Parker Greenwood | Associate Arcade Editor

The Weeknd, one of the headliners on Friday, will take the stage at The Altar, the main stage of Voodoo Music + Arts Experience. Already having released two singles this year, “Starboy” and “False Alarm,” the Canadian is building up to the release of his third studio album on Nov. 25.

Considering the usual strategies used to build hype for a new album, it would not be a stretch to suggest that festival attendees can expect some bold moves by the artist during the performance. Having been on Billboard’s The Hot 100 chart for five weeks, the song “Starboy”, a collaboration with legendary electronic group Daft Punk, currently sits at number two.

What I am suggesting is The Weeknd enters and starts the show off strong. 30 minutes in, an instantly recognizable track begins. Fog fills the stage as “Starboy” plays. As the fog clears, two new figures have joined him on stage. Daft Punk and The Weeknd proceed to put on a mind-blowing performance to cap off the first day of the festival.

Sam Ergina | Arcade Editor

Any fan of funk electronic music has waited for the second half of this fall for months. The excitement is partly due to Gramatik’s spot in the lineup for the festival this weekend. Performing on Sunday, the producer lands right in the middle of two weekends with three of the biggest names in livetronica (a fusion of jam band elements with electronic music) performing in New Orleans: GRiZ, Gramatik and Big Gigantic. 

Last week, GRiZ had an amazing show at Mardi Gras World in promotion of its newest album, “Good Will Prevail.” During the concert, the saxophone player and disc jockey played a new track from the collaboration between GRiZ and Gramatik, called “Grizmatik.” Gramatik will definitely play, if not the same Grizmatik song, another release by the two producers. Interestingly, GRiz’s tour has a concert every day between today and Halloween except for Sunday — perhaps he’ll be too busy returning to New Orleans in order to take the stage with Gramatik. 

This prediction goes one step further. The day after Gramatik performs, the duo Big Gigantic has a concert at the Joy Theater in promotion of its newest album release, “Brighter Future.” Big Gigantic also happens to have a collaboration project with Gramatik and GRiZ known as “Big Grizmatik.” At some point this Sunday, Big Grizmatik will take the stage on Voodoo weekend and build anticipation for Big Gigantic’s show on Halloween night.