The 40th Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is in the books and it will go down as one of the best in history. The two weekends were packed with legends of rock, jazz, blues and funk and up and coming stars in a tapestry of music unmatched in any festival around the world. In celebration, College News coutns down the top 25 performances from the fest.
Here they, ranked Pitchfork-style, are from top to bottom:
1. Neil Young - 10: The absolute perfect show. A dream set-list* played with precision from the man whose career defines Rock. It will never die.
2. Kings of Leon - 9.6: Their live show, like your sex, is on fire. I made friends with someone with VIP access and was so close I thought my ear drums would blow out. A blistering show from quite arguably the biggest rock band in the world under age 40. If you’re skeptical, go to Australia or Europe, and then question how massive Kings of Leon is. It’s pretty much all they listen to down under.
3. Buddy Guy - 9.5: The ideal way to close out the festival. The rain started coming within two minutes of Neil playing the final note of “A Day in the Life” on a xylophone and the crowd booked it to the Blues tent for Buddy. He was scorching. All his usual tricks of playing behind his back, with his teeth and dropping an F-bomb when necessary. “How you gonna replace me?” he sang. We never will.
4. Allan Toussaint - 9.4: I enjoyed his interview in the grandstands even more than his afternoon set on the main stage. An intimate Q and A with a well-researched interviewer and a piano for whenever he wanted to play something. “You grew up hearing a lot of boogie woogie?” “Oh, yes,” Toussaint replied before pounding out thirty seconds of boogie. “For days.**”
5. TR3 - 9.3: Tim Reynolds wore antennas, got on his back and kicked his heels in the air and had Winnie the Pooh on stage for “Sex Machine.” Oh, and the music was pretty good too. Pretty damn good.
6. Earth, Wind and Fire - 9.3: Some old acts, like George Clinton, age like warm beer. By contrast, Earth, Wind and Fire aged like a fine red wine. They even said so. Well, what do you expect? It was true.
7.Theresa Anderson - 9.3: The queen of looping is a delight on stage. Watch her on YouTube immediately.
8. Soul Rebels - 9.2: I know there was soul. I know it was funky. I know I danced a lot. I know I loved it. I don’t know much else. But then, what else is there to know?
9. Joe Cocker- 9.2: The king of covers played air piano and looked out at us with his monster face, as he tore through his classic set of covers.
10. Soul Live - 9.1: Funky with horns, grooving throughout, at their best, with a guest singer I can’t even remember. Henry something?
11. Crocodile Gumboot Dancers of South Africa- 9.1: Gumboot always means a good time. Put it in the pantheon of compound words with ice-cream and hot-tub.
12. Umphrey’s McGee- 9.0: The first hour I was wondering when The Disco Biscuits would take off their Umphrey’s masks. They went “In the Kitchen” and turned up the heat for a blistering last two hours. Do you know what “Mantis” sounds like at 4 a.m.? They didn’t until that night.
13. Henry Butler- 8.9: A blind piano player who is also a world class photographer. Still not sure how that works, but dude plays that piano percussion style in a frenzy
14. Dr. John- 8.8/John Mayall- 8.8: I only heard about three songs of each, but the legends were in full swing. Mayall especially had the blues crowd hopping.
15. Ben Harper and the Relentless 7- 8.8: Relentless indeed. Harper sweated up a storm as they motored through their new rock catalogue. Covered the Queen-David Bowie classic “Under Pressure” as always.
16. Solomon Burke - 8.7: The old pimp played sitting down as girls faned him as Burke worked the crowd over with his swagger.
15, Midnite Disturbers - 8.7: The CSNY of NOLA jazz. They suffer a tiny bit from too many cooks, but when they trade solos, look out. I wish I saw a full set instead of bits and pieces of a few.
16. Galactic - 8.7: Ben Ellman and Galactic had a huge weekend. They were inducted into the Tipitina’s walk of fame, had a number of shows, and killed at each one. Especially this one.
17. Trombone Shorty and New Orleans Ave. - 8.7 Trombone Shorty is known around New Orleans as the boy wonder who grew up to be the man. Check him out. You won’t be disappointed.
18. Big Sam’s Funky Nation- 8.6: Big Sam taught me what second lining is. The rest of the band taught me that white jewish looking boys can funk. Thanks for the lesson.
19. James Taylor- 8.5 He “Showered the people” with hits and kept the acoustic love coming. But on the whole it was a bit tame.
20. Bonerama- 8.4: I’ve seen them four times in the last month and am having trouble getting it up for them at this point. No disrespect though. Still brassy good times.***
21. Johnny Winter - 8.3: Classic electric guitarist. Kind of over the hill, still wails at times.
22. Ladysmith Redlions of South Africa - 8.3: Paul Simon’s future backing band if he ever does Graceland 2.
23. Cowboy Mouth - 6.5: Corny southern rock. An atrocious cover of U2’s classic Joshua Tree track “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,"and an obnoxious drummer/singer who somehow got the crowd engaged. Boo-urns.
Our Take:
For more Jazz Fest Coverage, check out Festival Crashers
*Does a finale of “Rockin’ in the Free World,” encore of “A Day in the Life” do anything for you? How bout if we add in “Heart of Gold,” “Old Man,” “Down by the River,” “Cinnamon Girl” and “Hey, Hey, My My”
** Funny, “For days” is the answer I’d give for how long I’d like to listen to Toussaint.
***I go to their show and tell the person next to me the bonerama.com story. Always good for a laugh. New single sounds great. And they always do “When the Levee Breaks” or “Crosstown Traffic.”
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