French Quarter Fest, Jazz Fest Move to a Crowded October

Angelique Kidjo at Jazz Fest in 2015, by Patrick Ainsworth

Coronavirus has forced New Orleans’ spring music festivals to move into the fall, which gives time for the country to get vaccinated. But they won’t be back to business as usual.

The French Quarter Festival announced on Thursday that this year’s incarnation would move to the weekend of September 30-October 3—eight months from now. “Although French Quarter Fest typically takes place in April, the ongoing COVID crisis has made it necessary for us to remain flexible,” FQFI CEO Emily Madero said in a press release. “As one of the largest free music and food festivals in the United States, we always want to ensure our impact is in the best interest of the City and our French Quarter neighbors and businesses.”

This announcement formalizes what most New Orleanians expected—that the French Quarter Festival would be unable to safely operate in mid-April, its traditional time slot. COVID-19 forced organizers to cancel the festival in 2020, and it made a spring date in 2021 improbable. The slower-than-hoped roll-out of the vaccine sealed the deal. When the French Quarter Festival returns though, it won’t exactly be business as usual. According to the press release, “The 2021 festival will have a modified layout that adheres to CDC protocols and guidelines.” The press release doesn’t elaborate to tell us what that means.

Thursday afternoon, Keith Spera reported at Nola.com that sources said the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell would also move to the fall as well. Before the night was out, WWLTV confirmed that it too would back up into October—October 8-10 and October 15-17. The festival has yet to make a formal announcement, but it will be a six-day event this year, shedding the Thursdays, and it’s likely that it too will be altered in ways to deal with the continued presence of the Coronavirus.

Those moves give us a music festival every weekend in October:

September 30-October 3: French Quarter Festival

October 8-10: Jazz Fest

October 15-17: Jazz Fest

October 22-23: Buku: Planet B

October 29-31: Voodoo

No talent for any of the festivals has been announced yet, but those curious about Jazz Fest’s visiting talent should keep an eye on news of Austin’s ACL Festival, which takes place October 1-3 and 8-10. That will give us an idea of what talent will be in the region and potentially available at the time.

But as we look ahead, it’s also useful to remember that we’ve been here before. Last March, we were all trying to figure out what would happen to Jazz Fest and French Quarter Festival, at the time unable to imagine how serious the Coronavirus would become, much less a year without festivals. Nothing is guaranteed, but the development of a vaccine makes October look like more than wishful thinking. 

And there will be talent available. While one-time Jazz Fest headliner Elton John put off touring until 2022 when he’ll start back up January 19 in the Smoothie King Center, there are touring acts scheduled to play New Orleans soon. Ticketmaster is currently selling tickets to see heavy metal band Sepultura at the House of Blues on March 30, The Monkees at the IP Casino in Biloxi on April 23, Icelandic rock band Kaleo at The Fillmore, James Taylor and Jackson Browne at the Smoothie King Center on May 14, Die Antwoord at The Fillmore on May 30, and Primus playing “A Tribute to Kings” at the Saenger on June 13.  Recently, local promoters Simple Play Presents put tickets on sale for Ty Segall at Southport Hall on August 28. That’s nowhere near the usual concert amount of concert activity in New Orleans, and that list is complete up to June 13. It will be interesting to see if those shows happen—if the House of Blues can host a show on March 30, and if the James Taylor show happens considering he, Browne, and their audience are in a demographic particularly threatened by COVID-19.

All of these festivals have moved to a more COVID-friendly window, but doing so put them in hurricane season. Two of the hurricanes that affected New Orleans last year were October storms including Hurricane Zeta, but only Tropical Storm Olga affected Louisiana in 2019. The festivals will live under a cloud of uncertainty until they finally take place no matter what, but at least they’re finally on the calendar.