New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2nd Weekend 2024 | New Orleans | 5.2.24
ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY GABRIEL DAVID BARKIN | PUBLISHED ON MAY 8, 2024
Some photo highlights from the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2nd weekend. My daily journal / review, along with a ton more pictures, will be posted soon on Grateful Web, and I will update this post with a link when it’s live. In the meantime, enjoy these snaps.
DAY 1: Thursday, May 2
Among many brilliant acts this year, I loved all the Colombian groups in the Cultural Exchange tent. I went in there every chance I got, and was rewarded each time with gifted, stirring performances. Oh, and this band named “The Rolling Stones” played too, ever heard of them? I didn’t get anywhere near the stage, hence only some far-off crowd shots of them.
The Rolling Stones
Batámbora
Semolian Warriors
Cole Williams
Michael Doucet
Los Güiros
Samantha Fish
The Rolling Stones
JAZZFEST AMBIANCE INTERLUDE 1
Fun fact: The expression “laissez les bons temps rouler” is a Louisiana French translation of the English “Let the good times roll,” not the other way around. If you want to sound authentic, say it in good ol’ English! But, regardless, you do you, nobody minds.
DAY 2: Friday, May 3
Allison Russell was high on my list to see, and I got to sit front row for her masterful, heartwarming show. A definite must-see for me from now on! Also, a geographic name-check shout out to Meschiya Lake for naming her band “The Little Big Horns.” (Get it?)
Bejuco
Guitar Slim Jr.
Allison Russell and her daughter Ida
Allison Russell and Hozier
Allison Russell
Allison Russell and her band
Matachinde
Big Sam
The Lee Boys
Meschiya Lake
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
JAZZFEST AMBIANCE INTERLUDE 2
Fun fact: The first two Jazzfests were held in 1970-71 on the historically significant site known as Congo Square in the Tremé district, not too far from the French Quarter. produced the first official New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1970. Performers at the weekend-long included Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Fats Domino, and The Preservation Hall Brass Band.
Only a few hundred people attended the first year’s festivities. Over half a million people attended this year’s Jazzfest! I think they all in line ahead of me at the catfish po’ boy stand.
DAY 3: Friday, May 4
Neil Young and Crazy Horse opened with a 20-minute “Cortez the Killer” and proceeded to kick butt for the next 95 minutes. Willie Nelson’s kid Micah (a.k.a. Particle Kid) filled in for Nils Lofgren on rhythm and second lead guitar, and he did his best to keep up with the three other guys whose combined age is 240 years old. Long may they run!
Neil Young
Neil Young and Billy Talbot
Neil Young, Billy Talbot, and Micah Nelson
Neil Young
Little Freddie King
The Zion Harmonizers
The next two pictures are from the set by Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole. A guitar amplifier stage right had a wreath of flowers and a golden Bible balanced on top. After the first song, Watson explained why: “We’re going to dedicate this show to one of the greatest musicians, Mr. Chris Stafford.” Stafford, a deeply loved and revered Louisiana musician, died tragically in a car accident just this past Thursday night. Washboard player Paul Bird Edwards was clearly distraught, his eyes were full of tears, and he kept looking at the amplifier.
Cedric Watson and Paul Bird Edwards (with Bijou Creole)
Chris Stafford’s amplifier
Preservation Brass
Preservation Brass” Ingram
Glen David Andrews
Cimarron
Chris Thile
Sara Watson and Chris Thile of Nickel Creek
JAZZFEST AMBIANCE INTERLUDE 3
Fun fact: New Orleans is known for being the birthplace of jazz and blues, but the Crescent City also is believed to be the first place in the U.S. to host an opera performance. In the early 1800s, NOLA was known as the Opera Capital of North America.
DAY 4: Friday, May 5
In a way, each Jazzfest experience is like an NCAA basketball tournament. For the NCAA annual championship, fans fill out their “brackets,” making picks for who will win each round and advance to the next. Everyone’s brackets are different, and adjustments have to be made as each game is played. So it is with Jazzfest – you look at the “cubes” (the grid of stage schedules), you pick where you’ll go, and maybe you follow your plan or maybe you end up doing something else. And no two people end up with matching grids, just like how the nearly immeasurable variety of NCAA tournament picks is different for every basketball fan.
George Thorogood
George Thorogood
Cimarron
Funk Monkey
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
The Radiators
Camile Baudoin and Dave Malone of The Radiators
Tribute to longtime fest friend and performer Jimmy Buffett
Culu Childrens Traditional African Dance Company
Tower of Power
New Orleans Klezmer Allstars
New Orleans Klezmer Allstars
Lucio Feuillet
Cyrill Neville, a.k.a “the Uptown Ruler,” and Trombone Shorty
Trombone Shorty
JAZZFEST AMBIANCE INTERLUDE 4: THE NEXT GENERATION
Fun fact: Kids love Jazzfest!
And … that’s a wrap. Let the good times roll!
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Review and photos by Gabriel Barkin | www.gdbarkin.com | IG: @gabrieldavidbarkin
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