Dr. Dog, Tinariwen, and an extra special semi-Rads reunion on Friday night at Tipitina’s highlights a busy week of shows in the Big Easy. Continue on below for this week’s slate with a video from an artist playing each night of the week. Get out there.
My experience since being in New Orleans is that Sundays are an exceptionally treasured day in the city, and this perhaps never rings truer than during the all-too-common special weekends and particularly, during local music festivals. Sunday during this year’s Mardi Gras was a picture of perfection and one of the most well-attended in history after a soggy Saturday washed out the monster Endymion parade. Jazz Fest’s final day was a glorious bookend to the 7-day fest and the communal joy you could feel in the air at the Radiators Final Farewell set was palpable. Last year’s Sunday at Voodoo was one of the better festival days imaginable, with Janelle Monae, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, MGMT and My Morning Jacket all making the festival’s final day a memorable one. It’s likely because these great, big, blowout weekends are so much fun that you don’t want them to end and most out there at Voodoo looked to be embracing the closing day to the last drop. Suffice it say, there’s something about these Sundays in New Orleans that always seem to be just a touch more spectacular than the days that precede it.
Now that Anders has been discovered by the world at-large and Shorty is a GRAMMY winning household name, Papa Grows Funk has to be New Orleans’ best kept musical secret. Friday night served as a celebration of their great new record Needle in the Groove and a headlining set at Tipitina’s was an excellent platform to perform the Allen Toussaint-produced record in full from front-to-back. Not sure if I was just settling in at the onset of the show but the latter half of the album is what really left an impression. Because of a lack of song titles to reference, I can’t say much more than the fact that this record definitely merits checking out, didn’t seem to be just another NOLA funk record (not that that’s a bad thing), some interesting compositions on there for sure.
The Radiators have helped soundtrack the last 33 years in New Orleans and built a legacy that will be remembered best for their live reputation and the incredible community of fans that has built itself around this essential New Orleans act. After some 4,000+ live shows, Thursday night will mark the beginning of the end, as the Rads will kick off night 1 of the Last Watusi at Tipitina’s with an acoustic set that takes off at precisely 11:11 p.m. At some point in the twilight hours of Sunday morning, the ride will be over for the Rads.
If you’re looking for advice this weekend on how to fit it all in, heed the advice of the great and admirable Charlie Sheen who says: “I don’t sleep, I wait.” Thanks for that wizardly advice Charlie, we’ll let you know how that works out.
If, like many of us at LMB, you’re unable to enjoy the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in person this year, you are in luck. Tipitinas.com will be webcasting a number of shows from the classic NOLA venue, including Steve Kimock’s Crazy Engine, which kicks off tonight at 2AM CT. The rest of the schedule features some serious heavy-hitters in the jazz-funk realm.
Check out the full schedule of upcoming Tipitina’s webcasts:
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