Day 3 - Voodoofest Day 2

Dead by My Chemical Romance

I wake at 8.30am and have a lie in till 9am. I decided that I am going to have the breakfast provided by the hotel. So I shower and go outside but no sign of anyone or anything. My jeans and sandals are covered in mud from wandering round City Park the previous day but unfortunately there is no clothes brush and the hotel doesn’t have one so I will have to clean them later. I suddenly realised that maybe the clocks have gone back in the US as well as at home (which is the case). I decided to have a wander as the weather is lovely and warm again and see if I can find any of the restaurants I’ll be eating at. I found Restarant August, which turned out to be a few blocks from my hotel, and then Brennan’s. I bumped into Leslie and Kim a few times and agreed to meet them backstage at Voodoofest when My Chemical Romance were on. I stop for brunch at Café Beignet and have a tea (bloody awful) and a Bourbon Street croissant which contained tuna, cheese, bacon & salad. It was nice except the service was terrible. It took almost an hour for the sandwich to arrive.

The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

Rio by Duran Duran

I finally got to Voodoofest just shortly before MCR were due onstage. And then the worst possible thing happens. I am refused admittance because of my camera. Even my backstage pass doesn’t help me. It appears that they had decided arbitarily today to stop cameras although they were perfectly alright yesterday – completely mad! I try 3 different queues and none of them will let me in. Leslie suggests I try the other entrance but that is about a 3 mile walk and I can’t face it after all the walking I’ve been doing and I’ll definitely miss MCR round there as that entrance is on the other side of the park, well away from the main stage. Security suggest I might want to hide my camera behind a tree or something and pick it up later if it’s still there (and if I can remember where I put it in the dark!) I think not! So what do I do now? It is an hour round trip to the hotel and if I go now I’ll also miss them, so I sit outside the arena as close to the stage as possible (on a bench outside the botanical gardens) so I can at least hear them perform, even though I can’t see them. They sound completely brilliant – everything I had expected and more and I am completely gutted not to be able to see them. I text Mrs H3 to tell her that I have to have tickets for their concert in London (unfortunately it’s sold out). I have to admit that I did consider whether there was somewhere in the botanical gardens to hide my camera, but it wasn’t really an option as I’d taken the camera out of it’s protective case for space reasons, so I couldn’t throw it over the wall and it was just too big to fit through the railings. At the end of their set I went back to my hotel and dropped off the camera. On the way back to the shuttle I dropped in to confirm my reservation at Restaurant August for the following night. I think I panicked them a bit in my jeans, t shirt and pink flashing Stetson. However, I did assure them that I wouldn’t be wearing it for dinner.

Cancer by My Chemical Romance

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah by The Flaming Lips

Serious/Nice by Duran Duran

I got back to the festival just in time to see the end of the Flaming Lips. They were as excellent as I’d thought they’d be and loads of fun to watch. As usual the stage was full with aliens, santas and all sorts of people in various fancy dress. We watched them from the side stage podium. Kim and Leslie told me they’d got some pictures of MCR, (Kim had one of those mini cameras which she managed to smuggle in) – not the same but a nice thought anyway. I told Kim that I had bought a Blue October t shirt the day before. I promised her that I would send her a picture of me wearing it so she can pass it on to the band – after all I am their English fan (although I am sure they have many more, apparently they did do a concert over here earlier in the year).

She Don't Use Jelly by The Flaming Lips

Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran

Once again we couldn’t get onstage with Duran Duran as they had a similar banding system to RHCP’s, but did Kim and I manage to get to the front side of the stage – excellent but meant that I really only got a good view of Simon properly all the way through, although I did see John occasionally and Dominic Brown, Andy Taylor’s replacement. Unfortunately I never got to see Roger or Nick. I did get the security guard to take a picture with my camera, but not sure yet how it turned out. The set was wonderful – a real greatest hits fest and they were obviously having a great time. It was worth the trip to New Orleans just to see them!

Helena by My Chemical Romance

Notorious by Duran Duran

We leave a few minutes before the end of their set. Kim has spoken to Voodoofest security (Ashley) and found out which way they are leaving the stage and the best place for us to stand to have a chance of meeting them. We find Ashley who is chatting to David from Terra Diablo, who are a band from Glasgow that played on Saturday morning. We chat for a few minutes about Duran Duran and he wishes me luck in my quest to meet them. He tells me we are standing quite close to their vehicle so are in the best possible place. There are surprisingly few people there, maybe 8 or 10. Suddenly DD’s security staff are telling us that we all have to leave before DD come off stage. They are moving us on, when I realise DD are on their way down the ramp. I turn and realise that I am standing directly next to John Taylor, who has the biggest scowl I’ve ever seen in my life on his face. As I look round I see Simon and Nick walking together down the ramp, closely followed by Roger, all also looking incredibly grumpy and I quickly try to take a photo of them. A security guard pushes me out of the way. Not one to give up I shout out to Simon, thanking them for a great show, hoping they might stop for at least a second, maybe the English accent might interest them. Alas no, security are still pushing and within seconds they are all gone. The only one who looked happy was Dominic, who was walking along chatting to what I guess are friends or relatives – no security guards for him. Kim gets pretty verbal complaining about them which sort of ruins the evening for me. Until that point I’d been so ecstatic about seeing them, and was excited to be so close to them. But I was very disappointed with their response. It wasn’t as if there were hundreds of fans there, and it wouldn’t have killed them to stop for a few seconds for a photo. It also doesn’t gel with their onstage act – all so happy to be there and wishing they could invite everyone back to their trailer for a drink – yep Simon really did say that at one point. I was told afterwards that the RHCP’s were at least as bad, if not worse the night before, but that wasn’t really a comfort. I decided I wanted to see the MCR t shirts and went to the merchandise stall, but everything had been taken down apart from DD merchandise – not one other item belonging to any other band was available. After their shitty attitude that really annoyed me. Before the festival I had of course, been expecting to buy DD t shirts, but I refused on principle. We ended the evening watching Cowboy Mouth, a local New Orleans band who were fab, and who Leslie had chosen to watch rather than DD. It was a weird festival as everything was finished by 10pm. I can feel my legs seizing up from all the walking I’ve been doing. Hope they will be ok for the walk to Brennan’s in the morning. Finished the evening in my room with a few JD’s and was still in bed by midnight.

The House of the Rising Sun by Duran Duran

The Rest of Voodoofest - An Overview with music by Cowboy Mouth