When was the last time the Neville Brothers played a great set with surprises, instead of an alright one that echoed past glories? They did it on Sunday, despite the lack of brother Aaron. This was the Fest debut of “The Nevilles”, a name that’s meant to signify more instead of less (second-generation Nevilles Ivan and Ian are now full members; Charmaine and Omari Neville both guested). With Tony Hall in on bass and Nikki Glaspie guesting, that put all but one member of Dumpstaphunk onstage, which should give you a hint of the new direction: All funk, all the time. Ivan takes a strong hand, he and Cyril shared the leads, and Ivan was likely responsible for shaking up the setlist: The familiar “Shake Your Tambourine” opened the set and the very familiar “Big Chief” closed it. But in between came rarely played nuggets from the Meters (“Cabbage Alley”), the Wild Tchoupitoulas (“Meet the Boys On the Battlefront”), and the brothers’ back catalogue (“I Sold My Heart to the Junkman”). Charles’ sax was worked into the arrangements instead of being confined to the instrumentals; his solo number was a funny but workable medley of “Cissy Strut” and “Tequila”. Art did little singing but his organ was right upfront, not always the case in recent years. And the return of guitarist Brian Stoltz, joining Hall and longtime drummer Willie Green, reunited their best-ever rhythm section. Yes, you missed that distinctive tenor in the harmonies; but compared to the Brothers’ all-over-the-place set at last year’s Fest, this was a rejuvenated band.

The whole point of the Midnite Disturbers is that there’s a lot going on at all times: With ten horn players upfront, nearly all big names and leaders, you just have to enjoy the overload. The fifteen-minute “Buckin’ Like a Horse” alone had full-throttle solos from saxophonist Skerik, trombonists Mark Mullins and Big Sam Williams and trumpeter Shamarr Allen, then Allen took the mike to call out audience members who should’ve been dancing. Monk Boudreaux also guested to perform his second “Ho Na Nae” of the weekend (after doing it with Voice of the Wetlands). I found myself keying in most often to drummer Stanton Moore, who managed to sustain second-line beats for long passages without turning repetitious (He threw in little tension-building accents while Allen held a note for a minute-plus). Special mention goes to Matt Perrine who began a sousaphone solo during a downpour and kept it up until the skies (very temporarily) cleared up.

Maybe it was the rain throughout, but I got a real sense of poignancy from B.B. King’s set. The man is 87 and doesn’t try to appear young and spry; He took his time settling into his stage chair and spent a good ten minutes bantering (with the band, the crowd and guest Allen Toussaint) before easing into the first number. His extended guitar solo on “The Thrill is Gone” had a languid kind of flow; at set’s end he proclaimed his love for New Orleans musicians and did “When the Saints Go Marching In.” But before wrapping up he thanked the crowd warmly and said “If I can’t be with you again next week, I hope you can think of me sometime.” It seemed a dignified, but hardly upbeat way of saying farewell.

Thumbs-up on the standing area at the back of the Blues Tent, with some of the seats gone it meant you had a better chance of getting into the tent for the high-demand sets like King’s, even if sitting down was probably out of the question. And rest assured that Little Freddie King’s turquoise pants were visible back there.

If someone can identify the ‘60s Brazilian pop hit that Magery Lord played toward the end of their Congo Square set, please do: The tune’s been a staple of every good bachelor-pad playlist I’ve heard but I’m boggled if I can tell you the name of it. In any case, no version I’ve heard ever had the percussion interplay or near-psychedelic guitar that this Bahia group put into it. At the end of their set Magery Lord paid the ultimate compliment: “Last year’s carnival in Bahia was the best ever. And today was the sequel.” [Update: Our own Joseph Irrera pegged the song as “Mas Que Nada”; here’s a very cool clip of Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 doing it].

Raw Oyster Cult are not the Radiators—for one thing, John Gros’ choices of keyboard sounds and solos are nothing like Ed Volker’s– but for those who loved the swampier side and Dave Malone’s vocal soul, the band hit the sweet spot. Their set featured a couple new songs from Malone and Gros but closed with a faithful version of one of the Rads’ best, “Like Dreamers Do”. Interestingly, Ed Volker’s acoustic set later that day was lighter on Rads songs but was typically free-associative in terms of covers, from Blind Willie Johnson (“You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond”) to the Beatles (“Hey Bulldog”).

Click here for OffBeat’s Jazz Fest 2013 Photo Set from Day 3, April 28

Click here for OffBeat’s Jazz Fest 2013 online guide