Looking Ahead to Locals Thursday at Jazz Fest 2023

Larkin Poe

The festival itself and the undercard are the stars on Locals Thursday.

On Sunday, Jazz Fest looked and felt like Jazz Fest. Friday was an event with stage closers Lizzo, Wu-Tang Clan with the Soul Rebels, and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss  delivering serious crowds of Millennials, Generation X’ers, and Baby Boomers respectively. Had that lineup been scheduled on Saturday or Sunday, it might have drawn a record crowd. As it was, they collectively made for a packed opening day that was made more challenging by the food lines lengthened by the move to cashless purchases.

Saturday was marred by rain in the middle of day that clearly kept Ed Sheeran’s crowd from showing up, but on Sunday Jazz Fest felt like Jazz Fest. The day was lovely, food lines moved, and headliners including Kenny Loggins, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Los Lobos drew respectably but not in the numbers that make a show feel like work.

There’s no day this weekend that has a lineup like the first Friday, and Locals Thursday could have the nicest weather since there’s a chance of thunderstorms all weekend. On Thursdays, the festival itself is the selling point more than the stars, and that’s the case this year. Santana returns to close the Festival Stage, and while I’m glad to see Leon Bridges headline the Shell Gentilly Stage, I didn’t realize he was that big of a draw. My last dance Thursday will likely be at the Blues Tent for Larkin Poe.

Who should be on your radar Thursday?

Flagboy Giz

11:20 a.m., Jazz & Heritage Stage

His hip-hop/bounce/Mardi Gras Indian game is strong.

Atabal

1:50 p.m., Jazz and Heritage Stage; 4:45 p.m., Cultural Exchange Pavilion

This Puerto Rican bomba fusion covers a lot of musical ground. It has been around since the 1980s, and its founders’ children are now in charge, making it a little more club-friendly.

Shantytown Underground

1:50 p.m, Lagniappe Stage

Papa Mali’s reggae show

Durand Jones

2:10 p.m., Congo Square Stage

In Durand Jones and the Indications, he was part of another retro soul band letting nostalgic sonics do the heavy lifting. On his own, his songs are more personal and more engaging.

Jenn Howard

2:50 p.m., AARP Rhythmporium

Jenn Howard told My Spilt Milk her story in eight songs in the most recent installment of “The Milky Way.”

Loose Cattle

4:20 p.m., Lagniappe Stage

New Orleans’ Americana act dueted with Lucinda Williams last summer on “Crescent City” then released a version of their cover without her just before Jazz Fest. Williams will play The Civic Theatre on Saturday night.

DJ Shub presents War Club Live

4:25 p.m., Jazz and Heritage Stage

DJ Shub was part of A Tribe Called Red when it brought dubstep to Jazz Fest by combining it with First Nations music. We talked about going solo and making music from tribal songs in 2017. For “War Club Live,” he’ll be joined by rap crew Snotty Nose Rez Kids for a set that will focus more on Shub’s chops as a hip-hop and dancehall DJ.