy acts sometimes. And that's true. Next year is #20 for Voodoo. I would like to challenge C3 to top what Rehage Entertainment did for the 15th Anniversary in 2013 (Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Bassnectar, The Cure, Pretty Lights, Arctic Monkeys, JBT, etc.). If you give me a lineup I want to see and continue to make sure there is enough rock for me to wander around to, I'd do the Platinum again.
Good summary. I mostly agree with the above. I go Profits of rage preshow. I never say lit af. But it was lit af Brand new. But I irrationally love them Foos. 90 min set was criminal Killers knew they would do something fun and the fats cover was that Black Pistol Fire - would you be interested in seeing royal blood crossed with the white strips only less brooding and pumped full of caffeine? If so see them LCD sound was nice Cold War kids (never saw them before somehow) Head and heart Ben booker Live Strand of oaks Flow tribe was bizarrely fun
Did not care for Kendrick. Like at all Also. I like colony house but they are not ready to be playing a main stage that will have brand new and foo fighters on later
Best smelling fan base Marion Hill. worst smelling fan base profits of rage
Shout out to all those wearing costumes and for the chicks using them as a reason to dress like harlots. Good stuff
This was the last use of my livenation fest pass. I am glad have that forced me into going to this. Best fest vibe from all the fests I went to this year. Really well run too
Best smelling fan base Marion Hill. worst smelling fan base profits of rage
Shout out to all those wearing costumes and for the chicks using them as a reason to dress like harlots. Good stuff
This was the last use of my livenation fest pass. I am glad have that forced me into going to this. Best fest vibe from all the fests I went to this year. Really well run too
Good shit pwm. I forgot the HM for Marian Hill. That's a very interesting act for the future. As for the best fest vibe from the year, I'm glad you got that. It's a 100% party festival, but it's chill even for the lit up sets. Cops were always pretty cool with the leeway provided mfers didn't get out of control. And between the costumes, Halloween motif (especially at night), it just always seems like anyone will smile back at any point. I hope you had a good time in town, and hit me up if you come back.
Also, good running into @spent & jabco this weekend. I didn't see anyone else off the site, but I was talking to a guy with an English or Oceanic accent that paid $750.00. If that was you RonG, nice meeting you as well.
Best smelling fan base Marion Hill. worst smelling fan base profits of rage
Shout out to all those wearing costumes and for the chicks using them as a reason to dress like harlots. Good stuff
This was the last use of my livenation fest pass. I am glad have that forced me into going to this. Best fest vibe from all the fests I went to this year. Really well run too
Good shit pwm. I forgot the HM for Marian Hill. That's a very interesting act for the future. As for the best fest vibe from the year, I'm glad you got that. It's a 100% party festival, but it's chill even for the lit up sets. Cops were always pretty cool with the leeway provided mfers didn't get out of control. And between the costumes, Halloween motif (especially at night), it just always seems like anyone will smile back at any point. I hope you had a good time in town, and hit me up if you come back.
Also, good running into @spent & jabco this weekend. I didn't see anyone else off the site, but I was talking to a guy with an English or Oceanic accent that paid $750.00. If that was you RonG, nice meeting you as well.
Will do. And I will be back if the lineup is even half good. The time of year works. The festival was a nice mix of people Not a straight kid fest. Always 1 act I wanted to see. New Orleans kicks ass in general. I liked the set up. Wayyy less d bags then many other fests. Got to like anywhere where it's 55 degrees and chicks still want to wear nothing. Would have liked it a little warmer but that's picking at nits. I would also like if the aftershows were later cause I don't miss headliners
Next time I may consider platinum. That would be a first for me. Also I would like to stay closer although I didn't mind hitting up bar afterwords and converting what would be uber surcharge into beer
For sure. The other perk I forgot was access entrance. I didn’t even know about it Day 1 and didn’t think to use it for exiting Day 2. By Day 3 we had it figured out. They give you a pass to park in that blocked off area right in front of the museum and shuttle you into Platinum from around the back of the fences from 20 steps from where you can park. We didn’t drive so we gave that pass to Jabco who said it was clutch. It was a hassle free entrance also.
Best smelling fan base Marion Hill. worst smelling fan base profits of rage
Shout out to all those wearing costumes and for the chicks using them as a reason to dress like harlots. Good stuff
This was the last use of my livenation fest pass. I am glad have that forced me into going to this. Best fest vibe from all the fests I went to this year. Really well run too
Good shit pwm. I forgot the HM for Marian Hill. That's a very interesting act for the future. As for the best fest vibe from the year, I'm glad you got that. It's a 100% party festival, but it's chill even for the lit up sets. Cops were always pretty cool with the leeway provided mfers didn't get out of control. And between the costumes, Halloween motif (especially at night), it just always seems like anyone will smile back at any point. I hope you had a good time in town, and hit me up if you come back.
Also, good running into @spent & jabco this weekend. I didn't see anyone else off the site, but I was talking to a guy with an English or Oceanic accent that paid $750.00. If that was you RonG, nice meeting you as well.
Yes, that was me. I've been perfecting this English accent all my life. I did pay $750 on the secondary market. The full Platinum price was too rich for my blood after being used to paying $350 for the old LOA. But in fairness I didn't hear a single complaint about the full price and plenty of praise for the amenities. I should be back as always in 2018.
This was the first Voodoo fest where I didn't buy a ticket in early bird pricing. In the end I only began hustling for this fest in late September, once The Struts announced their aftershow. That sealed it for me. Foos, Killers, LCD, and now The Struts. And that's how it played out for me. I'm not a rap fan and left the Kendrick show after 20 minutes, but stayed on the front rail for the Foos & The Killers. Foo Fighters topped my performance list at this year's fest. My top 5 looks like this
1. Foo Fighters 2. The Killers 3. Mondo Cozmo (They've made one of the best albums of 2017, and they showed they can cut it live as well) 4. The Struts (HOB aftershow) 5. LCD Soundsystem
The undercard didn't do a lot for me this year. What made the festival for me musically was the two rock headliners, who are huge favorites of mine.
Oh fucking right. I should have introduced myself talking to you yesterday, so I apologize. It didn’t hit me until after I thought about it but obviously it was a pleasure meeting and speaking with you, and I’ll know who you are next time.
The LCD Soundystem after show was one of the best shows I've ever been to. The energy from the crowd and band were unreal. Whole festival was amazing, but that after show just put my whole trip on another level.
Shit was A+. Mix was perfect, we had 2nd row loge seats which were great. High energy all around, real late night feel in the room. Highlight of my weekend.
