Jazzfest is humming with great music, beyond normal even by the standards of the mystical city of New Orleans, but when one show leaves your jaw dropped and spiritually jacks you up before spilling you into the dawn; you understand just how magical this place can be.
After a long festival Saturday, crowds milled about the French Quarter hitting after shows, cheap dinners or just diving into debauchery on the street. On Esplanade, just off Decatur some of the best tunes of the weekend flowed out from a bar that doubles as a Laundromat. The Rok Boms started the late night show with their gloriously-messy take on dueling blues rock. Reminiscent of many recent drum/guitar electric blues duos, the group caught the ear with their talent and ability to get grimy where other bands might button up. The rawness of “Puppet Show Stomp” dug under the skin and bubbled back up as the band flailed away before the headliner.
Delayed by drummer Mike Andrepont’s uptown gig, The Rough Seven didn’t get started until well into Sunday morning, but no matter as the garage gospel band brought all that was holy into the night’s darkest hours. These 7 had the exuberant crowd eating out of its hands from the get go with sing-a-long favorites “Sugar Daddy” and “Give Up Your Dreams” echoing out into the nearby Mississippi. The band was overdriven in every form; guitars were turned up near amp breaking points, powerful vocals from Erika Lewis and Meschiya Lake rung out gloriously next to the straining laments of lead singer Ryan Scully, who seemed to swallow his microphone and sing directly from his heart.
The blending of these two aching vocal approaches is just one of the many draws this talented group of players hurled at those in attendance. The keys of Ratty Scurvics, on the palpable “Had A Home”, the hip moving, crashing low-end of Anderpont along with bassist CJ Floyd that slammed on “Golden Parachute” and the burning guitar of Rob Cambre during tonight’s “Meltdown” combine and combust fantastically. This band wins you over on all fronts by playing with wild abandoned while still exuding the passion and togetherness that gives these tunes meaning.
When the group ripped into the best songs they’ve written, “St. Anthony” and “Good Outweighs The Bad” the small club went ballistic. Lake was hanging upside from the top beams of the stage (still singing mind you) while the feedback rose and the crowd cheered. Ending at 4am Sunday morning The Rough Seven simply let it all hang out especially after playing the fairgrounds 16 hours earlier.
Shows like this make you realize you are truly alive and not walking through a memory. The Rough Seven tonight stood out as a vibrant combination of gritty realism, heavenly hopes and proof that all can be all right in the world…even just for a few hours.
