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Apr 21, 2023

Jazz Fest 2023’s big finish: Final thoughts on this year’s Jazz Fest

Gambit staff writer The 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was big. There

Gambit staff writer

The 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was big. There were big names, big moments on stage and big crowds — and occasionally some big lines.

If last year's Jazz Fest contended with the major challenges of returning nearly three years after its last edition due to the pandemic, then Jazz Fest in 2023 showed it was back on its feet and looking to grow. And it did so through some changes, with good-to-mixed results.

Rain hit a couple of days, but the weather was mostly beautiful, drawing out crowds for performances by Lizzo, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Wu-Tang Clan and the Soul Rebels, Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, Jon Batiste and many, many more. There were soft-shell crab po-boys, crawfish strudel, mango freeze, strawberry lemonade and enough good food to cause a heart-attack.

With seven days’ worth of music, food and arts, there was a lot for people to take in — and talk about. So before we say good-bye to Jazz Fest 2023, we wanted to round-up some final observations about a big year on the Fair Grounds. While Jazz Fest hasn't yet announced its 2023 attendance, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews’ set had barely finished before the festival announced it would be back April 26 to May 5, 2024.

Here are some thoughts from Jazz Fest 2023:

One of this year's biggest changes was the festival's decision to go cashless. Jazz Fest said it was doing so to bring the festival more in line with major events around the country, but good at Coachella doesn't necessarily mean good in New Orleans. Some food vendors opted to sit out this year, at least partly citing the new system.

And at first, 100% cashless did not go well. On the first Friday, food and drink lines got long as vendors adjusted to the new system, card readers froze, customers had to navigate a few screens and credit processing had to go through.

But things steadily got better as the festival went along. It probably helped that most days weren't as crowded as the festival's first Friday, which brought out a ton of people for Lizzo, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and Wu-Tang Clan with The Soul Rebels. And it seemed like attendees were getting used to the routines.

Jazz Fest also made it easy for people to exchange cash for a debit card that could also be used outside of the festival — a good decision that showed the festival's consideration for attendees who might primarily use cash or not be used to the new change.

By the end of the festival, some vendors seemed to have mixed feelings about the new system — the beer tents seemed to be largely be OK with it — and we hope that Jazz Fest will spend the next year talking to local restaurants and catering companies and arts and crafts vendors to decide if cashless really is for the best, and if so, how can it be improved for everyone.

Jazz Fest hasn't been cheap for a while, but it seemed like prices on the Fair Grounds hit a new high this year. "Cheap" beer was $8.50. A bottle of water was $4. A coke will run you $5. Plates, sandwiches, sweets — everything was on average $2-$3 more this year.

Part of that is because of inflation and the price of doing business in 2023, but the cashless system also contributed to it. Vendors are charged transaction fees — which many included into their prices — and taxes were added on top. And that was before you tipped when prompted on the card reader.

Attending an event the size of Jazz Fest comes with a certain price tag, but in a time when New Orleanians are getting squeezed more and more by their landlord, the grocery store, the utilities and the gas pump, prices inside the Fair Grounds mean the crowd is only going to continue to lean wealthier, whiter and touristy.

Jon Batiste, right, and his dancers on the Festival Stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Friday, May 5.

While Jon Batiste now lives in New York, it seems like New Orleans is never far from his heart. The Kenner native headlined the festival's second Friday — walking out to a massive cheer from the Festival Stage crowd — and rocked as perfect a Jazz Fest set as anyone would ever want.

Members of the St. Augustine High School Marching 100 and the Gospel Soul Children Choir — both groups appeared on Batiste's album "We Are" and shared in his Album of the Year Grammy Award — backed Batiste on stage, and Batiste performed in a vintage-style Purple Knights shirt and gold sequin pants for his alma mater.

Later in his set, Batiste brought out a group of second line dancers, and the singer and multi-instrumentalist made it clear his show was about his hometown and family — his young nephew, Brennan, joined him on stage at the end of the show.

Batiste's visit home wasn't confined to Jazz Fest. He almost instantly sold out the Maple Leaf for a warmup gig last Tuesday and then appeared with The Soul Rebels Saturday night at Le Bon Temps Roule. He then was back at the festival on Sunday and appeared with Mumford & Sons and with Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews during his festival-closer.

Jazz Fest 2023 ended with Andrews and Batiste raising their arms together and waving to the crowd.

Buddy Guy uses a drumstick to play a Jimi Hendrix tune on the Festival Stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Thursday, May 4.

Jazz Fest's first Friday forced attendees to make a tough decision: Lizzo, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Wu-Tang Clan with the Soul Rebels, Mavis Staples or Nicholas Payton with MonoNeon and Corey Foville. It was a good problem to have.

And while the remaining days of this year's festival didn't have as stacked a choice of headliners, Jazz Fest 2023 still offered a strong lineup.

There were great performances by Batiste, Jill Scott, Ed Sheeran, Dead & Company, Jazmine Sullivan, H.E.R., Mdou Moctar, Mumford & Sons, Tom Jones, Buddy Guy, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Melissa Etheridge, Santana, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Gary Clark Jr., Leon Bridges, NE-YO, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Ludacris — we could go on. Gambit has written thousands of words about it all this year.

And that's not mentioning the massive number of incredible musicians — more than 500 bands — from New Orleans and Louisiana that played this year. Plus all of the fantastic acts visiting from Puerto Rico and other countries.

Further, there were countless special moments: tributes to lost musicians, like Kidd Jordan; fest debuts by glbl wrmng, Flagboy Giz, Blato Zlato, Loose Cattle and many others; only-in-New Orleans moments; and rare collaborations.

It was a chance to find something new, revisit an act or try to catch a New Orleans icon one more time before it's too late. Still, while a couple of electronic musicians made it on to the lineup, like DJ Shub, it's a genre that deserves more recognition at the festival.

Jazz Fest featured some truly amazing drummers across its seven days. Percussionists were consistently highlighted by the Puerto Rican acts in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion. Traditional drumming was a central part of the Native American Village. Musicians like Alexey Marti, Joe Dyson and Zigaboo Modeliste played excellent sets. Cindy Blackman, Carlos Santana's wife and drummer, was one of the highlights from Santana's headlining set. And Melissa Etheridge even got behind the kit for a song during her Blues Tent show.

This was a relatively clean Jazz Fest as compared to previous years. That was due to several new sustainability and recycling initiatives implemented by the Jazz Fest, including its dedicated Green Krewe. Attendees probably saw krewe members picking up cans and plastic bottles and cups for recycling throughout the day.

There were more recycling stations and a rewards program incentivized attendees to grab a green bag, collect cans and bottles and return them to designated tents. Participants were entered into a sweepstakes for VIP Grand Marshal passes in 2024.

The fields in front of the big Festival and Congo Square stages still looked like a hurricane had passed through at the end of the day, but it was noticeably better than in previous years. It's a program we’d love to see continue and only grow.

Acrylic paint begins to run as CJ Johnson sports 'I Love Jazz Fest' boots painted for her by her 11-year-old daughter, Alana Alston, as the sixth day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival got off to a rainy start on Saturday, May 6.

In year's past, Jazz Fest has had a box office at the Smoothie King Center where locals could grab tickets without fees. The festival did not bring back the box office in 2022 and 2023 — probably because the SKC is a Ticketmaster location while Jazz Fest uses AEG Presents — but they did host a pop-up box office at Tipitina's and had an online sale for Locals Thursday.

Those sales are great and give locals a chance to score tickets at a slightly lower cost, but they have only happened with limited notice and limited windows. It would be great to see more opportunities in the future for no-fee tickets for locals.

A Vejigante parade with La Casa de la Plena Tito Matos.

Last year, Jazz Fest rolled out locations for free water refills and free sunscreen. Those locations returned this year along with a small peace garden and a sober-focused wellness tent — with a mocktail truck serving a killer non-alcoholic Cuba libre.

Jazz Fest deserves credit for including things that make the festival experience more comfortable for more people. The Fair Grounds doesn't have much natural shade, and Louisiana springs are hot, so tents and misters, free water, sunscreen and places where people can just chill out for a second are crucial.

We’d love to see those options continue to grow — including at least one more water refill station, perhaps near Congo Square and the back of the Festival Stage, to help people find more water during the height of the day.

It also would be good to see the festival take measures to bolster access for attendees with mobility issues inside of the tent stages. Read more about it in this week's Gambit commentary.

Jazzmeia Horn performs with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra in the WWOZ Jazz Tent.

Part way through her Lagniappe Stage set during the festival's second Saturday, powerful New Orleans pianist and singer Lilli Lewis commented on the state of affairs in the world — which extends to many of the hardships faced by people in New Orleans.

"We are a hot mess. And I don't mean 'us' or 'them,' I mean 'we' collectively," Lewis said. "And we are responsible for fixing this mess."

Lewis was only one of many, many musicians who used their Jazz Fest platform to share a message — of hope, of resistance, of determination, of love, of heartbreak — either in music or in small speeches between songs. Music is one of the best ways to talk about the social problems we’re facing, to stage a protest, or to just simply sing away the blues.

But a musician can only do so much. It's on the listener to understand that message — and then carry it forward. "The music is just the delivery method," Lewis later said.

A video of Flagboy Giz performing his standout track "Gentri Fire in the City" during his blistering set made the rounds on social media. It's a call to arms against gentrification in Black neighborhoods in New Orleans. One can only hope many of the people in the largely white audience picked up on that and now have something to think about, research and, with any luck, internalize in terms of their own actions and choices. Which leads us to ...

If you enjoyed the music, act on it.

Jazz Fest is a curated festival of music, food and culture that takes place only seven days out of the year. The culture lives in New Orleans year-round. It isn't made on the Fair Grounds but in music venues, kitchens, homes and streets across New Orleans.

So if you love it during Jazz Fest — whether you’re a local or a tourist — work to protect it year-round. Support local restaurants, especially Black-owned businesses. Go see live music, tip the band, buy their merch and research and support policies that make their jobs easier. Contribute to a Black Masking Indian to help them make their next suit. Donate to organizations like Roots of Music, Backstreet Cultural Museum or even the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, which provides grants to New Orleans artists.

And vote for politicians — local, state and federal — whose policies are going to help make life easier for the people you love.

"I realized I want us to slow the 'hmm' down and start practicing radical decency," Lewis said to the crowd. "So my question for everybody here is: If you could do something to make a difference, what would that thing be? I honestly think if you spend your time thinking about and executing the thing that you know you were put on this earth to do or to love, then everything would be better."

For more than 40 years, Gambit has covered New Orleans, for New Orleans. We’ve stood up to city hall with you, cheered the Saints with you, danced in the streets with you and cried over our collective loss with you. And we’re plannin’ on being here for 40 more. To do that, we need your help. Become a Gambit member today and help us continue our mission

Email Jake Clapp at [email protected]

Jazz Fest closed like a blockbuster. By the end of the day, the Fair Grounds was packed with overflowing crowds for Trombone Shorty & Orle…

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