Jazz Fest 2022

Highlights

Morning Shows (Gospel & Mardi Gras Indians) It turns out that hitting those first shows of the morning are a really significant part of the Jazz Fest experience.  It’s the time that you get to listen to things you otherwise wouldn’t.  For various reasons in our previous Jazz Fest, we weren’t able to do this. This year, we were and it made a big difference.

I will mostly remember this as the Jazz Fest that Melissa discovered that she likes Gospel music as long as it’s not too preachy.  The VIP entrance was also the entrance for the Gospel bands so we usually found ourselves arriving with the band and then starting the day with them - which is a really upbeat way to start the day.

From there, we’d wander by the Blues Tent and then head over to the Jazz & Heritage stage and watch whichever tribe of Mardi Gras Indians was playing.  Almost all the tribes play Iko Iko and/or Hey Pocky Way which begs the question of how many times each of those songs actually get played during the festival ;-)  

Billy Strings As mentioned previously, Billy Strings was great.  They played some incredible acoustic jams and a bunch of bluegrass style songs.  The opener (Hide and Seek) would have done justice to a Dead set closer and the set closer was even better.  The cover of Dylan’s Senor really struck home, describing how I feel most every day these days.

Stanton Moore We saw Stanton Moore (Galactic drummer and Jazz Fest superstar) in the jazz tent with Jason Marsalis on the vibes and Skerik on the sax.  This is the kind of jammy jazz that I can fully get behind.  As part of the festivities, they record and sell many of the performances other than the “big” names.  This will be the CD that I order this year.

Chris Isaak Based on how crowded the Gentilly Stage was the day before for The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, we decided to get to the Gentilly Stage early for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.  This ended up being totally unnecessary but we got to see much of the Chris Issak set as a result.  We saw him open for Bonnie Raitt many years ago - a concert that I mostly remember for how much I did not enjoy Bonnie Raitt.  His performance here was great.  Something like Johnny Cash meets George Thorogood in a Nudie Suit.  We’ll definitely see him again.

Bill Kirchen Saturday morning started with Bill Kirchen in the Blues Tent.  Bill is one of the founding members of Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen.  We saw the “Titan of the Telecaster” a few years ago with our friend Kirsten Haried and her partner and we had a pretty good idea of what to expect and Kirchen delivered.  By the time the set was over, the Blues Tent was full and he got a standing ovation - pretty good for an opening act!

Samantha Fish Samantha Fish was another artist whose set we stumbled into mostly to be in the right place for the band that followed (The Revivalists).  She gave us a blistering blues rock set full of great guitar solos and tough chick vocals.  And now we can’t wait to see Joe Bonamassa later this summer!

The Revivalists Like so many of the bands at Jazz Fest, The Revivalists are New Orleans’ own. I don’t particularly love their music but they put on a great show.  Everything they did was full throated and fully committed.  We may not see them again, but I’m glad we got to see them this time.

Mavis Staples The Saturday night conundrum resolved itself when Melissa Etheridge was forced to cancel and was replaced by Mavis Staples.  I’m pretty sure that if you asked Stevie Nicks “Stevie Nicks or Mavis Staples”, she’d choose Mavis Staples.  I’m sure that Lauren Daigle would.  And I’m pretty sure that Erykah Badu would too.  Mavis is a living legend who has been performing for more than 70 years.  Her set opened with some upbeat gospel inspired songs, then we found ourselves in the Civil Rights movement and then listening to some blistering 70s soul music.  I was really touched by her tribute to Pops with the song Friendship which I send out to all of you.  Saturday was a good day at festival indeed.

Norah Jones I had been disappointed that we were not going to be able to see Norah Jones.  But after Willie Nelson canceled (more below), she became the easy choice for our festival closer.  On the downside, the VIP grandstand was packed for at least the first half of the set which, along with the heat, made it very uncomfortable.  But her smokey vocals and elegant piano played more than made up for it.  She brought out Tank of the New Orleans band Tank and The Bangas for “Don’t Know Why” which was fun.  Will definitely see her again if she plays in the right kind of venue.

Disappointments

Willie Nelson The biggest disappointment of the festival was that Willie Nelson was forced to cancel as two members of his band came down with Covid.  I really felt like this was our last best chance to see him as he really doesn’t play in Colorado all that much.  As best I can tell, he was last here in 2016 and before that in 2011.  I don’t know why he doesn’t like us, I mean he launched “Willie’s Reserve” here.  Aren’t we buying enough?  

Leo Nocentelli Probably the only set that we mostly sat through that we didn’t enjoy was Leo Nocentelli’s “Another Side” set which turned out to be Leo doing songs that he’d been a studio musician for or had just enjoyed.  We stayed because by the time we figured out that we weren’t going to like it, the VIP section was beginning to fill for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band who we intended to see.  But, there was no funk anywhere in this set.

The Last Waltz Revisited We were also looking forward to the Saturday night concert at the Saenger which was “The Last Waltz Revisited” with Warren Haynes, Grace Potter, and friends.  Unfortunately, Haynes fractured his scapula about 6 weeks ago and he is still not recovered.  He was restricted here to basically singing and strumming a bit of rhythm guitar.  Larry Campbell picked up the guitar duties but, good as he is, he is not Warren Haynes.  Beyond that, the show was just a bit flat.  Grace Potter even mentioned that she was surprised that the crowd was mostly sitting down.

The Food As my friends who have been to Jazz Fest can attest, there is no festival food like Jazz Festival food.  There are none of those trucks that go from festival to festival.  It’s all local, mostly made by small caterers, some of whom do nothing but Jazz Fest (looking at you Crawfish Monica booth).  And, it’s New Orleans so the food is unlike food anywhere else.  I was not disappointed with the food, but with my ability to eat it.  I’ve been having stomach problems for a couple of months and the doctor put me on an “eat nothing that has any flavor” diet. So, while I decided to ignore the diet at festival (because you have to eat something), I kept to simpler, safer things because I wanted to enjoy the music.  Definitely curbed my gastronomic curiosity.

Other Thoughts

Jimmy Buffet I am glad we got to see Jimmy Buffet.  I have always wondered if there was something there that I would like that I was missing.  And, I am really glad that I got to find out without having to be in an arena surrounded by Parrotheads who are, imnsho, the most annoying fans in music (or at least the kind of music that I would listen to).  And, now we know, and I won’t have to do that again.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band I had long hesitated to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band because I had always thought that they were a New Orleans trad jazz band. (And, I’m pretty sure they were when I lived in New Orleans).  They have apparently decided that instead of being a traditional New Orleans jazz band, that they would be a jazz band that plays in the New Orleans tradition which fuses different influences into something new.  So while there was some trad jazz played, there was also a fair bit of modern jazz as well.