Jazz Fest: Friday, April 24 at Jazz Fest
Our downloadable schedule to Friday at Jazz Fest, complete with our recommendations.
Friday starts the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell, and we'll be there more or less when the gates open. Recently, I interviewed The Revelers, the Lafayette-based swamp pop band featuring former members of The Red Stick Ramblers and Pine Leaf Boys, and I like what I heard enough to be one of the door crashers to make their 11:15 a.m. set on the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do Do Stage.
Yesterday we also posted Lauren Keenan's video interview with Sean Johnson of Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band, and they'll be on the Lagniappe Stage at 12:40 p.m.
You can write those down or type them into your phone, or you can download our hand-customized schedule for today. It's color-coded--I definitely plan to see at least part of the sets marked in blue, and if this is your first Jazz Fest, the orange acts are New Orleans and Louisiana artists you ought to know. Much of the New Orleans Hip-Hop Experience will feature first generation bounce artists and give you an idea what it sounded like before Katey Red, Big Freedia, and Sissy Nobby souped it up.
I'm most curious about Lágbájá, a Nigerian band with contemporary R&B and hip-hop influences. What I heard was a little cheerful for my tastes, but not so much so that I can pass it up. I probably should have also marked Snarky Puppy and likely would have if not for their name and the fact that I know I'll be at Wilco, Jimmy Cliff, and probably a little Keith Urban at the same time. If you're dance card is looser in the last hour, it's more electric than much of the music heard in the Zatarain's/WWOZ Jazz Tent.
I haven't marked anything specific in the Peoples Health Economy Hall Tent or the Gospel Tent, but I don't believe a day at Jazz Fest is complete without a stop in each one. Eat. Take a break. Put on a little sunscreen. Here someone you've never heard before.