2023 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, New Orleans, LA, USA
April 28-30, 2023
by Mary Andrews
The 2023 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival had for the most part highs and a few lows on the first fest weekend. It’s considered post pandemic now and fans came out in droves to relish many genre of music on 13 stages over three days. It was a glorious start beginning on Friday.
Highs: Opening day had a plethora of big name artist starting with Lizzo..She seems to be an icon in the making and it has been a long road to fame for the star. Depending on your perspective, the crowds were having a lot of difficulty getting to the stage. She was a little late starting the set, but admitted to being “hung over as shit” from celebrating her birthday yesterday. She was set to headline fest 2020 and 2021, so the fans were there in droves to partake in Lizzo’s performance. She admitted, “I’ve been on tour but, bitch, ain’t nothing like being at Jazz Fest.”
Her set was a combination of newer material and her hits like “Truth Hurts,” “Good as Hell” and “Juice.” She covered Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop” and part of Coldplay’s “Yellow.” She broke out her flute because “It’s about to get real jazzy in this bitch.” It was everything fans had anticipated and more.
Wu-Tang Clan and The Soul Rebels headlined the Congo Stage. As more and more members joined: U God, RZA and the GZA, the set was what fans hoped for. Raekwon’s voice is as strong as ever, and Ghostface sent chills up the spines of the faithful fans.
Alison Krauss and Robert Plant brought out many of the old-timers in the crowd. The two singers performed together at jazz fest 15 years ago promoting the Grammy winning album, Raising Sand. Now they have a new album, Raise the Roof. It’s a combination of bluegrass, blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin fans were not disappointed when they did a rendition of “When the Levee Breaks.”
Tank and the Bangas and Big Freedia gave outstanding performances prior to Lizzo’s set that seemed to be a prelude to Lizzo. They were certainly as entertaining.
There were some outstanding interviews at the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage including Steve Miller, Allison Russell, and Charlie Musselwhite. All had many stories to tell and were well worth attending.
Ed Sheeran used a system of pedals that allow him to record and “loop” the sounds he makes onstage, thus building full arrangements in real time. He tapped his acoustic guitar to make beats, slash a chord or two, loop it, then sing and play more on top of the parts he’s just recorded. The fans loved him. Recently, Sheeran has gotten publicity regarding a lawsuit with Marvin Gaye enterprises over plagiarism.
Steve Miller’s set was another fan favorite with many hits from the past predominant.
Fans had a tough decision to make on Sunday on whether to see Tedeschi Trucks Band or Marcus King. Both had stellar sets at the end of the day.
Lows: They were small in number as usual. The rain that started Saturday was out of anyone’s control. Word went out that the Revivalists cancelled due to an illness. Scheduled for 3:10 p.m. on the Festival Stage, their slot was quickly filled by Samantha Fish featuring Jesse Dayton was delayed until 3:30 p.m. In turn, her 3:50 p.m. set on the Shell Gentilly Stage was scheduled to be filled by SOUL Brass Band. Revivalist fans were disappointed. However, lead singer David Shaw is scheduled for the second weekend on Saturday afternoon. Many people found that the new cashless system to be time-consuming at best. With practice that system will improve.
The second weekend will have stellar entertainment as well
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