What worked and what didn't at Re:SET New Orleans? The headliners (yes!), the heat (no!)

Re:SET New Orleans’ steamy opening day in City Park pushed Joe Talbot, singer of raucous British rock band IDLES, to the limit.

“I had to stop singing in that song because I nearly passed out,” Talbot confessed mid-set. “That’s never happened before.”

He’s also never sung/shouted with vein-popping intensity for an hour on a stage facing the June sun in New Orleans before.

The heat took a toll on locals, too. An overheated and dehydrated Big Freedia, who preceded IDLES on Friday afternoon, needed an IV backstage following a typically exuberant set.

If nothing else, Re:SET clarified just when it's too summer-y to host a multi-act outdoor concert in New Orleans.

Conceived by AEG Presents as a traveling, cutting-edge concert series, Re:SET is slated to visit three different cities every weekend in June. Each day’s four-band roster alternates different days in the given weekend’s trio of cities.

Bad weather beset all three Re:SET destinations June 9-11. LCD Soundsystem had to cancel its Sunday headlining set in Dallas. Sunday’s show in Atlanta was halted and the venue evacuated before headliner Boygenius eventually performed.

In New Orleans, the threat of lightning and storms prompted Saturday’s first two scheduled acts, Bartees Strange and Dijon, to be scratched.

Fans in each city complained that the event’s producers did not provide timely updates as these situations unfolded. That counts as a first-year faux pas.

In New Orleans, Re:SET fenced off a compact space at the southeastern corner of the much larger Voodoo Music + Arts Experience site at City Park’s Festival Grounds.

Consisting of only one stage and a handful of vendors, Re:SET was a far more modest affair than Voodoo. Daily attendance clearly didn't exceed mid-four figures.

With only a couple of oak trees along the perimeter fencing, shade was at a premium between 4 p.m. and sunset.

By and large, fans and performers persevered. And the headliners, especially, delivered.

LCD Soundsystem’s not so quiet storm

Early arrivals on opening day were greeted by avant-garde Cajun ensemble the Lost Bayou Ramblers performing just inside the entrance aboard the band’s solar-powered trailer. Ramblers alumnus Korey Richey was sitting in.

A couple hours later, Richey was on the main stage with LCD Soundsystem, his main musical outlet of late.

LCD Soundsystem is no stranger to the City Park Festival Grounds, having performed at Voodoo in 2017. Playing in the park in June is much different than in October.

“It was very, very hot,” frontman James Murphy noted. “We asked them to turn it down, so it should be a little better now.”

One thing that wasn’t turned down: the volume. LCD Soundsystem at Re:SET was borderline painfully loud, even at the back of the field. I can’t remember my ears ringing more after an outdoor show.

That said, the band sounded tremendous. On a stage laden with gear and musicians, Murphy served as ringmaster, head back as he emoted in a voice reminiscent of Morrissey's. Hard-working Pat Mahoney functioned as a rock-steady human drum machine, powering LCD’s analog EDM in “I Can Change” and elsewhere.

An air-tight “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House,” with its crisp guitars and staccato vocals, was a set highlight. So, too, was the step-up in the energy of “You Wanted a Hit” and the 1980s bass line and pulse of “Tribulations.” “Home” evoked Talking Heads by way of Arcade Fire.

Murphy, after observing that “this spotlight is just bringing all the bugs to me,” introduced “the musical theater part of the show” with “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down.”

A wide-open “All My Friends” was a final sprint for the horizon by a unique, fully realized band at full strength despite oppressive heat and humidity.

Boygenius' harmony-laden rock

Before Boygenius on Saturday, representatives of the Houma Nation conducted a brief “land acknowledgement” ceremony. City Park was apparently the tribe’s long-ago hunting grounds.

As the minutes ticked past Boygenius’ scheduled start time, the LED wall at the back of the stage displayed color palette test screens. Whenever the screen went black, fans cheered, figuring that meant the show was about to start.

What was really happening was a desperate video technician behind the sound board was repeatedly unplugging his laptop, hoping it would reboot and sync up with the screen.

Finally, 40 minutes behind schedule, the screen came to life. A recording of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” prefaced the arrival of the all-female Boygenius onstage.

The three principal members first appeared on the troublesome LED wall harmonizing on “Without You Without Them,” the a cappella track that opens the trio’s 2023 full-length debut, “The Record.”

Dashing onstage, they unleashed pent-up energy with the crunching alt-rock guitars of “$20” and “Satanist.” Backed by four additional musicians, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers took turns as lead vocalist while also swapping out stringed instruments. After the opening one-two punch, Bridgers quieted the crowd with a chill “Emily I’m Sorry.” The three-part harmonies in “True Blue,” “Revolution 0” and “Ketchum, ID” were spot-on and sumptuous.

Bridgers announced that she was missing a wedding to do the show. She shot a video of the crowd congratulating Tom and Lisa en masse. “This song,” she said of the subsequent “Cool About It,” “is about people who are unlike Tom and Lisa.”

The world-weariness and inherent melancholy in Dacus’ burnished voice came through in “We’re In Love”; she can sound simultaneously fragile and strong. Bridgers made a hushed “Letter To An Old Poet” feel especially intimate.

They turned up the electric guitars again for the Sheryl Crow-like rocker “Not Strong Enough.”

The heavily tattooed Baker evoked a hard-rocking Ani DiFranco, picking a banjo or shearing off sculpted licks on a Fender electric guitar. She conjured a sort of rock grandeur in “Stay Down” and grafted slashing chords to the big drums of “Anti-Curse.”

During Baker's guitar solo in “Salt in the Wound,” Bridgers and Dacus hoisted her up by her legs. Baker tilted backward and continued to solo, even after all three tumbled to the stage in a heap.

Rock ‘n’ roll.

In the encore, each principal showcased a song from her respective solo career: Dacus’ “Please Stay,” Baker’s “Favor” and, finally, Bridgers’ “Graceland Too.” All were strong.

But as they demonstrated for 90 minutes, they are strongest together.

Steve Lacy didn’t smash a camera

When alternative R&B/soul guitarist and singer Steve Lacy headlined the Orpheum Theater in October, an audience member threw a disposable camera at him near the end of his show. Lacy then commandeered another disposable camera from a different fan, slammed it down and stormed off. Videos of the incident went viral.

Early in his Re:SET closing set Sunday evening, Lacy said, “Y’all didn’t think I’d come back because I smashed that camera. I came back.”

He continued, “That video made me look like such a bitch. … It brought me great publicity. No publicity is bad publicity. I made it on TMZ. … That was cool.”

There were no bad vibes at Re:SET, possibly because heat exhaustion rendered all involved incapable of throwing cameras or tantrums. Lacy’s long black cloak didn’t last long: “I tried to do my original costume idea with that coat, but it’s too f****** hot.”

Later, he mentioned that “my California a**. … I feel like a raisin right now.”

When he wasn’t casually chatting with the crowd, he navigated the stage leisurely as his band and backing vocalists were partially concealed behind a block of LED screens. Uptempo tracks such as “Hate CD” alternated with the falsetto funk of “Playground.” Armed with an electric guitar, he led an “Infrunami” singalong and rode atop the big bass and bigger bass drum of “Some.”

Frequent collaborator Fousheé, whom Lacy chose as one of his Re:SET roster's opening acts, returned to duet on “Sunshine.” Lacy strummed his guitar as the crowd sang “Bad Habit,” his breakthrough hit. He then wrapped up with “Dark Red,” with nary an errant disposable camera in sight.

Earlier, speaking of his own artistic development, he advised, “Don’t over-conceptualize to the point that you don’t start anywhere. Appreciate every step.”

His own career “is gradually growing. I don’t feel like I’ve arrived.” He is “still developing my skills. I thank you for allowing me to develop.”

Much like Re:SET as a whole.