Crescendo

RESTORE. REBUILD. RETURN.

In 1999, the Voodoo Music Experience got off to an inauspicious start. Poor attendance and even poorer weather threatened to scuttle the franchise before it even got off the ground. New Orleans native Stephen Rehage, the namesake of the Rehage Entertainment, did not allow Mother Nature to tame the event. The following year, the event was a raging success and Voodoo continued to grow and succeed for the next five years. With the Fest booked for Halloween weekend in 2005, the organizers were assured a successful festival. However, Mother Nature had other plans. Two months before Voodoo was to be held, Hurricane Katrina decimated the New Orleans area, including City Park’s Marconi Meadow, where the festivities were to take place. Everyone knew the particulars of the devastation wrought by Katrina thanks to a wildly exaggerated and inflammatory media. It hardly looked possible that Voodoo could be staged in the city and no one was surprised when the festival was relocated to Memphis as a benefit for Katrina victims.

Some of the acts originally booked to play the festival, including Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, and Billy Idol, dropped from the bill. Others, including headliner Nine Inch Nails stayed onboard.

Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor played no small role in getting one of the festival’s two days returned to New Orleans as a tribute to those who helped to resurrect the city. Tickets were not made available for sale. Instead, they were given away, distributed to firefighters, police, military, Red Cross volunteers and other organizations involved in relief efforts in the city. There were a few low key announcements of free tickets for residents. When we turned out to pick up our tickets there was practically no one there. We wondered if perhaps the news wasn’t getting out since KKND 106.7FM, one of the festival’s biggest sponsors, had been knocked off the air when its broadcast tower had been toppled by the storm. As it turned out, an estimated 15,000 people showed up. Judging from the cheers when asked, it sounded as if locals made up the majority of the crowd. Interestingly, though there were many young people in attendance, the crowd seemed to skew a bit older than previous Voodoo crowds. Some attendees showed their Halloween spirit by wearing costumes ranging from fairies and demons to the hose monster that stalked the grounds to great effect.

~All text and images are © to their prospective creators 2002 - 2005 and may not be reproduced in any way without written permission from this site. None of the photos on this site are for sale to the general public. Contact ritchie@crescendomagazine.com directly for editorial usage and licensing~

	Voodoo Music Experience October 29, 2005 - Riverview Park New Orleans, LA story & photos by Ritchie Champagne
RESTORE. REBUILD. RETURN.
	In 1999, the Voodoo Music Experience got off to an inauspicious start. Poor attendance and even poorer weather threatened to scuttle the franchise before it even got off the ground. New Orleans native Stephen Rehage, the namesake of the Rehage Entertainment, did not allow Mother Nature to tame the event. The following year, the event was a raging success and Voodoo continued to grow and succeed for the next five years. With the Fest booked for Halloween weekend in 2005, the organizers were assured a successful festival. However, Mother Nature had other plans. Two months before Voodoo was to be held, Hurricane Katrina decimated the New Orleans area, including City Park’s Marconi Meadow, where the festivities were to take place. Everyone knew the particulars of the devastation wrought by Katrina thanks to a wildly exaggerated and inflammatory media. It hardly looked possible that Voodoo could be staged in the city and no one was surprised when the festival was relocated to Memphis as a benefit for Katrina victims. Some of the acts originally booked to play the festival, including Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, and Billy Idol, dropped from the bill. Others, including headliner Nine Inch Nails stayed onboard.
Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor played no small role in getting one of the festival’s two days returned to New Orleans as a tribute to those who helped to resurrect the city. Tickets were not made available for sale. Instead, they were given away, distributed to firefighters, police, military, Red Cross volunteers and other organizations involved in relief efforts in the city. There were a few low key announcements of free tickets for residents. When we turned out to pick up our tickets there was practically no one there. We wondered if perhaps the news wasn’t getting out since KKND 106.7FM, one of the festival’s biggest sponsors, had been knocked off the air when its broadcast tower had been toppled by the storm. As it turned out, an estimated 15,000 people showed up. Judging from the cheers when asked, it sounded as if locals made up the majority of the crowd. Interestingly, though there were many young people in attendance, the crowd seemed to skew a bit older than previous Voodoo crowds. Some attendees showed their Halloween spirit by wearing costumes ranging from fairies and demons to the hose monster that stalked the grounds to great effect.