Morning 40 Federation Treat New Orleans To Brassy, High-Powered Show at The Rabbit Hole (SHOW REVIEW)

Due to an unfortunate car accident involving members of the band, the Morning 40 Federation’s lone Jazzfest show was delayed. Thankfully a fully healthy group eventually played The Rabbit Hole in the Lower Garden District as the large crowd was treated to upbeat, brassy, party rock from the legendary New Orleans outfit on May 5th, 2023.

Having been moved onto the backyard, bigger stage of the venue, the band and crowd alike were forced to dance and sing under incredibly muggy skies, with temperatures feeling like 90 even as the sun set on Friday. Opening with the humorous sex joke-laden “Toodle My Hukill” the group of Josh Cohen, Ryan Scully, Bailey Smith, Steve Calandra, Mike Andrepont, and Dick Hukill had the juiced-up crowd shaking and sweating to the distorted wah-wah drenched funk of “Nuts”. 

Mouths were watering around the horns of “Chili Cheese Fries”, while hard bass slides led into head-banging riffs of the crunching “White Powder”. The group is older (as is the crowd) but the energy levels stayed high, even when ballads like the drunkenly swaying “Sorry Mom” seep out; the heart and soul are still intact for this must-see live act. 

“God Help Me” propelled forward on a solid groove while the punk rock got pumped up during “Got A Nickle”. The wah-wah based “Corkscrew” received a mid-song lyrical injection from Bob Dylan’s “From A Buick Six” which was a great surprise from the outfit while the high-powered freak out of “Intuition” and the bass and drum accentuated “Dumpster Juice” were other highlights. 

The band was on for their full set, which thankfully got extended into early Saturday as they fired off the squawking horns during “A&P”, debuted some metal riffs on a new offering titled “Field Trip” and wrapped up the night with a trio of high-level numbers. 

“Washing Machine” got sexy via a Prince-like groove and falsetto singing, “Gin Instead of Whiskey” may have been the best effort of the whole night with baritone sax blasts before the band closed with “Head Lamp” as the night and the performance were as hot as lava rocks soaked in the soupy New Orleans night. 

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