One day to Jazz Fest

[Del_B_Vista]

Normally, I post things like this about 24 hours before the event happens, leaving roughly two hours for me to actually check if anybody's going. This is probably going in the other extreme, but it's one month until the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The "cubes" went up today (http://www.nojazzfest.com).

Anybody else going? You can check my plans at the BLOGS!!! listed below.

 

[pallister]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

I would love to go to this, especially since the Truckers are playing. But no way I can make it this year. Maybe next.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

I would love to go to this, especially since the Truckers are playing. But no way I can make it this year. Maybe next.

Drive-By Truckers are on my must-see list, but they are playing at the same time as Trombone Shorty, who are also on that list. The stages are at opposite ends of the Fair Grounds. I may choose Drive-By Truckers over the local act, but I'm such an old fogey these days that calling NOLA "local" is a real stretch.

 

[pallister]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

Outside the few headliners, how long do all the acts get to play?

 

[pallister]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

In helping make the aforementioned decision, very few people will ever get to see the Truckers AND Booker T together, so there's that.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

Outside the few headliners, how long do all the acts get to play?

On the smaller stages, it's 40-55 minutes usually. Bigger stage acts get longer. Truckers are scheduled for 70 minutes, and the Jazz Fest folks are pretty much fascists about the schedule.

 

[pallister]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

Damn, I may have to quit my job.

 

[albert77]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

Wife and I are going the last day to see Neil Young, followed by the Radiators. Still (vaguely ) recall the early days when the Rads used to play at the Maple Leaf Bar. Some good times were had back then.

 

[dargan]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

Damn, I may have to quit my job.

Same here.

Dr. John, Bonnie Rait, Earth Wind and Fire, The O'Jays, Tab Benoit, Allen Toussaint, Emmylou Harris, AND B-U-D-D-Y G-U-Y?!?!

If the reanimated corpses of John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf and Professor Longhair showed up, it'd be the greatest festival ever.

 

[John]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

I was going to go for the second weekend but my buddy that I was going to stay with has to work most of Friday and Saturday. I may still head down there. I had a blast last year, and Trombone Shorty was awesome.

 

[mike311gd]

Re: One month to Jazz Fest

I went there when I was 16. It was OK. Though I wish I were five or six years older before going.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

Tomorrow's my last day at the mine before a week-plus Jazz Fest extravaganza. I plan to enjoy it thoroughly. Let me know if anybody else will be there first Friday and Saturday, then second Saturday.

 

[pallister]

Damn, wish I was going. You decide between the Truckers or the local band for the first day?

 

[User 1019]

My only JazzFest experience came in 2001. Dave Matthews, Cowboy Mouth and the North Mississippi All-Stars were all on the same stage back-to-back-to-back, and it was a nightmare. Crowds so thick you couldn't walk. Seriously.

I had to walk about 300 meters to get beer and take a leak. It took me about two and a half hours. The crowd was awful. People were pushing and shoving, and kids were getting stepped on. I finally found some Mr. Clean-looking dude, grabbed his shirt and told him to get us through the crowd (for a beer, of course).

Never. Ever. Will I go back.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

My only JazzFest experience came in 2001. Dave Matthews, Cowboy Mouth and the North Mississippi All-Stars were all on the same stage back-to-back-to-back, and it was a nightmare. Crowds so thick you couldn't walk. Seriously.

I had to walk about 300 meters to get beer and take a leak. It took me about two and a half hours. The crowd was awful. People were pushing and shoving, and kids were getting stepped on. I finally found some Mr. Clean-looking dude, grabbed his shirt and told him to get us through the crowd (for a beer, of course).

Never. Ever. Will I go back.

That's what we in the business call a rookie mistake. Always. Avoid. DMB. Always.

Also, avoid other jam bands and Buffett. The crowds those days are far too big to be enjoyable, even if you like their music. I'm skipping acts I really, really want to see this year because of DMB.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

WWOZ has really cranked up the playlist in anticipation.
Be well, Del B, you've earned it.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

Also, avoid other jam bands and Buffett. The crowds those days are far too big to be enjoyable, even if you like their music. I'm skipping acts I really, really want to see this year because of DMB.

I'm always willing to pay that price when the Allman Brothers come to Jazz Fest. They were great a couple years ago. Not here this year, though.

 

[pallister]

Always. Avoid. DMB. Always.

Also, avoid ... Buffett.

This applies everywhere, at all times.

 

[John]

I hate that I'm going to miss it, but I opted to spend four days in New York instead. And I'm headed to Chicago for a week in June.

I will head down to NOLA at some point this summer, though.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

Wilco was awesome today. They were goofy and funny, two traits that aren't usually associated with Wilco.

At another stage earlier in the day, I went to see Judith Owen. I'd heard her on Whad'Ya Know a couple months ago, followed a couple weeks later by show with her husband Harry Shearer. They live part-time in NOLA, so it wasn't surprising to see them there. I found out the Hornets score when Shearer announced it during sound check. As the set was beginning, I realized that four rows in front of me (it was a smaller stage with seats) was sitting Kurtwood Smith. Shearer played bass on a couple songs, very low-key contributions.

Also, I was surprised to find people drinking beer at the Fair Grounds today. I was pretty sure I drank all the beer in New Orleans last night.