Voodoo Fest moving to Austin?

[Livia]

Report: Voodoo Fest coming to Austin
Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005

According to a report on E! Online, Austin will serve as a temporary home to New Orleans' annual Voodoo Music Experience, to be held Oct. 29-30.

E! says an official announcement is expected within days, and that the move was confirmed by the manager of one of the 20-plus bands slated to play this year's festival. The report added officials in Austin were "making accommodations" to use the stages already in place for this weekend's Austin City Limits Festival.

The change in location would likely affect the festival's lineup of bands, which originally included Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, My Chemical Romance and Carl Cox.

According to a message on the event's official Web site, the event will now be a benefit "to raise critically needed funds for those affected by Hurricane Katrina."

-Austin360

Here's the E! article:

Katrina Kicks Voodoo Fest to Texas
by Charlie Amter
Sep 20, 2005, 4:25 PM PT
back to story

Texas is again stepping up to help Louisiana in its time of need.

With Houston already taking in refugees at the Astrodome and San Antonio serving as temporary home to the New Orleans Saints in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Austin has now agreed to host one of the Big Easy's largest music festivals--the Voodoo Music Experience.

Austin, which is known for hosting large-scale musical extravaganzas (see: South by Southwest and Austin City Limits), will serve as the temporary location for the 2005 edition of Voodoo, sources have told E! Online.

The massive two-day event, featuring such big-name alternative rock acts such as Nine Inch Nails and the Foo Fighters, was scheduled to take place over Halloween weekend in the flood-ravaged city.

The event's publicist, MSO PR, would not officially confirm the venue change to Austin Tuesday. But a band manager for one of the acts on the bill said the move was a done deal. Sources in Austin also confirm that the city is making accommodations to use the stages already in place for the Austin City Limits festival, which goes down this week in the self-proclaimed "music capital of the world."

It's not immediately clear if all the bands originally announced for Voodoo would still participate in the event, which is now expected to be some sort of fundraiser for Katrina victims. But Nine Inch Nails frontman and former New Orleans resident Trent Reznor "reinforced his commitment to the event," per a press release issued shortly after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Queens of the Stone Age, My Chemical Romance and Carl Cox were among the 20-plus acts on the bill when the festival lineup was announced June 24.

The dates for the festival are expected to be the same, Oct. 29-30. An official announcement, including the location change and revamped lineup, is expected to go out in the next few days.

Since it began in 1999, Voodoo Music Experience has grown to rival some of New Orleans' best known outdoor music festivals, even the vaunted Jazzfest. Last year's Voodoo event attracted some 60,000 fans, with artists like the Pixies and the Beastie Boys among the headliners.

Meanwhile, Jazzfest itself is expected to stay in the Big Easy next year, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

"There will be a Jazzfest in 2006," Quint Davis, a producer of the legendary springtime festival, traditionally held at the city's Fair Grounds Race Course, told the paper. "It will be in Louisiana. It will be as close to New Orleans as we can get it."

[estranged4life]

and we (OKC) get the New Orleans Hornets...Cool!

[Livia]

Here's the latest:

E! Online is reporting that the Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans' biggest alt-rock festival, would be coming to Zilker Park on Oct. 29-30, using the same stages as those in place for this weekend's Austin City Limits Music Festival. But Wednesday, ACL Fest executive producer Charlie Jones called those reports "way too premature," saying he's had talks with Voodoo Fest organizers, but nothing is confirmed.
Even if Voodoo were to come to Austin, Jones said the stages would not stay up for the weeks in between festivals.

According to E! Online, an official announcement is expected within days, and the move was confirmed by the manager of one of the 20-plus bands slated to play this year's festival.

The lineup of bands originally included Nine Inch Nails, Flaming Lips, Queens of the Stone Age, My Chemical Romance and the Foo Fighters — who played Austin on Sept. 14.

According to a message on the event's official Web site, the event will now be a benefit "to raise critically needed funds for those affected by Hurricane Katrina." It says a location is still being determined but that the dates will stay the same.

Another major event, the Texas Book Festival, is slated for Austin the same weekend.