Was 2022 Voodoo Fest doomed by a dispute between founder Steve Rehage and Live Nation? - NOLA.com
The cancellation of the 2022 Voodoo Music + Arts Experience caught many fans by surprise. Not Steve Rehage. Voodoo's founder and minority owner says the festival's fate was essentially sealed 18 months ago, when he declined to sell his 49% share to Live Nation Entertainment for less than what he thought it was worth. According to Rehage, he was then told that Live Nation would not stage another Voodoo without owning it outright. That ultimatum was delivered during a scheduled call in January 2021 with Charlie Walker, a co-founder of C3 Presents, the Austin-based Live Nation subsidiary that has overseen the Halloween weekend festival in New Orleans' City Park since Rehage was ousted as producer following the 2015 Voodoo. As Rehage first recounted publicly to Alex Rawls, of MySpiltMilk.com, then confirmed via text with The Times-Picayune, Walker asked if Rehage was interested in selling his re...