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Post by Jake Jortles on Apr 30, 2016 19:25:37 GMT -5
To be clear, I was having as much fun as humanly possible given the scenario. Said fuck it and went poncholess and danced around in the rain for a while, then decided to run 4.5 miles back to the hostel in the rain just because.
I'll get wet all day. I'm just not standing in lightning. Still waiting on surprise announcements but nothing is coming out. So it's Break Science Live and then whatever happens.
Last Waltz was a good time. Not a super long show, 9:20-12:15ish with a short set break. No super crazy big names but Michael McDonald was on stage the whole show on keys and vocals, it was a real treat hearing him sing Helpless and The Shape I'm In, amongst others.
Not worth the higher ticket prices IMO but it was definitely a unique set of musicians playing a bunch of great songs. No regrets, glad I went.
We did Break Science live and then Snoopadelic and Mannir Fresh. That shit was a party. Haha. Snoop throwing down. Should have been more packed but it was pretty wild.
Yeah but fuck it. I'm heading out in about a half hour. I have a yellow poncho and black Coal Chamber (\m/ ) shirt. Fuck some rain! Heard Pimps were a little corny but good and Joey Porter sat in on much of The Motet's set. See y'all in a bit.
Post by Jake Jortles on May 1, 2016 13:01:22 GMT -5
Ill be with my brothers, one wearing an orange shirt, the other a corona shirt. Basically only coming in for Neil. I ise them as the identifyer because they look like clones, buffish with combovers.
Made it to work on time today, which surprised myself.
SARGE's TL;DR JAZZFEST 2nd WEEKEND REVIEW
Weds- FIYAFEST- Overall a good experience. Ticket price is def steep but it's Jazzfest, what are you gonna do? Ate an awesome Bratwurst there. As soon as we left the apt it started balls raining. I had shoes on instead of sandals for some stupid reason. Getting from the parking lot into Mardi Gras World we got drenched. Had to walk through a foot of water at several places which gave my slimy feet and put me in a shitty mood. FunkiFIYA was really good, but not nearly as good as at Krewe of Boo ball last Oct. I blame Jennifer Hartswick. I can't get into her. She is uber cheesy and tries way too hard imho. She was standing right in front of June Yamagishi too, so she loses more points. Her singing meant Zigaboo didn't sing as much, which is not cool at all as he is the man. They played Meters songs very well along with other funk standards. Not a long set. Left Fiyafest to go change clothes and get sandals, came back saw the Funky Meters, which were very good! Ian Neville came out and jammed most of the set. This was a lot of fun. Next was Bernard Purdie & Friends, which was a ton of people on stage outside. Erica Falls was singing Ain't No Use when we got there, which we heard like 10 mins earlier at Funky Meters. This band was so good, would def like to see them again. Next up was Robert Randolph and Dr. Klaw at the same time so we just bounced back and forth. RR is always a treat to see and his set brought the energy levels up def. Dr. Klaw is always great too, but I Wasn't feeling them as much as usual. Next was Mike Dillon & St. Augustine Marching Band. This was cool, a marching band with him playing vibes. My girl split after this to go to St. Paul & the Broken Bones @ Tips so I watched Soulive with Maceo Parker and Revivalactic Hall at the same time. Revivalactic was obv members of Revivalists, Galactic and Pres Hall Jazz Band. I would split when Revivalists songs got going bc David Shaw is way too cheesy and hypey for my tastes. Somebody needs to feed that boi. Soullive absolutely crushed it. I thought they were mediocre at Wanee 2 weeks ago closing out on Thurs night too. This was my fav time I've seen them. WOW. So funky, they were just going the fuck off. Then Maceo comes out and shit went bonkers. This was tied for the hardest I raged all two weeks of Jazzfest with Walter Wolfman Washington at OEJ opening for Leftover. I kept going back and forth. Revivalactic, when doing Pres Hall tunes, was some of the best shit I've ever heard in nola. Pretty sure it got taped, it's hard to explain, it was just like 12 people on stage and it was a very original take on old school nola style. I'd pay to see just that band again def. Split a lil early to go to Howlin' Wolf.
MEGALOMANIAC's BALL- Howlin' Wolf was crowded but not as bad as I've seen it for regular shows throughout the year even, def not crowded by Jazzfest "let's pack as many ppl in this bitch as we can" standards. Cool vibe, cool people. Weds is always pretty cool at JF. Illuminaughty Trio- This was really cool. James Singleton is a monster bass player. This whole set was great and better than what I remember of the Illuminasti set at Voodoo '11. Mike Dillon sat in towards the end and that was the highlight def. Mike Dillon's Punk Percussion Consortium- This was like percussionists/drummers going off in very well executed arrangements. Mike D is the fucking man. Wish I had caught this on Halloween at the last Voodoo but there was no way we were getting there that early. Dean Ween Group- All the Ween rumors were put to rest when this was older DWG lineup and not Ween Minus like DWG had been recently. He only played a few Ween songs, and alas, no Blarney Stone, which I am still chasing. Every song went into the deep end it seemed like. Deaner is a top 5 guitar player around right now. He did not play that long which was a bummer but what he did play was balls out and I loved every second of it. Him doing this solo show the way he did seemed like a statement of "I'm the fucking brownest mang out there", which I would have to agree with. Mike Dillon Band- This was in the Den and there were rumors floating around that Gener et. al. were coming up there for a secret Ween set in the Den, which would have been mayhem, but obv never happened. I stuck around just in case since I Was enjoying Mike D. He was going hard during this set akin to his Hairy Apes BMX sets you'd see at Bear Creek back in the day. He ended the set with DK's Kill The Poor, which was awesome.
THURSDAY- Slept from 6am to 4pm, then 6pm to 10am. Planned to get up at 9pm to go to Howlin' Wolf again for the Karl D tribute but said fuck it and slept even more. This came in pretty handy.
FRIDAY- Went and lurked outside the fence on Gentilly and heard every note of MMJ's set super loud and clear, and could see all of the screen so we def felt like we were at the show. Great set, the segues are growing and I'm into it. The long intro to Off The Record was really cool, as was the jam. Wish they had played Phone Went West but I always want to hear that one. The Sign O the Times>Purple Rain with Pres Hall at the end of the set was prob the highlight of all of Jazzfest for me. Jim James absolutely killed it. I was bummed they didn't play Raspberry Beret like they did in OK since that is a fav Prince song but that Purple Rain was by far the best cover of that I've ever heard.
LATENIGHT- Axial Tilt @ Café Istanbul- We went to this after scoping out JRAD at the Joy and saying "fuck this" after seeing 50 ppl looking for tix outside and hearing that it was a clusterfuck on the floor due to balcony people flooding the floor. Heard the show was amazing. I wish Joe would play a non JF show in nola. Kinda weak that the only NOLA shows are prob 80%+ packed out with non-local/regional fans. Anyways, Café Istanbul is really f'n cool. That whole NOLA Healing Center is way nicer than I would have expected once I saw it was in the Bywater. The show was not overcrowded and there was always plenty of room to dance. They played 3 sets. Didn't keep a setlist but highlights from the show include Dire Wolf, Music Never Stopped (w/Donna), Playin' (w/ Donna) , Terrapin Suite, UJB etc. This band was REALLY fucking good. Like, they blew away all expectations. Jay Lane is obv a beast, but Stu Allen is the total package. Sounds close to Jerry singing, and his guitar tone and phrasing sounds just like Jerry. Donna Godcheaux and Charles Neville really set the show off as well.
SATURDAY- FEST- Total clusterfuck day. Gah. Got there later than planned, and caught the end of Big Freedia with the live band, which I was hoping she would have, which was really cool. Made it over to Dr. John and the sky opened up a few songs in and there was lightning going off everywhere. My girl's first Dr. John experience, and I thought it was fitting with the voodoo lightning lol We took shelter in the Jazz Tent and watched Gregory Porter, who was super cheesy. Rain basically stops and then the fest is cancelled. BOOOOOOO. There was significantly flooding in parts of the fairgrounds but I think they could have had the show go on. I'm not privy to what they are, so maybe there were electrical concerns, but it seemed like they could have gone on, as the rain never picked back up. Weak. At least Saturday tickets became good for Sunday.
LATENIGHT- The Last Waltz @ Saenger- We got dry clothes on, made dinner and then went to this. Anytime going to the Saenger is a treat as that place is so swanky. Zero search going in since it was not a Gov't Mule show, so I got my full bottle of rum in. The setlist was solid, every major Band song I wanted to hear was played. The guests, however, were disappointing. Maybe I'm just spoiled from having been to Blackbird shows before (Gregg and Dr. John tributes), which had major players (Bruce fn Springsteen, Jackson Browne etc) but this one did not. As Postjack said, the old blues guy that was at the original was awesome. He was the highlight for me. They didn't even bring out Dr. John for Such A Night, which was puzzling since that is obvious as it gets. Overall, the band was super solid but paying $90 with fees per ticket was def BS for not having superstars guests. $50 would have been incredibly reasonable though, as that band was balls out amazing. My girl actually likes Warren now, after deciding she didn't like him at Wanee two weeks ago because of his cheese factor. He was very laid back and not hamming it up. I think the best part of the show was actually Michael MacDonald. That dude fucking killed it the entire show. Medeski was very good but MM just has that old school playing that fits The Band's sound better. I've always found MM cheesy and that whole 40 Year Old Virgin thing has always stuck to thinking about him so he def shook that off at this show! hahaha
SUNDAY- Went solo to the fest while my girl was at work. Started at the Toussaint tribute. Don't know who was playing when I was walking up but it may have been Bonnie Raitt. Dr. John immediately comes out, and I was stoked about my timing. He played Life which was great since Toussaint played this at Dr. John's tribute 2 years ago. Cyril did another couple songs and I left shortly thereafter for Neil fucking Young after grabbing Crawfish Bread. It was raining not that hard, but enough to where I was frustrated and annoyed. Neil comes out and destroys the fairgrounds and made me forget about the rain. Goddamn that guy goes hard. This was not quite on the grimy level of NYCH @ Voodoo '12, but was pretty close. Promise of the Real with NY is like a more polished Crazy Horse with a wider sound. I had listened to a few shows and not been too impressed so I guess the AUDS weren't that great or I wasn't listening loud enough at work. They fucking went off. Fuckin' Up opener with like 10 minute feedback/noise jam intro, then a monster CORTEZ that was prob 20 minutes, maybe more. The intro could have been 15 mins for all I know. My first electric Cortez from Neil and I was very happy. The entire set was electric, so no Needle & Damage Done, which is always poignant. I left after Monsanto Years to catch the end of the Isley Brothers, who were a lot of fun. The crowd was super into them. Went back to Neil and he continued to shred, it was fantastic. I left to catch the Heads of State in the jazz tent, who were good traditional jazz but the sound guy blew it and you could barely hear them. They ended and I went back for Rockin' In The Free World, followed by an awesome Powderfinger encore. Def see this band touring if you get a chance. After this I checked out Arlo Guthrie for a few. His daughter "opened" for him. Wat? Nepotism at it's finest. FOH. Great voice but shit was putting me to sleep and testing my attention span after getting my face ripped by Neil. Arlo comes out and he is pretty cool. 3 or 4 songs in he does St. James Infirmary and I decide that is the perfect time to bail and drive home.
TL;DR- Amazing Jazzfest, as they always are what you make of them. They seem to get better for me every year. You see the same faces every year. I had a few people that I saw at every single late night show I did over the 2 weeks, I'm obv friends with them now. Will not have the super easy to get to free place to stay after this year so I'll be scaling back my JF experience as driving to West Bank is a lil sketch.
Ugh. Another Jazz Fest is in the history books. The rain Saturday f'd me out of going, but I decided to go Sunday anyway. I got in and grabbed some food and walked over to the Economy Hall Tent and watched a local jazz band. After that was a bit of Walter Wolfman Washington and the Roadmasters and then over to Dumpstaphunk. They had Art and some other people out there with 'em. Before Art left, Ivan reminded everyone that without Art, there's no Meters, no Neville Brothers and no nothing else since he's one of the pioneers of New Orleans funk. They also brought out Taz to jam with them. He's got to be 11 or 12 by now.
Next was The Mashup with Ike Stubblefield, Terrence Higgins and Grant Green, Jr. That was awesome. Ike can play that f'n guitar. Next was to post up for Neil Young and Promise of the Real. These two innocent farmer girls came out planting seeds with watering cans (corn I'm assuming), so it was obvious he was going to be working a subplot on the stage. That ended up being when what I'm assuming was "agro business" or whatever is the bad guy as a little later on, 3 people came out in Hazmat suits with foggers. Hahaha. If I am reading it right, he's just saying get back to simplicity and stop creating franken-shit. A couple of songs in he does an intro of Cortez the Killer that ends up being almost the entire song, and then eventually they actually did sing. My guess was that it was about a 35 minute version of Cortez the Killer, which of course ruled liked a mf. He played a bunch of other songs, all full of feedback and distortion. As noted above, it was beautiful. Set ended with Keep on Rocking in the Free World and Powder Finger. Great, great set.
So next was off to see Arlo Guthrie doing the 50th Anniversary of Alice's Restaurant. The set started with his daughter singing a couple of tunes, then she introduced Arlo who came out to hippie cheers. He opened up with "I don't want a pickle, I just want to ride on my motor-cyc le, I don't want to Tickle, I just want to ride on my mother-cyle, and I, I I don't want to die, I just want to ride on my motor cy cle. Hahaha. That was great. After another song or story or two, he got down to Alice's. It was most excellent, and Arlo remains one of the great story tellers of modern folk. He also mentioned running into Wavy Gravy and them having a sit down to reminisce. But neither of them could remember anything. hahahahahaha. Someone else mentioned also running into Wavy Gravy that weekend. That's a name you don't hear every day. Anyway, we bolted after Alice's for a few minutes of Shorty. They were throwing down as you'd expect. I heard Arlo ended up finishing with City of New Orleans, and I'm sorry I missed that. But it was still great to see the 50th Anniversary of Alice's Restaurant. That's a lifetime musical highlight.
It was sloppy as can be, and the rain went most of the day. There was one point during Neil while he was trashing Monsanto and in the Gift from God part, and this massive lightning pop is right overhead. It was one of those ones where the flash was immediately followed by a giant clap of thunder. I think it was cloud to cloud, but it boomed adding some eeriness to what he was singing at the time. Some parts of Neil's set was like they were in a conclusion time-warp and all songs must end with at least 3-4 minutes of conclusions (drum rolls, feedback, etc.). Really really good show and probably the best set of the festival. It's kind of tough with the 2 separate weekends.
Overall, this Jazzfest was great. Top few moments would be:
1) My Morning Jacket & Preservation Hall Brass covering Prince 2) Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ivan Neville/Zigaboo/George Porter Jr. of The Meters doing a 15 minute Give it Away 3) Neil Young - Cortez the Killer 35 minute version 4) Pearl Jam covering The Who's Can't You See the Real Me with Skerik 5) T-Ray the Violinist covering Jean Luc Ponty
Top Sets
1) Neil Young & Promise of the Real 2) Pearl Jam 3) Red Hot Chili Peppers 4) My Morning Jacket 5) Steely Dan 6) Galactic (with Erica Falls, Houseman, Chali 2Na)
Night shows we caught were Lettuce with Break Science, Break Science Live Band, DJ Snoopadelic, Cypress Hill and Ghostaland Observatory. All these shows were very good too. It was also nice to get a few minutes here and there of Janelle Monae, Ms. Lauryn Hill, J. Cole, etc. It would have been nice if Saturday didn't flood out though, as the headliners that day may have factored in my Top 6 list (Stevie Wonder, Snoop Dogg, Beck and Buddy Guy). You can't win them all, but I'm glad I waited patiently at home that day!
This was a better than average Jazz Fest for me. I had a ball.
I might have over exaggerated, but I'm sure they did 12-15 minutes of intro before even getting to the, "He came dancing across the water, with his galleons and guns..."
I'm sure someone will have it up on YouTube, but I don't believe this was pro-shot as I don't think NY was scheduled to stream. I could be wrong. But once someone puts it up there, it should be easy enough to figure out.
I might have over exaggerated, but I'm sure they did 12-15 minutes of intro before even getting to the, "He came dancing across the water, with his galleons and guns..."
I'm sure someone will have it up on YouTube, but I don't believe this was pro-shot as I don't think NY was scheduled to stream. I could be wrong. But once someone puts it up there, it should be easy enough to figure out.
That intro was way over 10 minutes, it could have easily been in 30 min territory. So hetti, brah! hahaha
There must have been a lot of people hating that Neil Young set (and a lot loving it)
Good point, but I think it would be tough to say that was the case at the actual festival but would absolutely be the case if you made people watch the videos. Fair Grounds was a swamp, so it wasn't like people had posted up to see someone coming in after Neil (which was only Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. who close the last day of the festival now). In other words, if you were there, it was because you wanted to be. There were about 17 or 18 other acts that were going on either end of his set.
For any casual watchers, there was Bonnie Rait, Allen Toussaint tribute, Isley Brothers, Heads of State, Mavis Staples, Lena Prima, Punch Brothers, Storyville Stompers and about 7 or 8 other acts.
There must have been a lot of people hating that Neil Young set (and a lot loving it)
Good point, but I think it would be tough to say that was the case at the actual festival but would absolutely be the case if you made people watch the videos. Fair Grounds was a swamp, so it wasn't like people had posted up to see someone coming in after Neil (which was only Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. who close the last day of the festival now). In other words, if you were there, it was because you wanted to be. There were about 17 or 18 other acts that were going on either end of his set.
For any casual watchers, there was Bonnie Rait, Allen Toussaint tribute, Isley Brothers, Heads of State, Mavis Staples, Lena Prima, Punch Brothers, Storyville Stompers and about 7 or 8 other acts.
then again there was surely some grossly misinformed Neil Young fans at the Acura stage expecting him to sound like Harvest.
There must have been a lot of people hating that Neil Young set (and a lot loving it)
Good point, but I think it would be tough to say that was the case at the actual festival but would absolutely be the case if you made people watch the videos. Fair Grounds was a swamp, so it wasn't like people had posted up to see someone coming in after Neil (which was only Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. who close the last day of the festival now). In other words, if you were there, it was because you wanted to be. There were about 17 or 18 other acts that were going on either end of his set.
For any casual watchers, there was Bonnie Rait, Allen Toussaint tribute, Isley Brothers, Heads of State, Mavis Staples, Lena Prima, Punch Brothers, Storyville Stompers and about 7 or 8 other acts.
Oh totally. I just meant that I'm sure there are some people who go because of the classic rock element, and are expecting to see something completely different than what Neil does on a day in day out basis. The same people who went to Van Morrison waiting on Brown Eyed Girl (though maybe this is a bad example because he actually played Brown Eyed Girl...which I've never seen him do in the 6 times I've seen him)
Now that I look at setlist.fm...Brown Eyed Girl is a really bad example.
I gotcha. That would likely have been the case had it not been a super light turnout due to the continued rain and the conditions. So that was my point of the people at Neil being there for Neil and not posting up for a day of shows and mad that he didn't do some short hit songs. But if anyone was there to hear something specific that lasted 3 minutes (Ohio or Heart of Gold), they weren't getting the radio versions at this performance. Haha. That was great for me but probably wouldn't have been for the casual fan for sure.
Axial Tilt's Saturday setlist (there were >s but I don't keep track of all that):
acoustic opening set -Ripple -Bird Song -Cassidy -Ship of Fools -Jack Straw -U. S. Blues
electric set 1 -Cold Rain & Snow -Viola Lee Blues -Mississippi Half Step -Greatest Story Ever Told -Dupree's Diamond Blues -Cumberland Blues -Help on the Way -Slipknot
electric set 2 -Shakedown Street -Estimated Prophet -Eyes of the World -China Cat -I Know You Rider -Way to go Home -St. Stephen -Franklin's
encore -One More Saturday Night
Will second Blotter on how good this band was. Stu Allen and Rob Eaton are fantastic. I'll be at a night of this, maybe both, for sure next year if they do it again vs. battling for JRAD tix. The venue was fun as shit, lots of stuff to see.
Good point, but I think it would be tough to say that was the case at the actual festival but would absolutely be the case if you made people watch the videos. Fair Grounds was a swamp, so it wasn't like people had posted up to see someone coming in after Neil (which was only Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. who close the last day of the festival now). In other words, if you were there, it was because you wanted to be. There were about 17 or 18 other acts that were going on either end of his set.
For any casual watchers, there was Bonnie Rait, Allen Toussaint tribute, Isley Brothers, Heads of State, Mavis Staples, Lena Prima, Punch Brothers, Storyville Stompers and about 7 or 8 other acts.
Oh totally. I just meant that I'm sure there are some people who go because of the classic rock element, and are expecting to see something completely different than what Neil does on a day in day out basis. The same people who went to Van Morrison waiting on Brown Eyed Girl (though maybe this is a bad example because he actually played Brown Eyed Girl...which I've never seen him do in the 6 times I've seen him)
Now that I look at setlist.fm...Brown Eyed Girl is a really bad example.
So camden, how did you rate this version of Van? I saw him in Atlanta, for the first time, and thought it was amazing...except he only played an hour and a half. He just sang as he was walking off the stage, the band played another minute or so and that was it.
Oh totally. I just meant that I'm sure there are some people who go because of the classic rock element, and are expecting to see something completely different than what Neil does on a day in day out basis. The same people who went to Van Morrison waiting on Brown Eyed Girl (though maybe this is a bad example because he actually played Brown Eyed Girl...which I've never seen him do in the 6 times I've seen him)
Now that I look at setlist.fm...Brown Eyed Girl is a really bad example.
So camden, how did you rate this version of Van? I saw him in Atlanta, for the first time, and thought it was amazing...except he only played an hour and a half. He just sang as he was walking off the stage, the band played another minute or so and that was it.
Old next door hippie neighbors said it wasn't that great. They said the sound was flat and he didn't have it. Whether that's true or not, I have no idea. It was Pearl Jam in opposition.
I thought Van was good. It wasn't very loud, like Lady Gaga/Tony Bennett last year though. We were faded from the sun and tired of being in pathways so it was hard to get into it. I'm glad we left Pearl Jam. Wish we had gone back for the end, like I had planned, but my girl was about to pass out so we had to split.
Axial Tilt night 1 setlist, as best as I can remember:
I: (missed the first 1 or 2 songs) China Doll Me & My Uncle Sugaree Casey Jones
II: Feel Like A Stranger Bertha The Music Never Stopped Friend of the Devil Just A Little Light Uncle John's Band
III: Samson & Delilah Playing In The Band Terrapin Suite> Not Fade Away> Morning Dew
Wish I could find the actual setlist, this one is all kinds of wrong but all of those songs were def played.
