Listen up, Jazz Fest Day 2, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you – because Day 1 is going to be hard to beat.
For an opening day, the weather was picture perfect with a cool breeze. You couldn’t have asked for a better environment to spend a day walking around, eating some spicy food, most with crawfish in there somewhere, and watching some killer music. Here are a few of the highlights of the day.
As headliner on the main stage, Sting was a cool rocking daddy. With a set similar to the one he played in New Orleans just a year ago, the songs had a fresh air vibe that didn’t lose their poignancy of lyric or sonic emulations when spread out into the great wide open. People were dancing all the way to the very back, or nosebleeds if this were a concert arena, proving he was a good choice for Jazz Fest once again.
The Glide Artist Of The Day, blues chanteuse Samantha Fish, played a late afternoon set in the Blues Tent to a great crowd. With blonde Marilyn Monroe curls and a short multi-colored sequined dress, she threw down on guitar and won over old-timers who liked their blues with more wrinkles. But a few of them I spoke with after the show, liked the spirit she brought to an old, old genre. Her future is bright indeed.
Jake Shimabukuro was a genuine find for those who may have just stumbled upon on the Fais-Do-Do Stage while he was performing. Creating sounds on a ukulele that evoked at times a Spanish guitar, his set was fresh, it was fun, it was a lively spin on rock & roll that you don’t get to hear every day.
Bobby Rush, at 84 years young, showed us all that “geriatric” has a whole new meaning – that you don’t have to be a young buck to kick up your heels. Sweating and dancing, like he has always done throughout his career, brought down the Blues Tent.
But the day belonged to two artists often labeled as country but who brought their rock show to Jazz Fest instead: Lukas Nelson & The Promise Of The Real and Sturgill Simpson. Nelson, whose apple didn’t fall too far from his father Willie’s musical tree, upgraded the sound with a more reverberating beat. Exciting, energetic and guitar-heavy, his set made it easy to label them the Glide Set Of The Day. It just didn’t get better than this … although Simpson certainly did start off strong. With the 610 Stompers giving a tame but super fun Magic Mike introductory dance-a-thon while Simpson stood behind them going holy hell on the guitar, it was definitely the best opener of the day. For those only knowing about Simpson’s acoustic Americana/country bent, his blast-off into rock & roll was a cool eye-opener to this man’s talents. Although he did fall back into his more country roots, what his fans love, he is definitely one who has come a long way in his short career. Seeing what he does next will be the clincher.
And last but not least, it was crawfish, crawfish everywhere. We spotted the first hot boiled mudbugs not a half hour into the grounds opening it’s gates. It’s never too early for this Louisiana favorite.
So Jazz Fest Day 2, we hope you’re ready.
