NOLAxNOLA emerged this fall as music venues and musicians that looked forward to the influx of tourists that would accompany the return of festivals in October realized those festivals wouldn’t happen. The coalition of music venues, musicians, and culture leaders—in partnership with New Orleans and Company—let music fans around the country know that the city’s clubs were open with shows, and that the only thing missing was them. 

Organizers plan to keep the NOLAxNOLA concept alive starting on Friday and Saturday night with Show Your Love! A Virtual Celebration of New Orleans that will raise money for some of the city’s music-based non-profits. The shows will feature performances by Irma Thomas, The Revivalists, Big Freedia, Galactic, Tank and the Bangas, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and many more, as well as a celebration of Dr. John. See a full list of participants below. 

Show Your Love! will stream for free exclusively on NOLAxNOLA.com. 

The program is a digital fundraiser, with proceeds going to The Roots of Music, Trombone Shorty Foundation, Tip-It Foundation, Preservation Hall Foundation, New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic & Assistance Foundation, and Upbeat Academy Foundation. All donations will enter a drawing for a number of uniquely New Orleans prizes including gold ticket passes to the city’s clubs during Jazz Fest 2021, a VIP meet & greet with Dumpstaphunk, a virtual hangout with Galactic, a stay at the Virgin Hotel, and a ride on a Mardi Gras parade with Big Freedia. You can donate for a chance to win at fandiem.com/nolaxnola.

COVID hammered New Orleans’ music community, just as it did music communities around the country. Venues and artists have been lost to it, and the NOLAxNOLA initiative aims to remind those who love New Orleans’ music and culture that many of the venues they have known and loved are still open with the acts they love still playing. In a city that has made tourism its primary economic engine, that story can’t be told often enough. 

Featured Performers  

Irma Thomas

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Dumpstaphunk

Rebirth Brass Band

Kermit Ruffins

The Soul Rebels

George Porter Jr. and Runnin’ Pardners

Jon Cleary

Luther Dickinson

Kristin Diable and Gabrielle Cavassa

Preservation Hall Quartet

Dr. John

Davell Crawford

Big Sam’s Funky Nation

Anders Osborne

Cimafunk

Galactic with Anjelika Jelly Joseph

Tank and the Bangas

Boukou Groove

Charlie Gabriel

The Revivalists

Big Freedia