Sunday, May 3rd listening list
On the last day of Fest we tried to be efficient in
order to see as much as possible.
In the morning, knowing the layout of the Fairgrounds,
I mapped out the order of the acts I wanted to see,
starting from the end of the day. First I looked at
each stage or tent to see who I might want to see
and then ran over the list again to remark who I
must see. Starting with the Nevilles to close at the
Acura stage, I scheduled backwards. After about
7 acts, I was only back from 7 PM to 5 PM.
In the order in which we listened, here are the
groups we saw.
Coming in we caught Allen Toussaint at Acura.
We went over to the Blues tent where we met up
with Spike and Ann's friend, Lamar, to see his
recommendation, Cedric Burnside & Lightnin'
Malcolm. Cedric is the grandson of the legendary
R.L. Burnside.
A special gathering of artists were on the
Gentilly Stage as The Voice of Wetlands
Allstars featuring Tab Benoit, Dr. John,
Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Monk Boudreaux,
Johnny Sansone and Waylon Thibodeaux.
It was a most excellent lineup. We stayed for much
of that. Sallie and I had gotten separated from the
rest of the group before heading over. Nancy,
Spike and Ann were able to snag some food including
a crawfish and jalepeno po-boy! I was along the track
walking back and forth listening and looking for them.
Nice.
Then back to the Blues Tent to hear Eric Lindell.
We'd listened to him on the Blues station on XM on
the drive over from Tucson.
On the way back to see Los Lobos at Gentilly, we
heard Chuck Brown on Congo Square
and caught the end of a great set by
Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias at the
Jazz & Heritage Stage on the infield.
We listened to Los Lobos at Gentilly before heading
to the opposite end to hear
Neil Young at Acura. None of the group heard Neil
play Cinnamon Girl, which the paper later said he,
of course, did play.
I wanted to hear most or all of Dash Rip Rock at
the Lagniappe Stage inside the Grandstands area,
which we did. We had great seats that turned out
to be out of the light rain that fell for about 20-30
minutes.
Buddy Guy was to start at the Blues Tent at 5:45
so we went over. The tent was full with people
hanging out three or four deep at the entrances.
We acted as if we had people saving seats inside
and wended our way in. Got to a point with a
great view of the stage. After 5-10 minutes,
Buddy and his band came out and blew everyone
away. Amazing!
Down to the wire now.
We didn't see Benny Grunch & the Bunch, a
victim of too much going on, but we caught
The Radiators at Gentilly before walking back
toward Acura and the car. On the way, we
popped in at the Fais Do-Do Stage to hear
Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas. Heading back
to hear the Neville Brothers close the show we
encountered a large group listening to Maze
featuring Frankie Beverly. After getting around
the mass of people, we made it back to
hear the Nevilles in the middle of their set. They
sounded pretty good in spite of the slight scattering
of the sound owing to the breeze. Our goal was to
beat feet before the bitter end to beat the traffic.
We ended up leaving about 7, which was about
5 minutes before Quint Davis announced the end
of the Nevilles set and the 40th annual Fest. Maze
continued on until about 7:30, the Nevilles usual
closing time. All of that helped us get out in record
time after a GREAT DAY.
Pictures to follow.
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