Voodoo Festival played host to Snoop Dogg, Blink-182, The Raconteurs

NEW ORLEANS — While most music festivals these days are known for being hot, rain-soaked and muddy affairs, this weekend's Voodoo Experience defied those stereotypes.

Set against the backdrop of New Orleans' City Park, this year's festival was accompanied by ideal weather, classic Louisiana cuisine and, as always, plenty of crowd-pleasing concerts.

"Voodoo is so different from everything else; that's why I love it," said Florida resident Alex Summers, who has traveled from Miami for every Voodoo Fest since 2006. "I've been to all of them. Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza — none of them can compare to Voodoo."

FRIDAY

The festival began Friday morning, with the number of patrons starting small and growing as the afternoon and night crept along. 

The first day of any music festival is typically the most relaxed, and Voodoo was no exception. With smaller bands occupying the stages, audiences took to walking around to explore the festival's layout or admiring the numerous art installations placed across the park. 

Austin-based funk trio Achachay! opened the festival at 10:15 a.m. Lead singer and guitarist Jordan Myska Allen said the band was excited about playing Voodoo for the first time.

"It was great; I love music festivals," Allen said. "All the other musicians and bands are great, too."

Bassist Ryan Greenblatt said he felt the pressure of serving as the festival's opening band.

"This has been the first festival of this caliber that we've played," Greenblatt said. "Even though we've played hundreds of shows together, I still had a nightmare scenario where none of us could play our instruments."

As evening approached, the number of attendees increased. Many were anxiously awaiting bands like Major Lazer, Band of Horses, My Chemical Romance and Soundgarden. 

Audiences seemed split on Soundgarden's performance in the beginning, but most agreed that as time went on, the reunited grunge outfit found its groove.

"I came here almost exclusively for Soundgarden. They're absolutely my favorite band," said Shreveport resident Lance Gordon. "Everybody around me agreed they started off kind of wonky, but definitely shaped up as the show went along."

Gordon and numerous other audience members added they were disappointed in Soundgarden's lack of interaction with the audience.

"That's the one thing that let me down, they really didn't cater to the audience," Gordon said. "I wanted to see a bit more from Chris [Cornell, lead singer] and Kim [Thayil, lead guitarist], but in the end I was happy, and I think everyone else was, too."

SATURDAY

Saturday was undoubtedly the festival's most energetic day. Fans came out early to enjoy the beautiful weather and get some of the festival's trademark homemade food. 

The Saturday crowd became energized earlier than usual, as back-to-back blistering sets from hard-rock acts Mastodon and Social Distortion delivered the goods to audiences.

The energy level only rose as the night went on, with rappers Snoop Dogg and Kreayshawn both getting the crowds going in their own unique ways.

"I absolutely love Kreayshawn. I thought she was great," said Lafayette resident Emily Stewart. "After she was done I went to Snoop, and he was doing his thing. Everybody seemed really happy with it."

One of Saturday's most talked-about shows came from Gregg Gillis, the man better known as Girl Talk. Gillis took the stage dressed as Freddy Krueger, accompanied by a slew of pyrotechnics, confetti, balloons and modified leaf blowers that shot toilet paper into the crowd. 

Girl Talk's set was sandwiched between Snoop Dogg's and Blink-182's, but he played to a dedicated crowd, many of whom had left Snoop's show to make it to the Girl Talk stage. One audience member, Birmingham, Ala., resident Katie Sloane, was one of the 30 or so members of the audience pulled onstage by Gillis to dance for the show's entirety.

"That was one of the craziest things ever," Sloane said. "I came to his show expecting to have fun, of course, but I never expected to actually be able to dance onstage with him."

Blink-182 didn't disappoint, breaking out old hits like "All the Small Things" and "What's My Age Again?" A bevy of audience members noted they were surprised at the level of quality in the band's show, as most were expecting the entertaining but sloppy show the band was once famous for.

SUNDAY

It seemed that most festivalgoers could feel the weekend winding down on Sunday. Many members of the crowd spent most of the day relaxing in front of the main stage, taking in the sounds of bands like The Limousines, Odd Future and TV on the Radio.