This weekend, the Big Easy hosts the Essence Music Festival (the largest event celebrating African American culture in the United States). The festival has been in New Orleans every year since 1995, with the exception of 2006 due to Hurricane Katrina. Some of the bigger names at the festival this year are Beyonce, John Legend, Lionel Richie, Ne-yo, Al Green and Salt-N-Pepa.
About four months from now, the Voodoo Experience (commonly known as Voodoo Fest) will kick off in New Orleans City Park. Voodoo Fest has been held in the Crescent City in late October since 1999. This year, the festival will return to Halloween weekend. The initial lineup was released last week and the headliners are Kiss, Eminem, Jane's Addiction, Widespread Panic, The Flaming Lips, and Justice.
Everyone always knows, or has at least heard of, most of the headliners at a major music festival. I figured I would take the time to look over each festival's lineup and pull out three of the lesser known names to have a look at. And since Voodoo Fest has been on my mind lately with the lineup being announced, I decided to choose artists that will be appearing at both festivals.
The first name I came across that I had to include was Janelle Monae. Originally from Kansas City but based in Atlanta by way of New York, Monae has recently burst on the scene. She has opened for indie pop band, Of Montreal, and also supported No Doubt on their summer tour this year. She has a powerful voice and a fun sound I'm going to dub "soultronica." Her song, Many Moons, was nominated for a Grammy this year.
Next up, is an alternative hip hop group consisting of brothers Kentrell "Krispy Kream" Lindsey and Alvin "Rah Almillio" Lindsey. The New Orleans duo call themselves The Knux, which is short for knuckleheads. The Lindsey brothers were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and moved to L.A. The Knux have had songs featured on TV shows and movies and have appeared live with Common, Q-Tip, Nas, and The Roots. Rolling Stone magazine said they sound like "Led Zeppelin and the Cash Money Crew" while Alvin Lindsey himself compares the group to the Strokes saying, "We want to be extra-grimy, extra raw."
Finally, I have to mention another group local to New Orleans. He plays in the city quite frequently, and if you haven't seen him, you need to. Trombone "Troy Andrews" Shorty and his band Orleans Avenue play jazzy, funky, fun sets with everything from rock to hip hop. When Andrews was 19, he was in Lenny Kravitz's horn section on a 2005 world tour. The following year, he played with U2 in the re-opening of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. Troy Andrews is among the most entertaining trombonists and trumpeters around.
If you happen to be going to the Essence Music Festival, do not miss these acts. If you don't currently have plans to go to Essence Fest this weekend, you can still catch these three up and coming artists at Voodoo Fest in the fall. If you're considering or already planning on going to Voodoo Fest, check back with Red Stick Live early next week because I'll have a special information posting about the festival.
Recent Comments