Landon Murray: Everyone knows the familiar start of a lazy Sunday here in town. It’s one of the best things about New Orleans. Having said that, this particular Sunday started out slow for myself, and many others it seemed. Entering the park around two in the afternoon, the difference in attendance was evident very quickly. Gone was the huge surge of people there to see Tool, but it turned out to be just as good of a day as the previous two.
Walking around, taking in the scenes, eating horribly delicious fried Oreo’s, you got the sense that the crowd was easing into the last day of the fest. Honestly I wish more people had been around to see the great bands, but who’s gonna argue about more space to dance? Fronted by Tool-frontman Maynard James Keenan, Pusicfer tore up the Pepsi stage with a wild brand of rock that left the ample crowd in a fun and free spirited mood. Dressed as wrestlers and featuring a wrestling ring on stage, they tore through song that were both easy to enjoy fort casual fans like myself, as well as hardcore Maynard fans.
Other bands stood out too. Band of Horses delivered a fun and easy going set on the main stage, but you could tell the day was slightly under attended. Having said that though, Arcade Fire delivered it, like they tend to do. Sticking to nearly all older songs, track after track delivered on the band's expertise at talking about real world, real problems and emotion. Having seen the band twice before at their Jazz Fest appearances, it was refreshing to see them play at night, but also with their own stage show. If you were one of the lucky few to get to see the bands only festival appearance of the year, you likely enjoyed it as much as my friends and i did, and you left the festival with a smile on your face.
All of that aside, this year proved to be a big improvement overall for the festival. To me Nola is the best place in the world, with the most historically great music, so it warrants a festival worthy of topping that of Bonnaroo, Coachella, and all the other great events that draw in huge crowds. I hope they can keep it up, because this was one of the shining years of the festival. Well played indeed Voodoo, please stay on course, because the festival deserves to be as special as the city of New Orleans. Now get some rest everyone and see you next year!
Emily Hingle: Sunday started off even more slowly and friendly than the other days; although there were a lot of people, they were more ready to hang out, relax in one spot, and jam out than run around to their favorite bands and drink too much.
I think that one of the highlights for the day was watching the locals sit around the one TV able to play the Saints game and cheer and talk to each other about the difficult win. It was a little taste of a regular Sunday in New Orleans (during football season) amongst a sea of young festies from all over.
Today, I was so excited to get to know Elysian Beer better. No, it's not from here. It's from Seattle, and they've got far more varietals of beer than our local guys, as much as I love them. The pumpkin beers were a huge hit, and the set-up that looked like a bar room with crystal chandeliers, spooky vintage posters promoting their many delicious beers, and performers like a belly dancer and tarot card reader was a huge hit with the crowd. There was often a long line out the door because people couldn't get enough.
