Steely Dan
With Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker describing them as “the best band we’ve ever worked with,” a massive backing band took to the Acura Stage minutes before Becker and singer/pianist Donald Fagen. The horn section welcomed the two legends with a long, jazzy introduction before starting the set with “Black Cow,” a gem from the Aja album (1977) and ushering in an unabashed greatest-hits parade that found all players in full command of Steely Dan’s considerable canon.
—Frank Etheridge
Payton with Trumpet Mafia
Nicholas Payton wowed during both his own set and performing with the Trumpet Mafia that featured a dozen, mostly New Orleans trumpeters. The ensemble, organized by trumpeter Ashlin Parker and including guest artist Maurice Brown, Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown and his talented young son, John Michael Bradford and more, played tight arrangements of jazz standards with soloists and duos stepping out from the pack. When Payton blew a solo, many of his fellow trumpeters stood with their mouths agape, in awe of his abilities. Payton, a modernist with an old soul, likes to quote and put grins on many faces when he threw in samplings of “Jock-A-Mo” and “Little Liza Jane” during a tune. A highlight of the exciting set was when an equal number of trumpeters faced off from opposite sides of the stage, gradually moving closer and closer for the showdown.
—Geraldine Wyckoff
Gospel Tent
The Electrifying Crown Seekers must have been doing something right. Despite the perpetually boom-y sound of the Gospel Tent, the truly electrifying group (still fronted by remaining original member James Williams) rocked and rolled and, just maybe, saved, too. One elderly believer was dancing in the aisle, swinging high the cane he’d been leaning on only moments before.
—Clea Simon
I Cried My Last Tear
Allen Toussaint was deservedly everywhere at Fest this year, and the sets I saw with a Toussaint song easily outnumbered the sets without one. Even Kristin Diable, who makes it a point of pride that she’s never performed a cover song, broke her own rule to do “Yes We Can Can.” Irma Thomas did a stack of the songs that Toussaint either wrote or arranged for her in the ’60s. Elvis Costello devoted half his set to reprising songs from his and Toussaint’s collaborative album The River in Reverse—and for pub-rock era fans he brought out ex-Rumour keyboardist Bob Andrews (now a New Orleans resident) for “I Cried My Last Tear,” a song Andrews first did as a member of Brinsley Schwarz. The most poignant moment, however, was unexpected: The official tribute set opened with “There’s a Party Going On,” the song Toussaint wrote specifically for Jazz Fest. That’s when you realized that the host of this party was missing.
—Brett Milano
Buffy Sainte-Marie
It’s safe to say that very few people expected to see Buffy Sainte-Marie leading a loud electric band and doing brittle, punkish rock. Her set at Fais Do-Do was a real shocker for anyone who remembered her only as the wispy protest singer who wrote “Universal Soldier” in the ’60s; instead she seemed more like a riot-girl godmother—indeed, when she did her trademark vocal ululations, I thought of Sleater-Kinney more than once (she also danced through much of her set, and the woman is 75). Her songs remain fiercely political—there were a couple about the environment and corporate greed—and she wears her hippie past proudly without being defined by it. She even mentioned an earlier run-in with the “folk police” over “Until It’s Time for You to Go,” a pop standard she wrote in the late ’60s.
—Brett Milano
Neil Young
Neil Young’s set was edgy, daring and controversial—everything a Fest set by a veteran headliner never is—and it probably pissed a few people off. Working with the young band Promise of the Real, he took Crazy Horse’s feedback-jam leanings to new extremes: In more than two hours onstage he played eight songs, including two (“Love and Only Love” and “Cortez the Killer”) that stretched to a half-hour. The groove was mighty and the noise was liberating, but the subtext shouldn’t be missed: Some of the songs were environmentally themed (or in the case of “Rockin’ in the Free World,” rewritten as such), and some of the feedback was surely meant to be the earth’s howl for survival. I’ve heard a few attacks on Young’s apparent preachiness on songs like “The Monsanto Years,” (which was played mid-set), but the song made sense to me—if you’re going to write about the environment, a safe enough topic for protest songs by now, why not call out one of the main culprits?
—Brett Milano
Los Lobos
La Pistola y EL Corazón is the oddball album in Los Lobos’ catalogue, both because it’s all traditional Mexican music and because it was the unlikely follow-up to “La Bamba,” their fluke-hit Ritchie Valens cover (which was also based on traditional Mexican music, but more liberally). They chose to revisit that album this year, in a rare acoustic that included almost no English vocals and no drums; David Hidalgo’s largely trading in guitar for violin and accordion made for a much different sound. Yet the album had a lot to offer to their rock-eared fans; since it favors frantic tempos and impassioned vocals, you can get the emotional gist if you don’t speak Spanish. Getting the last laugh, Lobos followed the full album with “La Bamba,” a song they largely dropped from their set after it hit, but did it in its original folk guise. “That was called ‘La Bamba,’” guitarist Cesar Rosas deadpanned. “It could be a hit. You never know.”
—Brett Milano
Red Hot Chili Peppers
“We are their students!” exclaimed Flea, the inimitable bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as his band invited Meters legends George Porter Jr. and Zigaboo Modeliste to join them for a funkified finale. Nearly 10 years after the Chili Peppers made Voodoo Fest history by teaming up with the full Meters lineup for a phenomenal, “Hand Clapping Song”–centered jam session, the rockers returned to the Crescent City for a closer of similarly epic proportions. However this time the collaboration was based around a Chili Peppers original, the Blood Sugar Sex Magik anthem “Give It Away.” Drummer Chad Smith spent most of the jam in visible awe of Modeliste’s prowess behind the kit, while Flea and Porter built up a double-bass crescendo that culminated in a rousing solo from Porter. Ivan Neville also took part in the number, occasionally adding a welcome layer of keys that proved he’s as much a student of the Meters (and of his uncle Art Neville) as the guys in RHCP.
—Sam D’Arcangelo
Paul Simon
Paul Simon could have been better in a lot of ways, but his set was still a delightful way to spend an evening at the Acura Stage. Sure, he left a few big hits on the table, and that new song about wristbands should have been replaced with literally anything else. But the good stuff was still quite good, and that backing band is as tight as any in the business. If I have qualms with anything, it wasn’t Simon but the people in my immediate vicinity that had no respect for the man on stage or anyone in the audience. No one within earshot wants to hear about the tech conference you’re actually in town for. No, Paul Simon probably won’t “play something dancier.” And yes, we’re all aware the volume isn’t loud enough, but it might not be a problem if you didn’t feel the need to talk about it incessantly. Note to readers: This should go without saying, but holding a full conversation in the middle of a concert crowd is immoral. Please do not do it.
—Sam D’Arcangelo
Prince Tributes
They didn’t just work the tune up this week in the wake of Prince’s death; “When Doves Cry” has long been a part of Gov’t Mule’s always-interesting set lists. Warren Haynes masterfully wove the cover choice around his tender tune “Beautifully Broken” for a thrilling, chilling effect before closing down the Gentilly Stage with his never-gets-old, feel-good anthem “Soulshine.”
—Frank Etheridge
Henry Gray
Henry Gray presented an image of pure class as he sat at the keyboards decked out as usual in a suit, tie and hat. The 91-year-old Louisiana pianist and vocalist knows how to take his time with a song, and credit to his band, which didn’t rush the tempo on some slow blues. He picked up the beat on a boogie-woogie that he kept short and sweet as was heard back in the days of the three-minute 45-RPMs. Gray’s voice was strong on “Stagger Lee,” a number one hit in 1959 for fellow Louisianan Lloyd Price.
—Geraldine Wyckoff
Stormy Weather
Ingrid Lucia called it right when she broke from her planned set on Saturday morning and cued her band to play “Stormy Weather.” That was some of the last music to get played that day, and I was one of the diehards who got soaked up front waiting for Stevie Wonder. The man of course did appear, but rest assured that his megaphone snippet of “Purple Rain” was completely inaudible if you were there.
—Brett Milano
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam had a big crowd, helped out by the new grandstands, which make the Acura stage feel like an entirely different festival. The stands accommodate the masses in a way the rest of the stages can’t duplicate. Pearl Jam finished with a powerful pair of covers, a version of the Who’s “The Real Me” followed by Neil Young’s “Keep On Rockin’ in the Free World.”
—John Swenson
