May 2024 Recap (Part I - Jazz Fest in New Orleans!)

The month started off in one of my favorite cities and with some of the best shows imaginable.

Apr 03, 2025

Having flown into New Orleans the last day of April, the first week of May held a tremendous amount of promise. Brianna and I found ourselves in a music fanatic’s paradise, in the days between the first and second weekend of Jazz Fest. There was a lot of talented musicians in the Crescent City all week and we would be seeing many of them.

5.1 The Daze Between Band @ Tipitina’s

This was genuinely one of the most amazing shows I’ve ever seen. An astonishing array on talent was on hand for this event, which happens annually between the two Jazz Fest weekends. Many of the bands that play ‘The Fest’, as folks down yonder call it, stay in town after the first weekend to take part in this kind of star studded event. I’d seen many of these artists play in the past, but to see them all on one stage in one night was just spectacular.

Tipitina’s. It is a legendary club that came into existence when 14 friends pooled their money to buy it so that Professor Longhair could have a non racist place to play. It’s first show featured The Meters. Tip’s, named for a Longhair song, has been there since 1977 and was purchased by all the band members of Galactic in 2018.

It was very much sold-out, at a capacity of only 800 people. It never felt too crowded either, and by the end of the night I was able to easily get pretty close to the stage and couldn’t have been more than 15 feet from George Porter Jr! Man, what a legend, and what a special thing to see one of the founding members of The Meters play this storied venue in their hometown.

Brianna and I outside Tip’s:

Giant Professor Longhair mural behind the stage:

I ran into Karina Rykman, who was there as a fan and not a performer. She is super nice and pretended like she remembered me from when I met her after her outstanding show at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis a few months prior.

Me and Karina Rykman:

Ok on to the music - terrible quality video here, but wow: Eric Krasno on guitar! John Scofield on guitar! Ivan Neville on keys, along with Chuck Leavell! Jennifer Hartswick of Trey Anastasio Band on trumpet and vox, and Ryan Zoidis of Lettuce on sax!

Here’s Eric Krasno and Duane Betts (Dickey Betts’ son) playing what might be one of the most famous instrumentals ever, “Jessica”. I’ve always adored that song, and the Allman Bros. Band. The song was named for Dickey Betts’ daughter (Duane’s sister) who inspired the song as an infant. Just as awesome is the fact that Chuck Leavell, who also has a writing credit on that song, WAS ON STAGE ALSO! Simply incredible. His piano solo in that song is absolute magic. Now that I think about it, ABB was most likely the first jam band I was familiar with, and pretty much introduced me to the concept of musical improvisation. Nice work, y’all. Oh yeah, and I would be seeing Chuck Leavell play the following night with his other band, The Rolling Stones. I couldn’t have known it at the time, but Ivan Neville, of NOLA royalty the Nevilles, would also play a song with the Stones. More on that in the 5.2 installment.

Another of the best instrumentals ever, in my opinion, is “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed”. It was also penned by late Allman Bros guitarist Dickey Betts, who sadly passed away just about two weeks before this. I got to see him play with his solo band once, at Duluth Blues Festival in 2003. To see Chuck Leavell play “Liz Reed” with Dickey’s son was a joyous occasion. On a trip that was jam packed with highlights, this was among the top.

Eric Krasno, Tony Hall, bassist of Dumpstaphunk, and George Porter Jr on the right, looking right at me:

These people are absolute superstars and it was such a fantastic night at Tipitina’s. I gotta give a big shoutout to photog extraordinaire Tim McG who pretty much insisted that I buy tickets for this happening as soon as they go on sale as it would definitely sell out. Great advice from a Jazz Fest vet!

5.2 The Rolling Stones at Jazz Fest (Day 1)

The first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival took place in 1970, with Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Fats Domino, The Meters, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band all performing. Countless legendary artists have graced the Jazz Fest stages over the last 47 years, but this would be The Rolling Stones first appearance. We’d been contemplating

Brianna and I attended Jazz Fest in 2016, in large part to see Neil Young, Dr. John, and Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder couldn’t play due to torrential rains and Dr. John’s set was cut short for the same reason. Neil Young taunted the sky and dared it to produce lightning, but the thunder and lightning stayed far enough away that Neil was able to play his whole set with Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real.

Thankfully, there would be no rain complicating things this year. Honey Island Swamp Band kicked things off for us, a band that would visit Minneapolis later in the year.

We watched a few other bands on the small stages, then some of Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, who were on the main stage before The Stones. With no other bands playing at the time, it was really crowded and we couldn’t get anywhere near the stage so I wasn’t able to capture any photos, but it was a funky good time as Dumpstaphunk always is. We’d seen bandleader Ivan Neville play the night before, along with bassist Tony Hall and former drummer Raymond Weber at Tipitina’s.

The Stones were up to put an exclamation point on the first of four days of Jazz Fest.

Their first time playing Jazz Fest and it was an astounding rock and roll performance! Mick Jagger is an absolute icon, the best rock and roll singer ever.

Very righteous that they had the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas, sing ‘Time Is On My Side'“ with them. It was the Stones' first hit in 1964, but the band had never met Ms. Thomas until now.

Also New Orleans native Chanel Haynes was tremendous on backup vox and during the powerful “Gimme Shelter”!

Really fun to see the quintessential rock and roll band play the best music festival in the world!!!

Happy to run into two fellow Minneapolis Music Fanatics, the two Tims - Mc G and the Freak, at the Fest, the only two people I knew would be there!

“Miss You” with a bit of Mick’s harp solo and some fancy footwork:

“Gimme Shelter”:

Outside the festival there was music everywhere.

5.3 Hozier, Allison Russell, Steel Pulse, Galactic and more at Jazz Fest (Day 2)

Friday afternoon began for us with the NOLA band Bonerama, featuring 4 trombones and a bassoon. Here’s a bit of Zepplin’s “Good Times, Bad Times”:

Here’s a song about crawfish from Zachary Richard:

The food was incredible, we are partial to the Crawfish Monica after trying it the first visit in 2016. The crawfish bread was also excellent, as was this fried bbq oyster bread:

The Uptown Ruler Cyril Neville (of The Meters and the Neville Brothers) with Mardi Gras Indians:

“Sunrise On The River”:

Galactic with Anjelica ‘Jelly’ Joeseph:

Galactic doing “Compared To What”, a song originally released by Roberta Flack. It was popularized by a swingin’ version by Less McCann and Eddie Harris at another Jazz Festival, in Montreux Switzerland on 6.21.69.

One of the best things about Jazz Fest is that you’re bound to encounter some surprises. I was completely unaware that Lil Mike and Funny Bone were performing, mainly because I didn’t know them by name. But as soon as I heard them from afar I realized it was the two infectiously joyful dudes from the show Reservation Dogs. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. In the show, the brothers are aspiring hip-hop artists who are always cruising around on bikes and hustlin’.

Allison Russell is a fantastic Canadian singer who was featured on Irish superstar Hozier’s song Wildflower and Barley. She had Hozier come up for the last few songs of her set:

Hozier, the Irish superstar who had a contender for the song of the summer of 2024, “Too Sweet”. He’s a great guitar player too!

“Work Song” with Allison Russell:

Steel Pulse has always been one of my favorite reggae bands, but this was the first time I got to see them! It was one of the highlights of the festival for me, they even threw in one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs, Franklin’s Tower!

“Life Without Music”:

“Franklin’s Tower”:

After Jazz Fest had ended for the day at 7pm, we had tickets for Bayou Rendezvous, a late night show at another of New Orleans’ coolest music spots, The Howlin’ Wolf. Though music went until well past 5am, we didn’t stay out quite that late.

Papa John Gras on piano and Papa Mali on guitar, with Kevin Scott, the newish bass player for Gov’t Mule:

Stanley Jordan also!

After that incredible set there was yet more funk from Cool Cool Cool:

5.4 Neil Young and Crazy Horse at Jazz Fest (Day 3)

Tough decisions must often be made at music festivals, that’s just a given. I would have really liked to see Queen Latifah and/or Sonny Landreth but with Neil Young headlining at the exact same time, it was just not possible and this time a it was a straightforward decision.

Day 3 started off with getting right with the lord in the Gospel Tent, followed by a visit to the Jazz Tent for part of Samara Joy’s set. She has a classic jazz voice and did plenty of scatting.

Samara Joy:

Up next was the Blues Tent for Rihanna Giddens, of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. She plays banjo and has a super cool Americana sound.

The Blues Tent:

Main event time, with Neil Young and Crazy Horse! They opened with “Cortez The Killer” and played a number of songs that stretched past 10 minutes including, of course, “Down By The River”. Other highlights of the set were CSNY’s “Ohio”, sadly very relevant today, “Fuckin’ Up”, and the closing “Hey Hey, My My”. This was only my third time seeing Neil Young play, following 2016’s Jazz Fest with Promise of the Real, and solo acoustic in 2010 at the Northrup Auditorium on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. It was fantastic to see Crazy Horse for the first time.

“Down By The River”:

“Powderfinger”:

Neil’s set was definitely a highlight of the weekend, and for that matter, the year.

After the fest we hit Frenchman Street and found a band jammin’ on Stevie Wonder’s “Master Blaster” at Favela Chic:

5.5 Jazz Fest Day 4 featuring Bonnie Raitt, George Thorogood, Joe Bonamassa, Trombone Shorty, The Radiators and more!

The final day was upon us and we had to get to the Fest on the early side for The Radiators’ 1pm set.

“Papaya” from the Rads:

Mardi Gras Indian parade through the fest:

Joe Bonamassa, an amazing classic blues shredder:

All the flags were flying as Bonamassa played Crosby Stills and Nash’s “Southern Cross”

Then it was over to the Jazz Tent for about a dozen people playing horns in Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra:

And then on to the Gospel Tent for a little more salvation, where there was about two or three dozen people on stage:

Trombone Shorty has for the past several years held the honor of being the closing act at Jazz Fest. Here’s a moment of his “Here Come The Girls”:

Seeing George Thorogood and the Destroyers was a treat, he was an absolute staple of classic rock radio as long as I’ve been alive. We even caught his famous take on “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” responsibly updated to include a don’t drink and drive message:

As the festivities came to an end, we made one last trip to the Gentilly Stage for the wonderful Bonnie Raitt. She is an American treasure and is still going strong in her mid seventies. She was thrilled to be there and wished that she would have had a chance to see dozens of artists over the weekend. I had seen Bonnie just once before, at Farm Aid at Alpine Valley in 2019 and was happy to see her perform again.

A huge crowd for Bonnie Raitt! I appreciated this red Michael Houser flag, honoring the late, great Widespread Panic guitarist:

She welcomed Ivan Neville up for a couple songs, and the two are big fans of each other. Ivan must have been the most frequent guest across all of Jazz Fest and added a layer of NOLA funk every time.