Voodoo Experience 2009: Sunday In Review

Photo by Hash Browns

It's always somewhat bittersweet going into a festival on its final day, knowing that the next day will not be filled with musical adventures around every corner. Sometimes, festivals will even make the final day less appetizing, with smaller acts taking over the stages that bigger acts were inhabiting the days before. That wasn't really the case going into Sunday of the Voodoo Experience, with a stellar day-card filled out by some of our favorites, like Widespread Panic and The Flaming Lips, as well as classic performances from the likes of The Pogues, Shooter Jennings, Lenny Kravitz, The Meat Puppets and Robert Randolph & the Family Band.

Read all about Sunday, November 1st at the 2009 Voodoo Experience after the jump.

All photos by Eggs, unless otherwise noted

The Pogues ::: 2:15 pm ::: Playstation/Billboard.com Stage

Words by Eggs

For many years, I've been enjoying the rowdy Irish punk-influenced tunes of The Pogues, but never realized that I'd ever get to see them live. I've been intrigued in vocalist Shane McGowan, and his constant drunken and drug riddled problems inside and out of the band. Bacon and Hash Browns had the privilege to attend their performance in Houston the Thursday before Voodoo, and had quite the glowing review about it when we met up in New Orleans the next day. I had pondered into how McGowan acted during the show, and besides a few drunken moments, they said it wasn't that bad. What I witnessed on Sunday of Voodoo was borderline ridiculous, but was exactly what I was hoping for. The first three songs found their support vocalist, Spider, fronting the extremely solid instrumental efforts of the rest of The Pogues, and McGowan was nowhere in sight. Many people had expected him not to show at all due to the early set time, but as soon as the fourth song started, McGowan strolled on stage, walked up to Spider, ripped his sunglasses of his face and threw them to the ground before taking the microphone out of his hand. His face was a whiter shade of pale than I'd ever seen before – like, he looked dead – and his vocal efforts were almost incomprehensible. While his fronting the band is almost a joke, and was noticeably making the rest of the group somewhat angry, the crowd loved every bit of it. I left for a little bit, but I came back for the end of the set which had McGowan returning to the stage even drunker than before being guided to a stool on stage because he couldn't stand. Toast and I were taking bets on whether he'd fall of the stool by the end of the song, with Toast saying he would and myself saying he wouldn't. Toast won.

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Shooter Jennings ::: 2:15 pm ::: WWOZ/Soco Stage

Words by Toast

After watching The Pogues lead singer nearly fall over for a half hour, we made our way to the Soco/WWOZ stage to watch Shooter Jennings. Starting a little late, we arrived just in time to catch the opening song, which had a little bit of a dance beat to it. Having seen Shooter previously, I expected a decent show at best. Shooter proved himself to the crowd by unleashing a non-stop performance of straight up southern rock, running through several songs including "California Via Tennessee", "Gone To Carolina", and even a cover of Bon Jovi's "Dead Or Alive". Unfortunately, I had to run over to Widespread Panic pretty early into the set, but I squeezed as much out of Jennings as I possibly could, as they were giving it their all. Going into the weekend, Jennings was kind of a meh set for me, but due to their late start, that quickly turned around and made it one of the most energetic sets of the weekend

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Widespread Panic ::: 3:15 pm ::: Voodoo Stage

Words by Toast

What would a festival be without a little Widespread Panic? Lame if you ask me! Having an ultra long 2.5 hour set, Panic was sure to give the New Orleans crowd a little taste of some dirty southern rock. This may have been the first time I've seen them that I couldn't sit School's side because of the giant blocked area of VIP seating over there, which was one of the only new things at Voodoo this year that was undesirable. Starting out with a nasty version of "Thought Sausage," the crowd was slow to filter in, allowing for a little more open space than I have come to expect at a Panic show. Moving through "Greta" and "Blue Indian", I was still surprised at the lack of people at the stage. Perhaps a rough Halloween night may have had a little bit to do with that. Either way, this was one of the most fast paced, constantly energetic Panic shows I've seen. John Bell and company didn't fail to impress the crowd, which was picking up quite a bit of steam towards the heart of their set with an awesome version of "All Time Low". As the crowd gained steam, the Panic continued to respond, all leading up to a fitting conclusion that included an excellent version of Dr. Johns "I Walk On Guilded Splinters" and Bukka Whites "Fixin' To Die" leaving everybody with a new sense of increased energy going into the closing hours of Voodoo.

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The Flaming Lips ::: 5:45 pm ::: Playstation/Billboard.com Stage

Words by Bacon

The Flaming Lips brought their special brand of crazy Oklahoma euphoria to the Playstation stage just as the sun was going down. We pushed up as close as we could, hoping to get some hamster ball love from Wayne. The lull before their set was less eventful than in 2006, when the standoff between Man vs. Tree enraptured all of us in the crowd. Due to lack of alternate entertainment, Mrs. Bacon and I spent the time before the Lips went on feeling old, thanks to a ridiculous amount of junior high and high schoolers in the crowd. During their too-short set, The Lips obliged all of us, young and old, with plenty of their best cuts, including “Vein of Stars,” “Race for the Prize,” “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song,” “Yoshimi pt. 2,” finishing out with “Do you Realize?” Their legendary stage show was also in full effect, this time with dancing sheep and a creepy-ass sun supplementing the usual hamster ball, confetti, balloons, and over-the-top lighting. It was an invigorating experience on the final, ass-draggy day of the festival – I only wish they could have played later and longer.

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Lenny Kravitz ::: 7:00 pm ::: Voodoo Stage

Words by Eggs

A late addition of headliner Lenny Kravitz to the 2009 line-up meant a few things. One, they weren't entirely confident that the other two headlining acts – Widespread Panic and The Flaming Lips – could pull in a large enough crowd to guarantee a significant amount of day tickets were sold; and two, it meant that I'd have to finish with an act that I really could've cared less if I ever saw live or not. I'm not saying that Kravitz isn't talented, and worthy of a bigger stage spot at a festival, but I'm still not sure why The Flaming Lips didn't get a longer set and close out the festivities. Kravitz did put out several hits in the nineties, but to me they all kinda sounded the same. We all know "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and their cover of The Guess Who's "American Woman," but that's pretty much as much heat as he had on Sunday of Voodoo. Yes, the cheesy ballads like "Fly Away" and "I Belong To You" were there, with Kravitz making time in each to let the crowd take over on lead vocals. While seeing him live just adds another notch on my belt, I definitely left his set as unimpressed as I thought I would. Thank goodness The Meat Puppets were playing...

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The Meat Puppets ::: 7:15 ::: Bingo! Parlor

Words by Toast

The Meat Puppets set was sandwiched in between two other interesting acts, but nonetheless, I had to make a stop on by The Bingo Parlor to check them out. They have been around forever, and are defiantly forefathers of the grunge movement that occupied much of the 90's. They became much bigger when Cris and Curt Kirkwood guest stared on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged session, as the Meat Puppets were known to be one of Kurt Cobain's inspirations. After a couple of hiatuses, they have recently began touring again, hence bringing them to Voodoo. The set was crowded and featured nothing but heavy guitar riffs and scratchy vocals. Although not one of my must see's, the Meat Puppets were impressive. It's nice to see some of the old school acts making it out to festivals still, and these guys were no exception. I would have been kicking my own ass if I didn't give them at least a little time.

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Robert Randolph & the Family Band ::: 7:30 pm ::: WWOZ/Soco Stage

Words by Bacon, photo by Hash Browns

Robert Randolph & the Family Band took to the stage during one of the weaker portions of the evening, but a combination of the intense muddiness at the Soco stage and a case of final-day exhaustion kept me from really enjoying (or paying attention) during the chunk of their set I watched. Eggs and I did notice that their sound has expanded quite a bit since the last time we’d each seen them, and I’ll definitely give them more of a chance the next time I have the opportunity. That night, however, the Meat Puppets and an early night on Bourbon beckoned.

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That's it for this go-around of the 2009 Voodoo Experience. We had a blast as always, and would like to thank everyone who helped put on the festival, especially the fine folks at MSOPR who took so much care of us media folk all weekend.

We're already counting down the days until Voodoo Experience 2010!

Breakfast On Tour