Voodoo ‘07

Some general impressions on the 2007 Voodoo Music Experience:

The new location — directly behind the New Orleans Museum of Art — was a vast improvement over the previous arrangements. The tree-lined double road leading away from the museum provided a logical traffic artery, with a wide neutral ground in between for vendors, food and drinks. It set up a tracklike drag for easy moseying during downtime and also separated the stages for minimal audio bleeding. Anyone who’s suffered through unfortunate mash-ups due to the poor layouts of some music festivals — the 2004 Austin City Limits’ combination of Los Lonely Boys and Sheryl Crow (Los Lonely Crows?) comes to mind — knows the importance of this last point. It was, however, incredibly dark once the sun went down. Next year, Rehage and Co. should seriously consider running lights through the canopy of branches overhead. Meager street lamps did nothing to allay fears of being steamrolled by the thousands of emo tweens rushing from Gym Class Heroes to Fall Out Boy.

Which brings us to the next issue: the mallrat infestation. Since when did Voodoo become so kid-friendly? It seemed like the three-day crowd — over 150,000 strong, according to one estimate — was made up entirely of clones of only two types of people: thirtysomething Rage-ers all wearing the same The Battle of Los Angeles tee and roving packs of preteens oblivious to their immediate surroundings. Another suggestion for Rehage: less emo, more rap. That Common was the weekend’s sole hip-hop draw was more than a little sad, particularly for a city whose modern music scene is dominated by the genre. Where was Lil’ Wayne?

By and large, though, the music was tops. Highlight sets included M.I.A.’s Friday-night banger, which featured both the finest multimedia accompaniment (a favorite segment featured the Sri Lankan/British baile funk diva playing drums in an animated jungle) and the best impromptu dance-a-thon (dozens of fans joined the singer onstage for one extended segment). Spoon was good — and even better at Saturday’s late-night One Eyed Jacks showing, among the more memorable thrown-together area concerts in some time. Rage was suitably enraged, but all accounts were that Smashing Pumpkins stunk. Kings of Leon put on a suprisingly fresh show on Friday, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah injected some energy into Sunday’s mid-afternoon delight. I’m only slightly ashamed to say I skipped Wilco to watch the Red Sox clinch the World Series on Sunday night.

At a steady 60-70 degrees and crystal clear, the weekend’s weather couldn’t have been nicer. One more memo, this one to Quint Davis: All NOLA music festivals should be in late October.

After this week’s on-again, off-again, on-again Andre Williams saga, news of Spoon’s “unannounced” Saturday night show at One Eyed Jacks might best be taken with a few grains of salt. (Or, depending on your ability to handle disappointment, a whole spoonful.) Regardless, if the Best Rock Band At Voodoo Fest does indeed feel like stopping by Toulouse Street tomorrow for an impromptu 1 a.m. follow-up to their 6:30 p.m. City Park appearance, it’s doubtless there will be plenty of ears in attendance eager to hear the reprisal.

The Austin, Texas, band released Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge), its finest offering to date and one of 2007’s top rock records, in July. Spoon hasn’t played in New Orleans since, meaning that Voodoo will be the first chance for area concertgoers to hear this dark, fantastically dour set in a live setting. Given the album’s pervasive brooding vibe, however, the smoky and dimly lit confines of OEJ seem infinitely more appropriate than the clean air and clear skies expected for this weekend’s festivities.