Jane's Addiction - Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans - Halloween 2015

This is the last of my posts from Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans' City Park on Halloween night 2015.  Babes In Toyland to this set by Jane's Addiction to Public Image Ltd to Ozzy and Friends (Slash, Tom Morello and Geezer Butler).  As I said in the other posts, it was a helluva night of music and worth the mud, mayhem and new pair of sneakers I had to buy the next day.  If you want the whole story, check out the links to those other posts, here we'll talk about the Jane's Addiction set.



When the Voodoo schedule came out it was cool to see that basically Jane's would have a 75 minute set "opening" for Ozzy.



I thought the whole current Jane's tour had them playing all of "Ritual de lo habitual" and they posted on Facebook saying they would be doing this album in full at Voodoo, so that was the expectation this night - all of Ritual and then encore with 2 or 3 other tunes or maybe a 10 minute "Chip Away" jam.



The set started as expected with the Spanish spoken word intro and right into "Stop!" 



We then immediately realized it wouldn't be a full "Ritual" set as they skipped "No One's Leaving" and went into the third track instead, "Ain't No Right" (by the end of the night we would get five of the nine tracks off "Ritual")



This current lineup of the band features three of the four original members with Perry Farrell on vocals and various noises, Dave Navarro on guitar and Stephen Perkins on drums.  Chris Chaney has replaced Eric Avery on bass and made himself known at this point in the set with the instantly recognizable opening bass line to "Mountain Song" off "Nothing's Shocking"



Next up was the ridiculously catchy (I was humming this thing for at least a week after the show) "Just Because" off 2003's "Strays" album



We were then back to "Ritual" for an epic "Three Days" followed by the funk of "Been Caught Stealing"



Perry asked the crowd if we were ready to go "Up The Beach" which of course led into "Ocean Size" the killer opening tracks to "Nothing's Shocking"



Perry then asked the crowd if they were ready for a slow one and promised the guys in the crowd that it would be worth it because this next one would get the ladies in a romantic mood.  It was "Classic Girl" which I haven't heard them do in years and is a favorite.



The night would end with a pair off their self titled album.  First "Whores" to end the main set, then they brought the steel drums out front and a chair for Dave to lounge in for the sing-a-long of "Jane Says"







The only problem, that was a great SIXTY minute set.  They started on time and walked off 15 minutes before their schedule which was a complete bummer.



My guess is this was related to the weather and perhaps they were asked to cut it short in hopes to get Ozzy on earlier before the place was completely flooded/mudded out (which is exactly what ended up happening, causing the cancellation of the whole next day.  Not a huge deal for me.  Would have been cool to see The Cult and Third Eye Blind again as I haven't seen them in years and I keep getting told I have to check out Zac Brown band live and chances are this was the only time that was going to happen...oh well)  This would have been a logical plan, but Ozzy started right at 9:30 as he was expected to and if anything went slightly long pulling out some deep Black Sabbath cuts.



But overall it's was minor complaint. Oddly this set went over probably much better than all of Ritual in order would have.  They cut out the more atmospheric tracks and beefed up the set with monster riffing from the other albums.  Not sure Ritual would go over great in front of a mostly casual fan large festival crowd.  And hell I love everything by these guys.  I prob only would have been pissed if they cut Three Days or Classic Girl.



Perry was a great front man throughout the night, welcoming the rain and welcoming the crowd to dance with him through it.  He was also rather funny in his between song banter, at one point stating something along the lines of "There's warnings out there to get to higher ground...so I took some drugs...and then my manager told me that's not what they meant"



Lastly I have to mention the ladies (which included Perry's wife Etty Lau Farrell, Lisa Eaton, Maxine "Mama" Hupy - and if anyone knows the names of the others I'll be sure to tag them in their photos).  As many of the women swooned over shirtless Dave Navarro, Jane's has a bevy of beauties to dance, act out, strip, make out and fly over the stage in violent fashion suspended by hooks in their backs for the rest of us to enjoy.





It's everything that's great about a truly great rock n roll show...and probably the best band I've ever seen open for Ozzy (I didn't see Ozzy on the "The Ultimate Sin" tour with "Master of Puppets" era Metallica opening...I'll give you that one, that would have been hard to beat)



Well done Voodoo Music Festival - made for great Halloween festivities and made us forget the mud until the music stopped and we had to hike out of that deep, sticky stinky slop.



Enjoy the rest of the photos below (click on any of them to super size).  Also if you dug this review, go to the Most People Are Blank Facebook page by clicking here and click the "Follow" button to join to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests (some damn good ones coming soon!)  Also follow on twitter at @MostPeopleBlank   As always - Rock on and Enjoy - Paul

 

 

 

 

Babes In Toyland - Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans - Halloween 2015

Here's a quick set of photos of Babes in Toyland (Kat Bjelland, Lori Barbero and Clara Salyer) killing it on Halloween Night this year at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans' City Park.

Only got a few shots due to the weather.  Still posting more from that weekend, but if interested you can currently check out photos and reviews of Public Image Ltd and Ozzy (with Slash, Tom Morello and Geezer Butler) by clicking on those links where you can also read about the weather and mud conditions which is thrilling.

Enjoy the photos below (click on any of them to super size).  Also if you dug this, go to the Most People Are Blank Facebook page by clicking here and click the "Follow" button to join to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests (some damn good ones coming soon!)  Also follow on twitter at @MostPeopleBlank   As always - Rock on and Enjoy - Paul

Ozzy Osbourne with Slash, Geezer Butler and Tom Morello - Voodoo Experience, New Orleans - Halloween 2015

It damn well had to be a special Halloween night lineup to leave the party scene of downtown New Orleans to travel out in the on and off pouring rain to City Park to find the grounds of the Voodoo Music Experience flooded. 



It was immediatley bad when we got there as the sun was setting. Then upon stepping onto the grass we sunk a couple of inches, but the worst was yet to come when we passed through the security gates into the muddy nightmare.



I've been to muddy festivals before, hell I've been to one of the most famous of all - Woodstock '94.  Even camped on site the whole weekend for that one, but the key there was you could find high ground.  NOLA's City Park is all flat with tons of area which dip down a few inches to a foot which is the perfect recipe for instant swamp land.

By the end of the headlining set on this night, City Park was basically five to seven inches of mud everywhere (and said mud smelled suspiciously like sewage).  With nowhere for the water to escape, the grounds appeared ruined to the point that the whole Sunday lineup was cancelled and I imagine will take months to regrow the lush grass it had been covered with 24 hours earlier.



So again, it damn well had better been a good lineup.  Who could make this trek through this mess worth it?  Ozzy and Friends had me mudding when those friends were going to be Tom Morello, Slash and Geezer Butler!



This was a total one off show, so no one knew quite what to expect.  I, along with most others, thought the announced "friends" were going to be his band for the whole show and I had only two questions:

Who would be drumming? (not a surprise to find it would be Tommy Clufetos of Ozzy's solo band and drummer for the most recent Black Sabbath reunion tours)



And for this one off gig, could the special guests talk Ozzy into playing some stuff he hasn't played ever or for decades?  ("Diary of a Madman" was my dream song...and sadly not only wasn't it played, but nothing off that album was played...c'mon Ozzy!)

So in some respect many hopes were dashed when Ozzy hit the stage at 9:30 with his current solo band and no special guests opening with "I Don't Know" off "Blizzard of Ozz"



Okay, yeah...it was a slight bummer seeing just Ozzy with Guitarist Gus G., Tommy on drums, bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson and Adam Wakeman on keyboards, but it had been a while since I've seen Ozzy solo and I was looking forward to the set and how the guests would be worked into it.



Also let me note, that while initially disappointed with no guests, when it was just Ozzy's solo band playing, they crushed it and Ozzy's vocals were great throughout the night!

We didn't have to wait long for the first of the friends to join in the madness when Ozzy brought out Tom Morello for the next to classics - "Mr. Crowley" and "Bark At The Moon"



Tom was having an absolute blast and even decorated the back of his guitar to say how he felt about the legend he was playing with on this night.



Tom left the stage and the standard band ripped through "Suicide Solution" and then "Shot In The Dark"

Next up was a little odd as most in the audience were looking forward to the guests when Gus G. did his guitar solo.  It was a great solo, but I saw many in the audience saying why is there a guitar solo going on that doesn't involve Tom Morello or Slash, who so far had not made an appearance...maybe the weather kept him away?  I wish they would have slightly adapted the set list a bit more to the guest aspect of this show.



So Gus G.'s solo led into the Black Sabbath instrumental "Rat Salad" which became Tommy Clufetos' drum solo



Then things turned up a notch when Ozzy came back out on stage with Tom, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler and Slash for what would be a LONG Sabbath set for an Ozzy solo show.



Everyone jammed out on "Iron Man" and then "N.I.B"





Tom and Slash left at this point but Geezer stayed out for some more Sabbath including some relatively deep cuts starting with "Snowblind"



Next up was "Behind the Wall of Sleep" - a double shot for the more than casual fan (and this being a festival where Ozzy was one of the few hard rock/metal acts, most definitely this was a casual fan crowd.  Biggest cheers of the night were for the biggest hits - Shot in the Dark, Crazy Train, etc



I was surprised that the Black Sabbath set continued on with "War Pigs" and then "Fairies Wear Boots" at which point Geezer left the stage and Blasko rejoined his bandmates on stage.



I love Ozzy with Black Sabbath.  I've seen them many times at this point - more than Ozzy solo and I already have tix to see them next year at least twice - so again, while this was great, I was just a little disappointed that we didn't get more Ozzy solo deep cuts (or even standard cuts like Flying High Again, No More Tears, Ultimate Sin, the list goes on) since I've heard and will hear these Sabbath songs again.  



You know Tom and Slash know everything off Blizzard and Diary.  Yeah I know, those of you who couldn't make this are telling me to stop my bitching  it's just I've always felt I should have a job where I make the set lists for these bands...the concert world would be such a more amazing place...heheheh (that was me chuckling to myself, not the beginning to "Sweet Leaf" which yep, one last bitch...why not play Sweet Leaf??  Okay I'll stop now...back to the set...)



"I Don't Want to Change The World" off "No More Tears" was next and then the main set ended with "Crazy Train"



Throughout the set, while we sunk deeper in mud up to our shins, the rain was heavy at times and then we'd get a little break (which is when I would snap as many shots as I could and why I don't have any video ).  Ozzy consistently told us all that both he couldn't fucking hear us and then thank us for coming out and putting up with this shitty ass weather.

After a quick encore break, Ozzy returned with his standard solo band for "Mama, I'm Coming Home" and then invited everyone (Slash, Tom, Geezer) back out on stage to end the night with Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"



So was it worth it throwing out my sneakers when I got back to the hotel room knowing they could not be saved?  Hell yeah.  A very cool show and lineup I surely will never seen again.



In addition, just prior to Ozzy's set, Jane's Addiction killed it (that review is coming soon) and also got a nice taste of Babes in Toyland and Public Image Ltd (some photo sets coming as well - I met John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon at the airport when we arrived two days earlier...another highlight of the trip!)

Also coming soon and I'll post it and link it here when ready was another set related to Sabbath the the previous night with a group of music all-stars doing a one off show called Funk Sabbath which was amazing.  Photos and videos of that coming soon too!

Enjoy the rest of the photos (click on any of them to super size).  Also if you dug this review, go to the Most People Are Blank Facebook page by clicking here and click the "Follow" button to join to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests (some damn good ones coming soon!)  Also follow on twitter at @MostPeopleBlank   As always - Rock on and Enjoy - Paul