Third Eye Blind, Wyclef, Moby, Roots Head To Big Easy for Voodo Fest

The musical spirits of Third Eye Blind, Wyclef Jean, Moby, and the Roots will be getting restless in the swamps of the Big Easy next month as part of the first annual Voodoo Music Festival being held, appropriately enough, on Halloween.

Ben Folds Five, Parliament/Funkadelic (including frontman George Clinton, bassist Bootsy Collins, and keyboardist Bernie Worrell), the Marvelous 3, Train, and Citizen King will also come for the All Hallows Eve concert, which is expected to draw an estimated crowd of 30,000 to New Orleans' City Park.

The inaugural event will feature performances across three stages in the City Park; the musicians will be split between two main stages, and the third stage will be dedicated to honoring New Orleans' distinct cultural background with dance and theatrical presentations.

The one-day festival will also include an area set up as "The Village," a marketplace setting for local artists and merchants representing African, French, Spanish, and Native American influences on the city.

Based on how the '99 staging comes off, organizers say they are planning to expand the scope of the Voodoo Music Festival from a Halloween concert into a three-day civic event over the course of the next few years.
-- David Basham