Taking on New Adventures

Living in New Orleans for nearly 5 years, I’ve never had the opportunity to take off of work to participate in “locals Thursday” at JazzFest. But that changed this year, and I’m hooked!

This year, the organizers of JazzFest did an amazing thing, offering $50 tickets to people with Louisiana IDs and the opportunity to buy one additional ticket for the person with you. The last part is to prevent scalpers getting a hold of the cheaper tickets.

My boss, some of her friends, and I all arrived at the Fairgrounds around 1245pm and walked towards one of the two booths selling locals tickets. The line was LONG and we totally pulled a rude move and hopped into the line with someone they knew. We only needed 2 tickets as the rest of the gals got hooked up with some passes. So that helped a lot. And after a few minutes, with tickets in hand, we all made our way through the gates onto the Fairgrounds.

The sun was finally out and it was hot! We reapplied the sunscreen and started walking towards one of the food areas. One alligator pie (for me) down, and a spiked strawberry lemonade in hand, we made our way to the Gentilly stage. Paul Sanchez was on stage with his band and we got to witness one of his band members propose on stage! It was a great moment to witness.

I really wanted to see Lionel Richie at the Acura Stage, on the other side of the fairgrounds, and my friends, Laurie & Michelle, had a great spot. Waiting for the headliner isn’t always fun at other festivals, but at JazzFest? I was able to check out some amazing shows at Acura and a few other stages before the headliner.

From Cuba’s own fantastic band, Telmary y Habana Sana to The Honey Island Swamp Band and topped off with Big Sam’s Funky Nation getting the crowd on its feet, I ate some of the amazing dishes and got settled for a great Lionel Richie show.

And I was NOT disappointed. It’s been 11 years since I’ve seen Richie in concert (New Year’s Eve in Vegas) and he was probably even better at this show! He had the crowd eating out of his hand and even though the sound went out at one point for a few minutes, his mike came up pretty quickly and he bantered with the crowd while seeming to take this hiccup in stride. A real pro, and many younger artists can learn a few things from him.

He played EVERYTHING! I got a few videos but honestly, just danced and sang along. The moment of the day was when he recognized so many amazing artists he’s worked with who are no longer with us, then launched into “We are the world”. The crowd loved it and you could tell it was going to be one of “those” JazzFest moments. He ended his set with an awesome “All Night Long” that had everyone dancing.

It was fun, it was great music and it was my first locals Thursday, but certainly won’t be my last!