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While my laundry is in the machine, thought I'd drop a few random impressions here. As always, there were ups and downs, but overall it was another great Fest. The cashless disaster did not come to pass. Some merchants even said they prefer it. But Apple cards, which worked everywhere else in the world, refused to tap in. No biggie. Am I hallucinating, or do the Fairgrounds drain a little better? After Saturday's downpours there was none of that awful hay and where sand was piled over mud it worked pretty well. Lagniappe wins the most consistently good sound award. Blues Tent gets the opposite. Lines for food and buses varied but were never badly stalled. My unscientific sampling of two port-o-lets suggests they were in worse shape than usual. Grandstand facilities were in good condition and lines were not bad (except for the gals; when will we acknowledge that they should have access to more places to go than guys?). Hard to pick my favorite musical performance, but narrowed to a single tune it has to be Santana leading off with a killer, explosive, syncopated rendition of the hit that propelled them to fame 54 years ago at Woodstock (Soul Sacrifice). If Michael Shrieve had been on drums I might have blown what's left of my mind, but Carlos' wife does a superb job back there, so no complaints. Biggest musical disappointments: Trombone Shorty. The kick drum and bass guitar were so over-amped in the mix that all the wonderful horn interplay was drowned and mushed. Radiators. Is Ed kinda losing it? I'm a drummer and when somebody falls far off tempo, it's like fingernails on a blackboard. Biggest fun musical discoveries: Michael Doucet & Lache Prise's modernization of Cajun sounds; Loose Cattle; Michael Juan Nunez; Sweet Cecilia.
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"My unscientific sampling of two port-o-lets suggests they were in worse shape than usual. Grandstand facilities were in good condition and lines were not bad (except for the gals; when will we acknowledge that they should have access to more places to go than guys?)."
They already do. There are multiple ladies rooms on the ground floor of the Grandstand, vs just one for men. And between the Jazz & Blues tents, there are a couple of women only bathroom trailers, vs. just 3 unisex port-o-lets that men can use.
In the past, you used to occasionally see a mid-afternoon port-o-let cleaning, not a full service but at least unclog the urinal and replenish the TP. I haven't seen that post-pandemic.
"Am I hallucinating, or do the Fairgrounds drain a little better? "
You're not, I think they did some drainage improvements a few years ago. It's been years since Lake Acura was last spotted. Though, by NOLA spring weather standards, the inch or two that fell Saturday wasn't all that much. We got around 6 inches yesterday...Visit my Jazzfest advice site: http://jazzfest.swagland.com/Comment
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i had one of my best festivals overall in longer than i can remember. Between pandemics and work it has been a while since i did my once-standard all 7 days.
On the drainage front, they also deployed something Sunday morning that's essentially an industrial wet-vac and sucked a huge amount of water right out of the ground.
Second weekend at the fairgrounds my musical highlights included Jon Batiste, Sam Price, Mahmoud Chouki, Galactic (it was like they let me pick the setlist, honestly), Lilli Lewis Project was great but I still think i prefer her solo, and the Tin Men killed it as usual until married life required me to show up at Dead & Co. As you might notice, and as I noticed while out there, I seem to have become a Lagniappe stage guy. We all reach that age sooner or later
I went out two nights of the second weekend, which is a lot for me, and I saw Ghost Note at Music Box Village and Cleary at the Leaf. Each of those shows was simply spectacular. I admit they are all guys i know personally, but my boys Cleary, Duhon and Gros are all really at the top of their live performance game right now, go see them if you have a chance.Comment
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Nice summary, agree with the Lagniappe sound comment, though I’ve wondered why there couldn’t be another 4-5 feet of tent-pole height to allow better sight-lines from everywhere on the “floor”. It’s entirely possible that the sound crew at Lagniappe is intentionally NOT ringing-out the PA and not using the subs to their full detriment.
The drainage seemed much improved, but I saw enough area-skirting at various stages after the rains to wonder why not more of the plastic tracking where the mud is most likely. This was particularly bad just off the plastic track as you entered the Economy Hall tent. I’ve seen, and used, the urinals-only Porto-hubs at a few fests and they relieve strain on the sit-downable Porto’s, tho’ they don’t provide a place to smoke reefer privately.
My moment of moment of bliss convergence might be Malcolm’s Shantytown Underground at Lagniappe. I found myself wishing I had just parked for the entire set.Comment
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Pretty good summary. Definitely noticed that drainage was better. Had no issues in food & beverage lines.
Sue Foley in the Blues Tent was my big discovery. I'd never heard of her before, and she delivered an amazing set.Comment
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A couple thoughts without quotes because my replies are a little all over...
Shantytown Underground was one of my favorite sets of the entire festival and I caught it start to finish. Can't wait to hear that again.
The drainage issue is much improved, and I was glad that there was a floor in the cultural exchange pavilion - last year it was grass and dirt and it got super super muddy without the aid of the sun to dry the mud. Kris and I both commented on how the slightly squishy track takes it easy on the knees and hips when walking.
I'd love to share my thoughts on the restrooms--- I actually found the regular port-o-potties to be better than I'd normally expect. But we still need hand wash stations and I didn't see a single one. Only a few times did I need to decline a specific port-o-potty and choose another. The ladies trailer toilets: two different types this year: the usual line of stalls trailers and a new trailer with 5 or 6 stalls surrounding a vanity with sinks. I think I prefer the new ones because it eases the crowding issue with doors opening near the sinks. Regarding the grandstand: the ground level has two ladies rooms on the one side- one is usually a means room and only has a few stalls. The other is usually a ladies room and has a greater number of stalls. There's also a ladies room near the food demo.
The cashless thing was a non-issue (for me) after the first day.
I'm not happy about gate security confiscating food (or making me argue about it) when food isn't prohibited.
The water filling stations are good but I wish there were one or two more. And I wish they were cold.
I went to every single day of fest for the first time in awhile (I usually skip second saturday) and it was top to bottom one of the best fests I've had. I have very few complaints (imagine that). My krewe of first timers loved everything.
More thoughts on music and the lineup to come.Comment
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The whole Santana set was my highlight, especially since it was Locals Day. That opening gambit was great as they morphed from the Woodstock video into '"Soul Sacrifice," a remnant from his Vegas show, I presume. I go back to fiery 1969 shows in the Bay Area and am 1/2 Mexican so Carlos means a lot to me. (I think I just found myself in a picture of his Carnival appearance on the street in the Mission in 1987.)
I also was pleasantly surprised to see Artemis in the Jazz Tent after Astral Ptoject as I didn't realuze they had been booked. I was aware of them from downbeat magazine and they were excellent. That was a good day to be in a tent so I also saw Mooney that day, in amazingly his 43rd Jazz Fest appearance. (I am shedding my skin from sitting at the Festival Stage all day for Tedeschi Trucks first Sunday. That was the last day that woulda been possible for my girlfriend and me. We had a great day.)Last edited by chopitulas; 05-10-2023, 03:19 PM.Comment
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A few general comments in no specific order:- Cashless - worked fine for me (after day 1) way better than I expected.
- Egress - I might be wrong, but it seemed like they closed a number of ways to get to the track -
- you used to be able to walk from the rhythmporium to economy, but now there is just the one passage to the right of where crawfish bread used to be
- you used to be able to walk from congo to the track right by the stage, that became a VIP-only exit this year - super annoying
- Fais Do Do - That stage is becoming a problem with random chairs. it could be solved with 2 easy fixes:
- add a walkway (lane) so people can get to the front from the Native American Village
- Put a dancefloor over where the dancers dance - it was overrun by chairs and people standing this year
- Cultural Pavillion - we're going to need a bigger boat - either make the tent bigger, or move the stage back so more people fit in it
- Jazz & Blues - the chair situation outside the tents is getting out of hand. It often was difficult to push past the outside crowd, but once you are inside, there were plenty of seats. Also the seat saving has gone from highly annoying to unbelievably obnoxious
- Bathrooms - I still don't understand why they can't but a set of port-o-lets behind Fais Do Do
- Crowds - the rain kept the crowds down and made the fest more enjoyable for me - Sunday was pretty crowded though
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Music highlights for me were as follows:- Sunday:
- better than I expected: Bon Bon Vivant, Lulu & Broadsides, Leo Jackson, Martha Redbone, Flow Tribe, The Deslondes, Melissa Etheridge, Evangelist Jackie Tolbert
- worse than I expected: Galactic, Shorty
- Saturday:
- better than I expected: Anders, Alex McMurray, John Hiatt, Dr. Michael White, Lumineers
- worse than I expected: Les Freres Michot, Robert Randolph, David Shaw
- Friday:
- better than I expected: The Rocks of Harmony; Sam Price; Trumpet Mafia; John Boutte; John Batiste; Irma Thomas
- worse than I expected: Molly Tuttle, Arhoolie interview
- Thursday:
- better than I expected: Larkin Poe; Blato Zlato; Meschiya Lake; Walter Jazz Funeral; Buddy Guy
- worse than I expected: The Quickening
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- Sunday:
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Santana was scorching! Soul Sacrifice / Jingo/ Black Magic Woman / Oye Coma Va to start?!? Seriously?? Amazing.Comment
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Why no porta jons in back of Fais Do Do anymore?Comment
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I opted for Leon Bridges since, living in the Bay Area, I've seen Carlos close to 20 times. My wife went to see Santana.
Over the next several days conversations with random folks asking if I'd seen Santana. I did enjoy Bridges, and I have seen Santana a bunch. And I also realized quickly that I had not made the best choice.
John Hiatt and the Goners is always fun and they did a great job on Fais Do Do. Melissa Etheridge brought something more than her usual show with more jamming than usual, and that was nice to see.
Molly Tuttle on Friday was nice. Been wanting to see her. Doesn't get any more bluegrass than acoustic guitar, standup bass, fiddle, mando and banjo. Enjoyed her set a lot.
Cashless also a non-issue. Faster than cash.
Cheers.
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