Voodoo Experience

Ain't no rain like Louisiana Rain. The sky opened up on the first day of the fest and did not stop until very late in the night. So yeah, there was mud. Lots of it. We're veterans of Lollapalooza Chicago, we were prepared, wearing our worst tennis shoes and let them get destroyed. We will, no doubt, wash them and save them for our next fest.The walk from Uber was a bit longer than we anticipated. It was easy entry through security without bags. The craft beer tent, Brew Dat has good selections for a fest and was covered by a large canopy. Prices were what you expect at a music fest. Staff was super friendly and some were costumed. We waited about 15 minutes for the haunted cemetery. It was not very scary but it was cool. Actors did a good job.Modelo had a cool pavilion with activities. I took advantage of the free face painting. House of Blues was a great area, with music and spicy shrimp po' boys for $9.00. If it were not so muddy we would have looked at the other food options but the rain and mud got old and eating under a tent was a much better option. Bonus points for the cool HOB VooDoo fest bandanas they gave with purchase.Guns N' Roses headlined Friday night, played for 3 hours and surpassed all expectations. Slash is still so very cool. Damn. Bishop Briggs keeps improving. Not sure who was playing in the HOB tent but damn it was a fine sounding high energy performance. Grandson was a fun surprise as was Brandi Carlile. Merch tent had some great stuff, priced as expected. Lines were not bad. I wanted to buy a poster but couldn't bring myself to spend the $$ for something that would likely get soaked in the rain. I would have liked to walk around and see more, but the rain and mud were too much after a while. Getting an Uber out was a cluster but they were trying to keep it somewhat together.

My first time in New Orleans was memorable on its own but adding Voodoo festival to the shenanigans had its potential but did not live up to my expectations.As a huge fanatic of all things Halloween, and following their page on instagram, it was presented that it would be heavily Halloween themed. But it was lack luster. There were of course festival goers dressed up which is fun but they did not put much creativity into decorating it as so.The line-up was good, had a variety of genres, big names and underground names which is appreciated. When I saw one of my top 5 fav bands Modest Mouse, the sound quality was not good. I barely could understand what Brock the lead singer was singing. I have seen them live in the past at the Miami Beach Jackie Gleason theatre and the sound quality was crisp.One of my top annoyances was the unexpected quick sand-like mud that covered about 60% of the park. It was uncomfortable and irritating to constantly maneuver thru not only the mud but the tremendously big crowds, in which the crowd was also a disappointment. I thought everyone would be friendly but not so and immature which I think the all ages welcomed is responsible for this.The layaway option was great even though they tact a $10 fee for it. And enjoying 3 days for just $180 was great but with what was left to the imagination, that is a reasonable price. The wrist band, which is another $9 mandatory fee got mailed to me, and its pretty. And I liked how you can sync your credit card to the bracelet via their app to make paying for drinks and food easy. Variety of food was extensive, there was something for everyone. I tried a caprese crepe and it was nasty! The tomato was watery and it was all I tasted. The pesto had no flavor and the cheese was rubbery. Would I come back to New Orleans? Hell yeah! I fell in love with that beautiful city. Would I return to Voodoo? Absolutely not. And I actually keep forgetting I even went.

I went to Voodoo every single year from 2007-2017...11 straight years! I saw so many unbelievable bands. Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, REM, Stone Temple Pilots, Outkast, The original Meters reunion, Rage Against the Machine and so many other great bands. The festival was in Marconi Meadows for several years and the set up was perfect with 2 main stages on opposites ends of a field so you never had to pick and choose between bands. Then the owners sold the festival and it slowly started to go down hill.As soon as they sold the festival, they eliminated one of those stages and put up carnival rides. WTF is this the St Rita church fair?!?! Then they added a DJ stage that I didn't quite get but I wasn't worried too much about this as it was far enough away from my interests. In 2012 or 13 I believe the festival moved to it's current location in City Park and that was a disaster. Limited Port-o-lets and only 1 entrance that had over an hour wait to get it. you spent the whole weekend in line. The line to get in, the line to get beer and then the line to piss it out. They did rectify the bathroom issue the next year so that part did get better. The last few years has seen a decline in the music. Less big name guests and a huge emphasis on the glowstick, DJ, millennial crowd. Some of them look 12 and are only wearing dental floss and band-aids. I know this sounds like a "Hey you rotten kids, get off my lawn" type of review, but that is because it is! You damn whipper snappers have ruined my favorite festival! Thanks for making me feel old Voodoo! #NotMyFestival #Getoffmylawn.

-The Positives: *Great lineup *Neighborhood Parking (with a walk) *Interesting crowd and Costumes (not totally necessary to attend)-The Negatives: * Bad acoustics on many performances (weak midrange; sounded tinny; Not enough speaker towers located further into the audience)* Sound totally cut out near end of one set; with the artist preforming silently for 5 or 10 awkward minuets *Toilets were not maintained, broke, and disgustingly backed up, and were few in number to begin with = huge lines and long waits. *Venue was 80% mud; no meaningful effort was made to reduce the mud with mats/bark/boards *Lackluster attempt to "Voodoo theme" the event; there were a few token art pieces, but there wasn't much effort put in to make it Voodoo or Halloween themed *Overly restrictive bag policy; hard to bring jackets.-Summary: *Good music* BUT poor organizing = Self-sufficiency important *If it's rained in the past few days, wear tall rubber boots *If you plan on using the toilets, also wear tall rubber boots + hazmat suit. *Drive there if DD is available; Lyft return is brutal, $50 for me with a 45 minute wait(normally $15-20 for that distance)*The music was good when it played, for some sets. Most had poor sound quality compared to other festivals, that detracted from the experience.

I was first introduced to Voodoo in 2013. My then boyfriend, bought me weekend passes to go with him. He goes every year. So with my relationship, I inherited Voodoo. Let me start by saying Voodoo is an amazing experience. There's booths and tents all over the place. I feel like the real experience comes from how you manage your time. Everyone loves something different. I enjoy popping my head in every tent/booth and judging which ones I want to come back and visit. Be prepared to walk out with tons of freebies. Food- In 2013 I recall there being tons of food choices. We couldn't figure out what to try next because it all looked delicious. (I'm typically a healthy eater and use these opportunities to enjoy foods I wouldn't normally eat) The past two years seemed to have less food choices and I actually found myself walking back and forth just trying to find something halfway tempting. This year less than 10 minutes walking through the gates I won VIP (LOA) passes. The hubby and I got super excited. We go to the LOA area and were somewhat disappointed. There wasn't much more there than what was out for the regular passes. I'd never pay the money for it.Music- My first year I was so beyond excited to get to see Kid Rock. No one will ever live up to his performance in my opinion. Never the less, I've seen some good shows. This year however, had by far the crappiest line up ever. Even with the crappy food and line up I had an amazing time enjoying everything else with my husband and friends. I would also like to give my thanks to Voodoo for choosing to put our safety ahead of their desire to make money by calling off Voodoo Day 3. After seeing the pictures I very much respect that decision! We'll continue to make this a yearly tradition!

The Voodoo fest has easily become one of my favorite weekends of the year. This year was no different than years past with awesome performances (Blink-182) and epic ones (Girl Talk). Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis, came dressed as Freddie Krueger! His set was the highlight of the night and probably the weekend. He even invited quite a few people from the crowd (looked like over 20ppl) to dance on stage with him for the entire time. Gotta love Voodoo mixed with the Halloween weekend!The good:- The art at Voodoo was quite a sight! The Fledgling sculpture was awesome :)- Sat night lineup was kicking!!- Carnival rides were a cool addition.- The October weather is always refreshing.- The setting in City Park could not be better! The not-so-good:- Food was nothing to write home about. C'mon food vendors this is New Orleans after all. Go big or go home!- Bathroom lines were super ridiculous as always. Can't the organizers understand that one porta potty for every hundred people is not good planning.Another wonderful reason to come here for Halloween is to experience Voodoo Fest!!

Loved. My first VooDooExperience was 2013 with an amazeballs lineup. I forked over the 500 bones for VIP loa access. I was in the absolute front for NIN and the Cure and holy crow, for those reasons alone was the price tag worth it. Lines at the bar and restroom were laughable for VIP... Not enough Indians to serve the VIP chiefs! It was easier to leave loa to get a drink/food or suck it up in a porta, the lines in LOA were not acceptable.The stages do need to be further apart... The noise bleed was troubling at times. But what an awesome, eclectic environment on the whole. I can't wait to see who is on the lineup next year!!

Its one of them things. I'm getting older and my tolerance for young folks is diminishing daily. They used to have really great bands way back when it was like Zephyr fest but this version is blah. The parking is crazy. The pick ups is crazy. I think its something that got too big and it busted. Now its an event that the filler groups are now djs and sample artist playing obscure music. If ticket prices would be lower I would ease up my frown but they don't seem to be getting cheaper.

Admittedly, I feel like I'm getting a bit old for 3-day music festivals, although there were certainly many attendees there that were of an older demographic. It was refreshing to see such a variety of age groups since that's not always the case at these events. However, I no longer have much patience left to deal with the crowds of teenagers and frat bros pushing their way through crowds. Obviously, it should go without saying that if you can't handle large crowds, you shouldn't go to a festival. Pros:Clean (seriously, the cleanest potties I've ever seen at a festival)More enjoyable and relaxed than LollaFriendly staffCons:Long lines if you come midday on Sat and/or Sunday. Be prepared to wait. Nearly impossible to get an Uber out of City Park after the festival. Look into public transit options or pay for the shuttle. Alternatively, find a driver that will agree to pick you up everyday like we did. Lack of drink and food options (not as great as advertised)

If you're into checking out artist you may not be super familiar with you should check out Voodoo Festival. There's plenty of known headliners and also some new to you artists. It's a fun time to wear costumes and just enjoy the experience. I will say either wear all weather shoes or expect to have a pair ruined because the festival grounds will be muddy. The drinks are a bit pricy but it's a festival. They had a good selection of food vendors this year and the prices were average. There were a lot of great visual artists you could purchase art from in addition to festival gear. I would recommend at least attending the festival once. Voodoo is the type of festival either you like it or you don't there's no in between. It's a ritual for me.