R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, Lil Wayne Salute New Orleans, Obama at Voodoo Festival

Photo: Erika Goldring/Retna With the presidential election fewer than two weeks away, Barack Obama was in the air at the tenth anniversary of the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans. On Friday, the first day of the three-day festival in City Park, Erykah Badu saluted him as a “human being for change,” and DJ King Britt worked part of his DNC speech into his set. A local group even rewrote a Mardi Gras Indian chant as “Handa Wanda Obama.” (Check out photos of Nine Inch Nails, R.E.M. and more from Voodoo right here.) Voodoo merges the national and local on six stages, with music ranging from traditional brass bands to the New Orleans Bingo! Show, which includes a trapeze performer and yes, a game of bingo. Friday night, TV on the Radio relied more heavily on Return to Cookie Mountain than their new Dear Science. Singer Tunde Adebimpe’s left arm had a mind of its own as he paced the stage, waving wildly when it wasn’t pressed behind firmly behind his back, but his voice was low in the mix, so those who didn’t know the songs didn’t know what animated him. Scott Weiland took the stage for Stone Temple Pilots’ set in a leather bolero hat and oddly cut red paid jacket, doing a slow-motion “wax-on, wax-off” dance for much of the set. Ray Luzier subbed for drummer Eric Kretz, whose father died recently, leaving the group’s tempos a half-step sluggish. For the first half-hour of the STP Hit Parade, the crowd was ecstatic anyway, but the excitement waned during the wandering jam that drifted out of “Creep.” Saturday, Lil Wayne received a hero’s welcome for his first major show in the area since Tha Carter III and his biggest gig in New Orleans yet. A live band gave his set power, but a series of slow jams cooled it down. He raced through “Phone Home,” “Misunderstood” and “Shoot Me Down” to get to “A Milli” (his power was cut after that track, as he was 15 minutes overtime). “I’m registered to vote. Are you?” he asked before requesting half of the crowd shout “Fuck bitches”
	Published: 2008-10-27 Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News, Live Shows, Festivals