2020 New Orleans Jazz Fest
5This year’s Jazz Fest dates are April 23 to May 3.
Main site: nojazzfest.com
The artists for this year’s NOJHF will be announced on Thursday, January 16th.
Here’s the NOLA.com link.
Also, the poster will be announced soon-ish over on Art4Now.com
When the grids go up, you can find them at JazzFestGrids.com
See y’all at the 51st! If you can’t be there, stream the live JF on wwoz.org.
The headliner show is rumored to be The Who.
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Their 800th final tour before retirement?
(Intended as s gentle tease; I quite like The Who.)
/youtube The Who “who are you”
Unpopular opinion:
I wish they didn’t have to headline pop & rock acts at the Jazz & Heritage Fest.
I’ve been twice, and watch and/or listen to as much as I can every year, and the best acts are never the headliners; the best acts are always those that actually represent N.O. Jazz & Heritage.
/unpopular opinion
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
eta: Also, The Who are one of my all time favorite bands, but I don’t believe they have any business headlining this festival.
@DennisG2014 Not an unpopular opinion at all.
It is a balance that Quint Davis has had to find for 51 years.
The headliners are what puts money in the till. Jazz Fest is what funds the NOJHF work the rest of the year.
There are always multiple “I really want to see them” conflicts even without the headliners.
I do have a recommendation to see Lionel Ritchie. Saw him step in for Fats Domino and he killed it.
@DennisG2014 The real test of “What to see?” is when the grids come out.
@DennisG2014 my parents spend probably 80% of their time at the blues tent. They rarely bother with the headliners because the crowds are so bad. Last time I went (early 90s), Phish was there. My dad still calls that the year of the Great Unwashed. Lol
Headliners
Headliners include The Who, Dead and Company, Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, The Black Crowes, Lizzo, Kool and the Gang, Lionel Richie, The Lumineers, Lenny Kravitz, Trombone Shorty, The Avett Brothers, Erykah Badu, The Revivalists, The Beach Boys, Norah Jones, H.E.R. and Aaron Neville.
/youtube Aaron Neville
@f00l
My personal favorite performance was Aaron and the Neville Brothers (with Art, RIP) closing out JF06 after Katrina.
My parents have been going since the 80s. I used to go but haven’t in about 25 years. One of the things they’ve started doing the last few years is buying the brass pass from wwoz. For $800, you get a full pass for every day, you get access to the hospitality tent, 10% off purchases at some place or another, and part of the cost can get used on your taxes (for whatever reason).
So the reason I know this? My parents just left on a vacation trip at 4 am where they have no access to email or internet and the danged passes are supposed to be on sale at a random time “soon.” Being the great offspring I am, I was charged with hitting refresh all day with their credit card. Luckily for me, soon happened to be after lunch today so my work is done. But if you’re planning on going, that pass is a good deal. Website is wwoz.org
The 2020 JF Poster is out. Featuring Dr. John, who shook off his mortal coil last year.
art4now.com
/unpopular opinion
Meh Not my fave.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@mike808 i think my favorite poster is pete fountain and the blue dog but i like this one too.
@ivannabc My fave is the Michalopolous Louis Armstrong “Back o’ Town”. I’ve got the Rodrigue Pete Fountain and Louis Armstrong (s/n) in matching frames setup as a diptych. Only one I regret not getting is the Trombone Shorty ones. IMHO, the Congo Square one with TS is better than the one of the main poster. Also have a signed Gatemouth Congo Square poster. He passed after Katrina that same year.
@mike808 oh nice!! My parents have a couple of signed ones but I don’t remember which ones.
They’ve been collecting them since our first years there (84? 85? I don’t remember) so they have so many I don’t remember them all. They used to bring me back a t shirt every year till the t shirts started costing $30+ and I said that’s a stupid price to pay for a t shirt - jazz fest or not. They are amazingly cool tho.
The one thing I miss that I’ll never have again and can never replicate is an ice cream snocone from a vender that used to be near the congo stage. I got one every year when I was in high school, then I think I got probably 10 the year I was pregnant, then my son and I would share one. Then…the vender changed and the next year it just wasn’t the same. My dad said he tried one a few years ago and said they were ok, but just not quite right. I’m not sure what they changed, but I would spend all year waiting for two things - crawfish bread and an ice cream snocone. I got food poisoning in nola one year on bad crawfish when I was pregnant and that ended crawfish for a long time for me. My son is nearly 30 so I’m able to eat it again lol
@ivannabc Try Sno Wizard on Magazine. Peaches & Cream (not really cream, but sweetened condensed milk).
@mike808 I think my parents, my son and his gf, and I are going to drag my husband to NOLA this year for a vacay. He’s never been and it’s been about 20 years since I went last. I can’t wait. I’ll put that on my list of places to visit!!
@ivannabc A LOT changed after Katrina. Lot’s of places are just … gone. Others hung in there.
New Orleans East and the ninth ward changed the most.
Sigh. There are times (many times) when I wish I lived in NOLA. JazzFest is usually the spark for those wishes (tho I can understand that the influx of tourists must just drive the locals CRAZY).
Can I come visit you when I retire? I promise to stay out of the way…
@compunaut you should see NOLA on Halloween. Now that’s a fun time
This is a really good explanation of who is playing when to pick which days you want to go in the perennial Sophie’s Choice.
A day-by-day breakdown, with more headliners that are too numerous to mention is here:
https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/festivals/article_31758900-3c70-11ea-b330-073df2a5bcc3.amp.html