Day 1 PHOTOS / Highlights @ Voodoo 2011

Soundgarden @ Voodoo Experience 2011 || Photo by Jimmy Grotting

On a gusty, overcast Day One, Soundgarden far exceeded expectations after an initial washy sound marred the first few minutes of their set, delivering 2 straight hours of heavy, psych-infused hits from deep in the legendary Seattle grunge band’s catalogue, including a few tracks from Louder Than Love and Badmoterfinger. Cornell chatted up the audience a good deal, sharing some anecdotes from a crazier past (including a story about being arrested by a state DEA officer for marijuana possession). The band was joined on-stage by Down guitarist Pepper Keenan during “Gun” and you could tell that this moment was every bit as thrilling for the band as it was for many hardcore fans in attendance. Hearing the songs that soundtracked my musically formative years like the eerie, epic and swirled out “Black Hole Sun” and “Fell On Black Days” were spectacular moments, a long overdue first chance to hear the band that first got me to go to the CD store (think it was Media Play) at age 9 and pick up my first album, 1994′s classic Superunknown.

Although I had heard mixed reviews in recent years regarding Chris Cornell’s vocal range relative to earlier years, any concerns about his ability to scream, growl and boom out across a major festival audience were allayed by Friday night’s monster performance, one of the best headlining sets I’ve seen all year at any music festival. This one carried the weekend nearly to the end, only to be rivaled on my list by the joyous Meters and Fatboy Slim exclamation points that would occur on Sunday evening. Continue on for a full photo gallery from Friday and a list of highlights from Day One at Voodoo Experience 2011.

Crowd at My Chemical Romance @ Voodoo Experience 2011 || Photo by Jimmy Grotting

Top 5 Sets On Friday:
1. Soundgarden
2. Peelander-Z
3. Red Baraat
4. Fitz and the Tantrums
5. Honey Island Swamp Band

DAY ONE NOTES:

–How many more years will we be able to see a band as heavy, psychedelic and powerful as Soundgarden headline a major music festival? If the days of this kind of rock music still having enough popularity and relevance are waning, I’m glad I got a chance to see it go down on Friday, was a huge, turbo-charged shot of adrenaline to watch a band bring that kind of voltage to the stage (without synthesizers or turntables).
–Grumblings about the one day ticket price at the door resonated amongst friends and festival-goers, something the festival should address next year. Difficult to get the casual music fan to show up with that kind of price tag.
–Peelander-Z is not of this Earth.
–It seemed immediately apparent after watching Red Baraat that they will be playing in and around New Orleans during festival season(s) for a very long time, as their sound fits right in with some of the city’s finer, brass-ier bands. A superjam/superbill alongside Galactic should be put in order by one of the local promoters, would be an otherworldy offering of funk-infused world music.
–The Dumpstaphunk / FISHBONE late night show at Tipitina’s got expectedly rowdy and even for New Orleans, started very late. Dumpsta played an 1.5 hour opening set that included a Nirvana tune (they would then do THREE Nirvana songs at Voodoo) and an unbelievably spot-on first attempt at David Bowie’s “Fame”. FISHBONE then took the stage at 2:30 a.m., inciting a mosh pit that I decided to jump in. Good times.

Red Baraat – Road To Nowhere

Red Baraat – Baraat to Nowhere – Voodoo Experience 2011 from Voodoo Experience on Vimeo.

About the author

Wesley grew up in coastal Georgia and is a former resident of The Music City and The Big Easy where he helped get LMB NOLA off-the-ground after launching in January 2011. Over the past few years, he has also contributed steadily to JamBase and Relix Magazine. Recently, Hodges moved on to L.A. where Abita Beer is hard to find, costs about $6 if located and impromptu parading in the streets will most likely get you arrested on the spot.

 

Tags: 2011, Chris Cornell, Fishbone, Fitz and the Tantrums, Friday, Honey Island Swamp Band, Peelander Z, Red Baraat, Soundgarden, Tipitinas, Voodoo Experience