Artists performing at this year’s Voodoo Experience include Muse, Ozzy Osborne, Weezer, Drake, MGMT, Deadmau5, Interpol, Hot Chip, Metric, Florence and the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club, Jakob Dylan, Buckwheat Zydeco, Raphael Saadiq, Eagles of Death Metal, Cage the Elephant, Minus the Bear, Janelle Monae, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Galactic, The Airborne Toxic Event, Jonsi, Innerpartysystem, Trombone Shorty, Rebirth Brass Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Voice of the Wetlands Allstars and others. Find the full lineup here.

The annual three-day music festival will be held in City Park from Friday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 31.

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Photograph by Greg Rhoades

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OK, I know I promised to be done with the VooDoo posts but I forgot about this one and, seeing as how it’s an ongoing story, it doesn’t really count.

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Anyways, if you know anything about brass band music in this city you should know that Derrick Tabb, the snare drummer for Rebirth, was featured on CNN’s Heroes segment for his Roots of Music foundation. The kids that Tabb has worked with over the years were out in full force at VooDoo, performing every day of the event and even finding time to do some marching.

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If you were wondering who all those people with blue signs were that said “Vote Derrick Tabb” and maybe dismissed it as some politician, well, shame on you. This is to make Tabb CNN’s Hero of the Year and everyone should cast their vote immediately. You can vote as many times as you want until 6 a.m. on Thursday November 19. There will also be a tribute to all the Heroes on CNN on Thanksgiving night.

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Rock the vote, New Orleans.

For New Orleans, at least. And let’s be fair: Monday may as well get in on this, too.

One where rock monsters flew, Irish punks fought, fuzzy garage rockers went Pilgrim, psychedelics inspired nudity, and nudity prevailed elsewhere. One where Halloween is mistaken for Mardi Gras. One where fleet-footed athletes outpaced and outjumped real-life ogres and sent an entire city reaching for the Bayer one moment and then damn near burning the place down the next.

You couldn’t have been within city limits this weekend and not been under the spell of the 2009 Voodoo Experience nor the pre-game enthusiasm and post-win ecstasy of the New Orleans Saints victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Here are the moments you may have missed.

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Will did a great job of giving you the rundown on the headlining bands yesterday. I did my best to stay away from the main stages (save for Widespread Panic, whom I had never seen before yesterday). And, this being VooDoo, goign to the secondary stages did not imply seeing second-string acts. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave. rocked their set in front of a more-than-respectably sized crowd that included Troy’s father cousin, Glen David Andrews.

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As you can see, the gathering was also lively in the Preservation Hall tent when Rebirth came into play an hour-plus of non-stop music. They finished their set with red-hot renditions of “Cassanova”, “Do Watcha Wanna” and “Saints Go Marching In” with more than a fair share of “Who Dat?” chants thrown in for good measure.

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For my money, though, Robert Randolph won the evening when he invited all the ladies in the crowd watching him to dance on stage during his rendition of “Hip Shake”. Earlier in the night Randolph and the Family Band payed tribute to Michael Jackson with spot-on, lyric-free renditions of “Thriller” and “Wanna Be Starting Something” while, with the help of Randolph’s younger sister on vocals, converted “Man in the Mirror” into a funky new song all its own.

Photo by Gary Loverde

After a weekend of rain and muck, Voodoo finished with a beautiful day on Sunday and large crowds. The Pogues had posted a missing person announcement on the band Web site as of at least early Sunday morning. Apparently, a binging member was located before the set. But that’s probably par for the course.

More photos after the jump.

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