This Halloween weekend, New Orleans’ City Park will once again be dominated by the 17th annual Voodoo Music & Arts Festival, a three-day concert experience centered around Halloween. Boasting a diverse selection of artists with style ranging from hard EDM to alternative to heavy metal, the festival is sure to attract an eclectic crowd. As always, the festival will have four stages, one of which will be devoted to EDM acts, and one of which will lean more toward indie artists. 

On Friday, the festival will start strong, with headliner and actual flower child Florence + The Machine. The band already has plenty of hits to draw from, but fans can expect to hear new songs from “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful,” the album the band released earlier this year. Audiences should expect Florence Welch’s unique vocals and eerie indie tracks. Also with a wealth of new material to draw from is indie-rock band Modest Mouse, who earlier this year released “Strangers to Ourselves,” its first album since 2007. Jack Ü, the electronic collaboration between Skrillex and Diplo, will finish out the Friday lineup on the Le Plur stage.

Saturday, of course, is Halloween — classic heavy-metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne, known for ghoulish hits like “Bark At The Moon,”  is incredibly appropriate as the headliner to accompany the spooky vibes of the night.  Osbourne will also be bringing some friends — Tom Morello, Slash and original Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler are set to join his band onstage.  Other Saturday headliners include grunge pioneers Jane’s Addiction and electronic-rock and pop singer Santigold.

Modest Mouse photo courtesy of Ben Moon. Modest Mouse will be headlining on Friday.

Wrapping up the weekend on Sunday are Zac Brown Band, Deadmau5, Third Eye Blind and Chance The Rapper. Third Eye Blind is a must for anyone nostalgic about the ’90s, and the band also has a new album, “Dopamine,” to draw from. Chance the Rapper, a Chicago rapper, is sure to be one of the most anticipated sets of the night, based on the massive popularity of “Acid Rap,” his 2013 mixtape. Deadmau5, the final performance on the Altar stage, is definitely going to deliver with haunted-sounding EDM tracks, playing into the last of the Halloween energy — one of its biggest hits, after all, is “Ghosts n’ Stuff”.  

A non-headliner to hit on Sunday is Elliphant. Elliphant is a fresh EDM artist that has collaborations with Major Lazer, Mø and Skrillex, who’s part of the duo Jack Ü. Her music will be awesome to dance to. On Friday, Joey Bada$$ is also worth checking out — his newest album “B4.DA.$$” was released this past January. Fans of hip-hop will appreciate his Brooklyn-native vibe. His most popular songs include “Survival Tactics”, “My Yout” and “Paper Trail$.”

Joey Bada$$ photo courtesy of Gari Askew.

Voodoo is going to be an exhilarating three days, so make sure to plan a schedule and, of course, get your Halloween costumes ready.