Voodoo Buzz
By: Will CovielloOctober 26th, 2007
Day one of the Voodoo Music Experience kicked off in City Park on a bigger and better layout.
Getting Buzzed
Not quite the Jazz Fest Mud Fest or Woodstock of lore, but the soggy grounds (after the week’s heavy rains) at the WWOZ stage welcomed the swampy soul/blues/rock of JJ Grey and Mofro. Grey stopped mid-set to tell the audience that he’d need to drink heavier to deal with the mic that was shocking him every time he got close. He declared that “wind screens are too sissified” for his tastes, and then launched into Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy.” And after that he stayed away from the mic. Spending most of his time at the organ on stage.
Not Your Chronic Christian Rock
I don’t know what it was like onstage, but second-hand smoke was a chronic perk just left of the soundboard for Kings of Leon. The Kings themselves were much more mellow than during last years three-guitar assault. But more than that the brothers were polite. They thanked the crowd for its quiet, “respectful” ways before the final song. “And God Bless you.” But there was no encore.
Tent Revival
Also putting in solid sets, if you could squeeze in the tents were the Soul Rebels in Preservation Hall’s tent, and Lez Zeppelin in the Bingo Parlor.
Lost in Translation
M.I.A. showed that some hip-hop gems are transnational - especially the honorific “M****rF*****r”. At one point, she told that crowd that she’d be teaching us how to do a dance — which she might have called, “butt hopping,” but I’m not sure. I am sure that what her sidekick did is known in some local quarters as “popping.” But when she invited people on-stage to try it, no-one volunteered. So maybe that just didn’t translate.
