Voodoo Experience 2009 Entertainment Art City Park New Orleans, LA October 31, 2009

Mute Math This intensely vigorous quartet started the day in lively fashion, as their driving rock led the way through an antic-filled set. As the band graced the stage, drummer Darren King prepped for his fast-paced drumming by wrapping duct tape around his head in order to keep his headphones on during the show. While this seemed like an over-the-top precaution at first glance, the crowd would later realized how necessary this was, as King’s headphone still nearly fell off due to his hard-hitting drumming.

King’s energy spread to the rest of the synth-rock group, as they played through a set of their fan favorites, including “Chaos,” “Typical,” and “Stare at the Sun”—which had the band members banging away on the drum set, including King standing on top of his drum set. The show’s highlight was “Reset,” which had lead singer Paul Meany doing somersaults across his synthesizer, and King dismantling his drum set on stage mid-song, playing on anything and everything his sticks could hit. Then King took his bass drum and put it into the crowd, and decided to stand on top of it with the crowd lifting him up. After standing above all his onlookers, he fell backwards into the crowd, who caught him and crowd-surfed him around. While the rowdy behavior caught most people’s attention, their musical performance was equally as impressive.

Gogol Bordello While Gogol Bordello has a reputation for being an outstanding live act, I had never heard their music before this show. I was not planning to see them, but I had no else I was interested in seeing in that time slot. This show turned out to be an unexpected surprise, as Gogol Bordello turned out to be one of my favorite acts at Voodoo, despite the fact I did not know any of their music. A cross between Flogging Molly and Devotchka, this nine-piece band offers listeners a very unique and distinct style of ‘gypsy-punk.’ This nine-piece collective, comprised of a group of Eastern-European immigrants, displayed a wonderful, quirky, and wild theatrical performance that complimented their wandering, vagabond rock. Led by frontman Eugene Hutz’s eccentric exhibition, this group shined throughout their performance at Voodoo.

Drive-By Truckers Southern rocker revivalists Drive-By Truckers are embracers of their classic rock influences and roots, which is evident through their lyrics and sound. Having this mindset, the band knew that this Halloween evening clearly belonged to festival headliners KISS, and reveled in the chance to pay homage to their beloved band. As they graced Voodoo’s stage, the band performed with their faces painted like those of KISS, dressing up in homage to the festival’s main act.

The Drive-By Truckers primarily played their songs from their recently released rarities compilation The Fine Print as well as from their epic 2001 album Southern Rock Opera. While the newly released songs such as “Play It All Night Long” and “Great Car Dealer War” rocked in typical DBT fashion, the crowd wanted to hear the band’s classics. Most of their set delivered in this regard, as singers Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley alternated on lead vocals for fan favorites including “Three Dimes Down,” “Zip City,” and “Women Without Whiskey.”

The highlight of their set, without a doubt, was “Let There Be Rock,” which Patterson Hood introduced as “the story of how Rock and Roll saved his life.” While this song is a staple of their live shows, the message particularly rang through as the band essentially served as an opener for KISS. As the song recalled Hood’s exposure to rock in his youth, including a missed opportunity of seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd and his experiences seeing metal-rock artists AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne, this performance easily triggered similar memories with KISS for many in the crowd. In a way, “Let There Be Rock” served as a reminder why everyone at the festival was there to see their beloved bands.

Kiss While each of the earlier acts on Saturday impressed throughout the day, the night belonged to KISS. These Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members may have not originated the ‘rock star,’ but they sure as hell refined it with the grungiest of fashions. Their swaggered distortion was cool in the most uncool of ways. Whether you have been a lifelong KISS fan, or a first time listener, after seeing Saturday night’s performance, you have to admit one thing—this band is the master of their domain.

And the crowd was that diverse, combined with onlookers ranging from middle-aged adults donning their black, worn-in band-shirts, all the way to little children atop their parent’s shoulders, watching the visual display in a youthful awe. But to the band, it did not matter who was there, because they came to Voodoo with the intention to tear down Voodoo by any means possible, as they pulled out all the cards, or rather every rock star cliché that has formed partially due to their footsteps over the years. From their signature face paint, to the tight black leather suits dashed in rhinestones, platform heels, and armor plating—KISS represents hard rock glam at its finest. But the grand show was bigger than their outfits—from Gene Simmon’s batwings, to his trademark tongue, to Tommy Thayer’s (replacing the original Ace Frehley) playing guitar behind his head, to a flaming sword/torch that used as a prop—the list goes on, but you get the point. The magnitude of the heavy metal forerunners carried into their actual music performance—but really, who can actually talk about the music when that kind of spectacle is at hand? I’ll leave the dissection of their classic rock set to someone else, and just say that this show was unlike any concert I have or ever will see.

The larger-than-life exhibition concluded with a firework-filled ending as KISS played their two most popular songs—“Rock and Roll All Nite” and “Detroit Rock City.” As the last of the confetti bits fell and pyrotechnic flames died down, the message was clearly sent that KISS’s appearance at Voodoo was not just an entertaining concert - this was a visual display of epic proportions. This was a nostalgic moment rekindling long-time fans with the soundtrack of their youth. This was an opportunity to connect with a younger generation who were not influence by KISS. On Halloween night, KISS reigned supreme in the most epic of proportions.

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