Outside Lands, Bonnaroo, Electric Zoo Hint at New Orleans' Fall Festival Future

By Danny Clinch

The lineups they announced tell us who we might and might not see this October.

New Orleans’ biggest music festivals have all moved into October, but they did that last year too, so we know the move on the calendar doesn’t guarantee that they will actually take place. Concerns about Coronavirus variants added to basic health and business concerns leave a lot to be settled, but since other cities are facing many of the same issues we are, each festival that reaches the point when it can publicize a talent roster creates the impression that our festivals are a step closer to actually happening. 

Last week, two more festivals reached that point. Outside Lands in San Francisco was the first, posting its Halloween weekend lineup topped by Tame Impala, Lizzo, The Strokes, and Tyler, the Creator on March 18. On March 31, Bonnaroo and New York’s Electric Zoo festival announced their lineups, with the former featuring Foo Fighters, Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, Tame Impala, Tyler, the Creator, and Lana Del Rey on the September 2-5 weekend. On the same weekend at Ryker’s Island, Electric Zoo will feature Alesso, Zeds Dead, Rezz, Tiësto, and many more.

Before we take these announcements as evidence that those festivals or New Orleans’ festivals will take place, it’s important to remember that Coachella appears to have been cancelled for 2021, and Coachella is produced by AEG, which partners with Festival Productions to produce Jazz Fest. Since California has had a very different experience with Coronavirus than Louisiana did, it’s not safe to assume that the festivals will move in lock-step, but we know the companies are talking to each other.

What do these announcements tell us? 

1) In the case of Outside Lands, who won’t be Voodoo. Since the festivals are the same weekend and more than 2,234 miles apart, it’s extremely unlikely that musicians will play both. That takes some artists that would have made a lot of sense for Voodoo off the table—Tame Impala, The Strokes, Vampire Weekend, Glass Animals, Young Thug, Kaytranada, and Khruangbin among them. 

… and on a Voodoo side note, in a previous post we commented on how inactive Voodoo became online. There have, however, been signs of life. VoodooFestival.com has taken down promotion for last July’s drive-in concert series, and there is now the announcement, “The health and safety of our fans remains our top priority. We look forward to returning in full force on October 29-31, 2021.” The festival’s social media remains dormant, but a change on the website is a start.

2) Jazz Fest will likely get some of its more interesting bookings from 2020. Lizzo clearly planned to leverage the success of “Truth Hurts” and Cuz I Love You to become an arena act last year, she’s trying to pick up where she left off a year later. She’ll headline Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, and I’d be surprised if she doesn’t end up headlining a night at Lollapalooza or ACL, assuming they go as planned. 

Brittany Howard was one of the high points of this year’s Grammys broadcast for her force-of-nature version of Gerry and the Pacemakers’ “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and since she too will play Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, she’ll likely be at Jazz Fest as she was scheduled to be last year. Foo Fighters will play Bonnaroo, so they’ll be on tour as well and could well be available to play Jazz Fest as they were slated to do last year as well.

3) At the moment, there are few of the stars of the ’60s and ‘70s that have traditionally been a big part of any Jazz Fest schedule on any of the festival schedules. That’s largely because the festivals’ demographics skew toward younger fans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that those artists won’t be available. James Taylor and Jackson Browne rescheduled the arena tour that would have brought them to the Smoothie King Center in May. Now, they’ll play the Smoothie King Center on October 16 when they kick off the second leg of their tour. That date takes them off the board for Jazz Fest, but it suggests that other older artists with mature fan bases that have been particularly threatened by the pandemic expect to be able to tour by the end of summer.

4) Some interesting talent that has played Jazz Fest before or would make sense at Jazz Fest will be on tour: Janelle Monáe, Grace Potter, Orville Peck, Waxahatchee, My Morning Jacket, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Phoebe Bridgers, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Leon Bridges, Greensky Bluegrass, Khruangbin, and Burna Boy. 

5) Megan Thee Stallion, Lana Del Rey, Run the Jewels, and Janelle Monáe will be on tour and they are not yet booked for festivals that conflict with Voodoo and Buku. The same is true for Deadmau5, Seven Lions, Tiësto, Galantis, Illenium, Kaskade, Steve Aoki, Adventure Club, Fisher, Loud Luxury, Moksi, and Bakermat. Bottom line: There will likely be the talent available for good festivals if they do take place this October.