On Friday, at Jazz Fest, it rained earlier in the day. I decided to wait until around 2:30 p.m. to enter the festival, ensuring the rain had stopped so that I wouldn’t be trudging around in a poncho and my Tevas. As soon as I arrived, there was a line wrapping around outside the front gate for security, something I had never seen before at the festival. However, I had also never arrived after 1:30 p.m.
I attended alone for the first time, exploring areas of the festival I usually did not frequent. I spent some time near the cultural exchange stage, taking in the Colombian artists’ performances and trying a brisket sandwich instead of the crawfish strudel I am used to. I also stopped by to visit some family friends at the main stage to see Galactic and later that night, Foo Fighters. However, I decided against staying for Foo Fighters and instead made my way over to Gentilly Stage to see Hozier for the night. I was incredibly excited to see his set more than anyone else at Jazz Fest.
When I arrived at Gentilly, I was immediately met with hundreds of people sitting down in the standing-room-only area while another artist was playing. I had never seen this before and was somewhat frustrated that these people were up against the barricade sitting on the ground on their phones. I made conversation with some people but did not get very far with others. Most of the people sitting were younger and waiting for Hozier to come out that night, missing out on Marc Broussard’s stellar performance. I had never really heard of Marc Broussard, but his voice was full of rock and soul, with a very pleasing country element. He covered “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder, which suited his talents perfectly as he riffed up and down the chorus.
By the time Hozier came on stage, the crowd was deafening. The people I had conversed with immediately pulled me forward so that I would not be crushed by those who were just arriving at the stage trying to get a closer look.
Hozier performed a perfect set, bringing on Allison Russell to perform a duet of “Work Song”. I was incredibly excited to see his set, as were most of the people there. While he performed incredibly well, playing hits like “Take Me to Church” and the recent chart-topper “Too Sweet”, the audience he cultivated was incredibly hit or miss.
I do not think this is any fault of his own, but there was such a strange energy from those who were there. Many of the people there were not traditional festival-goers, often wearing outfits better suited for a concert as opposed to a muddy day at a festival.
One thing that really struck me as odd was the lack of attentiveness to other festival-goers. I also had never seen anyone pass out at Jazz Fest before, but there were three or four people who passed out before the end of Hozier’s set. While crying out for medics, no one made any attempt to assist the people who had passed out. There were a couple of good Samaritans in the crowd near me to help assist someone out of the crowd, but it was honestly one of the most upsetting things I have ever seen at a festival. This begs me to remind anyone who wants to attend a festival, to please stay hydrated. I think many of the issues surrounding the number of people passing out had to do with them camping out at a stage and not moving so that people could have a good spot for the show. It is not only irresponsible but incredibly dangerous.
On the way out of the festival, following the flow of traffic at the end of the night, I ended up at the after-party that was right outside of the festival near Mystery Street. Brass bands and artists selling wares and prints were all over the streets. There were kids selling water, and adults selling beer, jello shots, seltzers, and just about anything you could imagine. The street food smelled delicious as I made my way past Liuzza’s. I assimilated with a group of family friends who went to see Foo Fighters, and we left the festival.
After recovering from the previous day’s events, I came back on Saturday for my last day at the festival. I had planned on being at Gentilly stage for the whole day again, in anticipation of Greta Van Fleet’s set. I had three water bottles stuffed in my bag for anyone who needed them and had snacks and strudel shoved in my pockets.
I wanted to see pretty much every other artist who performed at Gentilly that day, so it only made sense to get close to the front of the stage. Immediately, I was met with people camping out for Greta Van Fleet at the front of the stage, and they were all so much nicer and well-versed in festival attendance. People were offering fans, water, ibuprofen, cracker snacks, and just about anything else you could want. I met someone who had been to over 65 Greta van Fleet shows and was following them all over the country but was just excited to see them at Jazz Fest since he was local.
Before Greta Van Fleet went on, Leo Nocentelli of the Meters played a set that was one of the better ones of the festival. Of the songs I knew by the Meters, he played a good handful of them, letting the instrumentals play for extended periods. He featured one of the most impressive bass players I had ever seen, a gentleman who played a 6-string bass in the old-school style of it being halfway up his chest. Nocentelli played incredibly well, especially since he was the lead guitarist of the Meters but also just embodied the essence of what Jazz Fest is: having a good time, listening to music, and not being worried about anything going on outside of the festival. Nocentelli is a living legend. When Nocentelli’s set ended, it seemed like everyone had been primed for the rest of the day.
Cowboy Mouth was not my favorite set I have seen at Jazz Fest, but the energy they brought to the stage was very warm and inviting. There were repetitive “are you with me?”s and lots of strange facial expressions by the drummer who was also the singer. One thing that really stood out from this performance was the part of their set where he encouraged the crowd to take a deep breath and yell “I am alive,” which was such a nice sentiment and something often taken for granted.
By the time Cowboy Mouth finished their set, it felt like the entire energy of the crowd had been lightened and prepared for the headliners of Gentilly stage: Greta Van Fleet.
Greta Van Fleet was incredibly theatrical, and there was a level of showmanship in their set that was so necessary for the nature of their music. They were costumed to perfection, despite the temperature, with lead singer, Josh Kizka, in velvet jumpsuits with crystals hanging off of him. You could tell that they were better suited to an arena set for the nature of their stage presence, but they made this an amazing show regardless.
While they played a handful of songs off of their older albums, they played a majority of their hits off of their most recent album: “Starcatcher.” I was blown away by the guitar player, Jake Kiszka, and his ability to effortlessly play complicated riffs while doing tricks and running around the stage. They embody the spirit of new rock and fully bring the feel of classic rock to the stage despite being a fairly new band. They played their hits, “Heat Above” and “Light My Love” to a crowd that fully threw themselves into the song, swaying and singing along with them. The biggest surprise for me was hearing my favorite song live, “When the Curtain Falls”, and I fully became immersed in it.
Walking away after that set, I felt confident in my experience at Jazz Fest for the year. I could not have been more grateful for the experience I had this year. It was one of the best ones I had ever been to, and definitely, the most memorable one I had ever been to. I can’t wait for next year.
