the wife and i attended the new orleans jazz fest for the first time this last saturday. she wanted to see van morrison and this was about the only local venue that he would be playing at this year.
we decided to use the greyline bus shuttle ($19 a person round trip) to get to the horse track and boarded the bus at the sheraton on canal street. the shuttles run from 10:30 am until every one is back from the track (note: jazz fest shuts down at 7 pm).
we walked over to the sheraton around noon and there were about 500 people lined up to get on the shuttles, which resulted in about a 25-30 minute wait to get on the buses.
we arrived at the track before 1 pm and the gentilly stage area was already packed. the weather was clear skies, upper 70's low 80's, breezey with the sun a little hot on the skin. the jazz fest has a big list of items to bring and items not to bring, but in typical new orleans fashion, there appeared to be no rules. i saw large umbrellas, large backpacks, cameras with foot long lens, whisky bottles and stink weed was in the air (reminded me of a jimmy buffett concert)
we saw....
Big Sam's Funky Nation, local band, mainly covers
Tab Benoit, good bluesy music
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
Van Morrison
Here's his setlist:
"Celtic Swing"
"Close Enough For Jazz"
"I Believe To My Soul"
"By His Grace"
"Carrying A Torch"
"Brown-Eyed Girl"
"Baby Please Don't Go"
"Parchment Farm"/"Don't Stop Crying Now"
"In The Afternoon"
"Ancient Highway"
"No Plan B"/"Raincheck"
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"
"Wild Night"
"Sometimes We Cry"
"Jambalaya
"Precious Time"
"Moondance"/"My Funny Valentine"
"Days Like This"
"Whenever God Shines His Light"
"Think Twice Before You Go"
"Help Me"
"Gloria"
we thought that van's show would not be crowded because pearl jam was playing at the other end of the track, but the crowd was jammed in for van.
my wife had went down to the front of the stage before van came on to take some photos. after a couple songs, she attempted to come back and was stuck in the crowd and had to wander through the crowd to get back to me and she was ready to go. so we had to wander through the crowd with backpacks and chairs in hand to get to the exit.
luckily we were able to get on the 2nd shuttle back to the hotel and were able to change and eat at the oceania grill.
we ran into some girls from baton rouge the next morning and they had stayed until the end of the morrison set and said they had to wait 2 hours to get on the shuttle back to the hotel.
look at the crowd for the pearl jam show
http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2...on_se.html
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2016 New Orleans Jazz Fest
