The Voodoo Music + Arts Experience (formerlyThe Voodoo Music Experience), commonly referred to asVoodoo orVoodoo Fest, was a multi-day music and arts festival held inCity Park inNew Orleans, Louisiana.[1] First started in 1999, it was last held in October 2019, after being canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, and canceled in 2022 without explanation.[2][3][4]
The Voodoo Experience has hosted a wide variety of artists, and has had as many as 180,000 festival-goers in 2018.[5] Voodoo is owned byLive Nation Entertainment, which acquired a majority stake in 2013, and was produced by its Austin-based subsidiaryC3 Presents after being acquired.[6] Don Kelly, Voodoo's former General Counsel and COO, is Festival Director has overseen the event.[7]
From its 1999 Halloween weekend debut, till the last event in 2019m the annual event was a Halloween tradition for music fans, both locally and others who travel from around the world. Throughout Voodoo’s 26-year run, more than one million festival-goers gathered to see performances from roughly 2,000 artists. The event was twice nominated for Pollstar's Music Festival of the Year, and in 2005, Voodoo founder Stephen Rehage and his team were presented with a key to the city, following the Voodoo 2005 post-Katrina event.
Voodoo was first held as a single day event on October 30, 1999, atTad Gormley Stadium in City Park. Planned and executed by Stephen Rehage, CEO of Rehage Entertainment, the festival consisted of three stages and a mix of local and national acts including headlinersWyclef Jean andMoby. As the U.S. festival market swelled, Voodoo continued its growth, increasing both the festival site and musically expanding with the addition of stages and performers.
During its second year in 2000, Voodoo became a two-day event, and garnered international attention with a headlining performance from Eminem in support of his debut albumThe Slim Shady LP. In 2007, Voodoo expanded to a three-day event.
Originally scheduled for Halloween Weekend in New Orleans’ City Park, the Voodoo Music Experience was displaced by the tragedy ofHurricane Katrina. While plans were in full swing to move forward with a relocation toMemphis, Voodoo founder Stephen Rehage met with community leaders in New Orleans about the opportunity to move the event back home for one of its two days—as a tribute event for relief workers. Festival organizers and Memphis representatives alike agreed this was an amazing opportunity to increase the scope of the event.
On October 29, 2005, an invitation-only celebration (previous ticket holders exempt) for police, firefighters, National Guard, military and countless others who had aided in the recovery efforts of the city was staged at the fly inAudubon Park in New Orleans, one of the few public spaces in the city not damaged in the recentFederal levee failure disaster .Nine Inch Nails,Queens of the Stone Age,The Secret Machines,the New York Dolls, andKermit Ruffins were among the artists who all came together in celebration of a city they love.[9]
It marked the first major multi-musical performance in the two months since Hurricane Katrina’s effects were felt in the city.
The 2006 Voodoo Music Experience saw the debut of three distinct areas on six distinct stages within the festivals landscape: Le Ritual, Le Flambeau and Le Carnival. Each of these areas was designed to uniquely showcase different sides of the personality of the festival and its New Orleans home: "Le Flambeau" features music and sounds consistent with the style of The Big Easy; "Le Ritual" features more mainstream music; and finally "Le Carnival" features indie bands, burlesque and circus acts.
In 2007, Voodoo expanded to three days and broke all previous attendance records with an estimated 100,000+ fans in attendance.
In April 2013, the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience announced an initial 15 acts to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Voodoo. The initial 15 acts include Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Calvin Harris,Bassnectar,Paramore,Macklemore &Ryan Lewis,Afrojack,Boys Noize,The Gaslight Anthem,Big Gigantic,How To Destroy Angels,Cults,Alkaline Trio,Desaparecidos andRobert DeLong. The 15th anniversary Voodoo celebration also marked the debut of City Park’s Festival Grounds, a new permanent home for Voodoo. Home to Voodoo since its 1999 debut—with the exception of Voodoo 2005, which was displaced by the city’s hurricane damage—New Orleans’ 1,300-acre City Park is the region’s principal recreation site that attracts over seven million visitors each year.
In October 2013, a controlling stake in the festival was sold toLive Nation Entertainment, amid growing financial issues. Rehage retained a 49% stake in the event, and became Live Nation's President of North American Festivals.[10]
The final day of the 2015 edition was canceled due to inclement weather.[11]
In 2016, operations for the festival were taken over by Live Nation subsidiaryC3 Presents, organizers ofLollapalooza and theAustin City Limits Music Festival, with Sig Greenebaum and Don Kelly promoted to co-directors in place of Rehage. With the new management, the festival underwent changes to its stage layout and infrastructure. Attendance peaked at around 150,000.[11] The 2019 festival was hampered byTropical Storm Olga, which brought extensive rain to the New Orleans area.[12]
The 2020 festival was canceled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Although it initially announced plans to return in 2021,[13] Voodoo announced in June 2021 that the festival had been cancelled and will not be held again until 2022, with no reasoning given.[14] In June 2022, it was announced that the 2022 festival would not be held.[15]
Poof! The Pop Show With Carmine P. Filthy & A Boy Named Ruth
Big History
Coyotes
Kinky Machine
Leopold and His Fiction
Church with Unicorn Fukr, Mr. Cool Bad Guy & Guests
Leslie Blackshear Smith & Double Black Featuring Simon Lott, DJ Raymond, Shawn Theriot, Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, Tim Green, Ivan Neville, Kiki Phillips,Mehnaz Hoosein & Erica Falls
Sports & Leisure
Paul Varisco and The Milestones
Panic in Eden
Oh, Jeremiah
Hello Negro
J Fernell
The Real Night Tripper:Dr. John Featuring George Porter Jr., Herlin Riley, Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, Smokey Johnson, Chief Monk Bourdeaux, Nicholas Payton, Roderick Paulin, Sarah Morrow, & Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony[20]
The 2016 Voodoo Music + Arts Experience was held from October 28–30, 2016.[22] During their Sunday headlining set,Arcade Fire recorded the audience singing a melody for an unreleased song for its upcoming album, which later became "Everything Now".[23][24]
On June 10, 2022, festival organizers confirmed in an announcement on social media and the festival’s website that the event won't happen this year, calling it a “pause.”[26]
