Each year, several hundred thousand music fans congregate in New Orleans at the end of April and beginning of May. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, commonly known as jazz fest, takes place at the Fairgrounds horse racetrack over two extended weekends from late in the morning until 7PM. The local nightclubs and live music venues take full advantage of the influx of people by booking an abundance of special shows that are unaffiliated with the festival. The 2025 jazz fest season was loaded with concerts around the city of New Orleans. We joined the convergence of musicians and fans from around the world who gathered to enjoy live music in the city that never sleeps.
The collection of talent that gathers in New Orleans at this time of year cannot be overstated. Under normal circumstances, the clubs around New Orleans have live music through the night and into the early morning hours. During jazz fest, that continues, but the variety and concentration of musicians increases dramatically. Some of the world-class artists that play at the festival also have night shows, often as sit in guests. Other musicians come into town, skip the giant festival and only perform at clubs or special event shows. Some shows start in the evening, others start at night and some at 1 or 2AM. It is a nearly 24-hour cycle of live music. The choices are absurd and awe-inspiring. We tried to attend a varied range of shows that covered rock, blues, funk, soul, jazz and a mashup of musical styles that can only be found in New Orleans. Here is a recap of the performances we attended during our first week in the Crescent City.
- Lafayette Square is an urban oasis in the business district that hosts Wednesdays at the Square, a free music series from springtime through the summer. On April 23rd we saw Mia Borders, a soul, funk and R&B singer/guitarist open the show. George Porter, Jr. the 77-year-old bassist from The Meters, sat in for her last song and then his band The Runnin’ Pardners headlined. Porter is still an accomplished bass player and his band is super tight. They ran through Meters classics including “Just Kissed My Baby” and “Ain’t No Use” plus a few newer songs.
- Later that night we caught the first of two sold out St. Paul and the Broken Bones shows at Tipitina’s. Paul Janeway is a dynamic performer with an amazing, soulful voice. His band has a great horn section and they had the crowd dancing to songs including “Call Me,” “Wolf in Rabbit Clothes,” “Sanctify” and “Like a Mighty River.”
- On April 24th we hit the Blue Nile for a special birthday show. Eddie Roberts is the singer, guitarist and bandleader for two bands, The New Mastersounds and The Lucky Strokes. He celebrated his birthday with members of the Lucky Strokes and several guest performers. The small club was hopping as Roberts led the band through some Lucky Strokes tunes and some interesting covers. Eddie led the band on vocals for “Sweet Dreams” and “Funny Little Games.” Guest vocalist Datrion Johnson came onstage to sing two of the covers, The Temptations “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” and The Beatles “Come Together.”
- It seems that every year during Jazz Fest, artists from different bands combine forces to celebrate the music of classic rockers at a few of the clubs. This year was no different as The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers Band and several other legends were honored by contemporary musicians.
- On April 25th at The Republic, a band going by the moniker Voodoo Dead was filled with Dead affiliated luminaries who performed many of the original jam bands’ tunes. Guitarist Steve Kimock (Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Other Ones, The Rhythm Devils) seemed to be the unofficial bandleader supported by Al Schnier (moe.), George Porter Jr., Jackie Greene (Gov’t Mule, Phil Lesh, Ratdog) and John Morgan Kimock (Oteil Burbridge). Special guests joined the show including Grace Bowers on guitar for “That’s What Love Will Make You Do,” Cissy Strut,” and “Love the One You’re With.” Robert Walter sat in on organ during the second set’s “They Love Each Other” and “Dark Star.”
- Another annual tradition during the festival has been a blues rock show combining the immense talents of Tab Benoit and Samantha Fish with a rotating third artist. On April 26th at the Civic Theater, Sierra Green, a local soul and R&B singer, led her band for the opening set of the triple bill. Green came from a church choir background and has a powerful, soulful voice. Her band has three excellent horns and Paul Provosty ripping solos on guitar. They played a few originals and expertly covered Irma Thomas and B.B. King.
- Tab Benoit followed with his distinctive version of Louisiana swamp blues. Benoit brought pure fire with his beat up, but dependable Fender Telecaster; that is until he broke a string. The experienced pro did not miss a note, continuing to play and eventually provocatively placing the broken string in his mouth. His “Medicine,” “Nothing Takes the Place of You,” “Build You a Home” and “Why Why” shifted between slow, sultry ballads and rapid-fire swamp blues frolics. He ended the show with the explosive title track from the recent album Thunder and Rain.
- Samantha Fish closed the show and her brand of blues influenced rock kept the party going. She opened her set with the title track of her just released album Paper Doll. She got lots of positive feedback on that song plus other new ones including “I’m Done Runnin’,” “Rusty Razor,” “Fortune Teller” and “Lose You.” Fish used her four-string cigar box guitar during “Po Mattie” and played impressive slide solos. Her powerful vocals and lead guitar skills shined the entire show, especially during “Bulletproof,” another foot stomper that featured her cigar box guitar. She finished the show with the soft, sexy ballad “Dream Girl” and the slow burning “Black Wind Howlin’.”
- Luther and Cody Dickinson, the brothers who are the core members of North Mississippi Allstars, are always doing multiple shows during jazz fest – both with their regular band and as sit in performers or ringleaders for special club shows. They led the North Mississippi Allstars through a show on April 27th at Tipitina’s where they have performed during jazz fest for several years. The band played many of their deep tracks and old covers for a packed house. As always, their own songs like “Up and Rolling,” “Mean Ol’ Wind Died Down” and “Set Sail” showcased Luther’s vocals and scintillating lead guitar work while Cody pounded a steady, rhythmic drum beat. Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” Son House’s “Preachin’ Blues,” and Junior Kimbrough & The Soul Blues Boys’ “Lord Have Mercy” and “All Night Long” were a few of the best covers.
- There are two mini-festivals that compete during the days between jazz fest weekends. One is called Crawfish Festival and the other is Daze Between Festival. Each book first rate talent, but Crawfish Fest emphasizes local and regional artists while Daze Between brings in national touring jam bands and other artists from across the country, often supplemented by local stars. We bounced between both events over the three days, cherry picking the performances. Alas, FOMO set in as we could not be at two places at once, often missing interesting shows.
- Crawfish Fest kicked off on April 28th at The Broadside, an outdoor venue with bars, food stations, craft vendors and one main stage. A local all-star group calling themselves Gangsters of Love opened the event. Tony Hall, Ari Teitel and Brad Walker from Dumpstaphunk were joined by Raymond Weber (formerly with Dumpstaphunk, Harry Connick, Jr. and Dr. John) and Andriu Yanovski (The Rumble, David Shaw and GRiZ). The impromptu band jammed on classic and modern New Orleans funk and soul standards.
- Later that same day, North Mississippi Sacred Steel was led by Luther and Cody Dickinson, who put together a mashup including guitar whiz Marcus Machado (Robert Glasper), Blind Boys of Alabama’s Joey Williams on bass and guitar, Big Sam Williams (no relation) on trombone, Bill Mitchell on keys, Ray Ray Holloway on lap steel and Datrion Johnson on vocals. The “supergroup” played NMAS tunes, blues standards and other covers like “Glory Glory/Lay My Burden Down.” and B.B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone.”
- The closing set on the first day of Crawfish Fest was another all-star jam session, put together by Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce, Tedeschi Trucks Band) and billed as Eric Krasno & Friends. Some of those friends included Tony Hall, Ivan Neville, Alex Wasily and Rebekah Todd from Dumpstaphunk, Rashawn Ross, Jeff Coffin and Joe Lawlor from Dave Matthews Band, plus Raymond Weber on the drum kit and Wally Ingram (Timbuk 3, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh) on percussion. The band covered songs by The Allman Brothers Band, Santana, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin and classic New Orleans staples. Each artist was given an opportunity to show off both their vocal and instrumental expertise. Highlights included “Dreams,” “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” “Talking About New Orleans,” “Ramble On,” “Deal” and “Sugaree.”
- Tuesday, April 29th at Crawfish Fest began with a young singer and piano player that is headed for stardom. River Eckert is the 15-year-old son of guitarist Jake Eckert (Dirty Dozen Brass Band, New Orleans Suspects). The River Eckert Band included Jake, New Orleans Suspects’ drummer Eddie Christmas and Luther Dickinson. River Eckert has talent and passion beyond his years with a soulful voice plus piano skills reminiscent of James Booker and Harry Connick, Jr. Their set of New Orleans classics and new original music was missed by most of the late arriving guests, but keep an eye on this youngster – he will be big.
- We missed that day’s afternoon and night sets at Crawfish Fest so that we could catch special shows by moe. and Umphrey’s McGee during the first day of the Daze Between Festival. The past few years, Daze Between took place at an outdoor site owned by a now out of business brewery. This year it moved to Mahalia Jackson Theater, a majestic indoor venue with excellent sound and lighting. There were food trucks and other vendors outside the theater, but the vibe inside was not as free flowing as previous Daze Between events. However, the quality of artists was as first rate as prior years.
- The festival opened with moe. who provided their usual genius improvisational skills, expressive vocals, precise transitions and extremely artistic musicianship. The first half of the show was performed by the core band members and included excellent versions of “Stranger Than Fiction,” “All Roads Lead to Home,” “Ups and Downs” and “Spine of a Dog.” The Dumpstaphunk Infinity horns (Alex Wasily, Ashlin Parker and Brad Walker) came onstage for the second half of the show. They added precise arrangements and authenticity to a cover of Little Feat’s “Spanish Moon.” The horn trio stayed for more delicious covers including The Band’s “Ophelia,” Bobby Blue Bland’s “Turn on Your Lovelight” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla.” The band amusingly closed their 5:30-7:30PM show with “Happy Hour Hero.”
Umphrey’s McGee planned something extra special for their two set, Daze Between closing performance, but the crowd had to wait for it. The first set included stretched out versions of “1348,” “Mail Package” and “JaJunk.” The first “something special” moments occurred when Jennifer Hartswick (Trey Anastasio Band) and Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band) came onstage. The two mighty horns blended into the UM mix for a non-stop, segued sequence of “Booth Love,” “Night Nurse” and “Wife Soup.” Hartswick took over lead vocals for the wild UM mashup “Electric Avenue to Hell.” That oddball mix of “Highway To Hell” (AC/DC) with “Electric Avenue” (Eddy Grant) and a splash of UM’s “The Triple Wide” ended the wild set.
Everyone knew what was coming in set two, but it seemed like the audience was still blown away by how well it was pulled off. The promotional material identified the special second set as Umphrey’s McGee Led Zeppelin Set with Jason Bonham. Jason, an accomplished drummer and son of original Zep drummer John Bonham, has been doing a version of The Led Zeppelin Experience for many years. He has joined forces with UM a few times to do Zep material, so the Daze Between set was not the first time for the ensemble. However, with JBLZE vocalist James Dylan along for the ride, the Daze Between crowd enjoyed a brilliant, flamboyant and impressively accurate set of Led Zeppelin classics.
Bonham, Dylan and UM raged through several of the Zeppelin classics including “Immigrant Song,” “The Song Remains the Same,” “Whole Lotta Love” and “Kashmir.” UM guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendon Bayliss handled the Jimmy Page riffs with aplomb, while Bonham pounded the beats. Ryan Stasik’s bass lines thundered through the theater. James Dylan has his job for a good reason – he has a powerful, distinctive howl and does not try to mimic Robert Plant, but is in a similar vocal register that works well with the material. The band finished the wild show with “No Quarter,” “Ramble On,” “How Many More Times” and “The Ocean.” Bonham, Dylan and the UM guys took bows and left the stage, but came back quickly as Bayliss told the crowd that Bonham wanted to do an Umphrey’s song, so they broke into “Conduit” to finish the remarkable show.
- The last day of Crawfish Fest took place on April 30th and began with another group of local musicians doing a one-off jam. The Spicy Lips played classic rock covers with a New Orleans edge. Versions of The Doors “Break on Through,” The Rolling Stones “Miss You,” Sugarloaf’s “Green Eyed Lady” and Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You” had the afternoon crowd dancing. Samantha Fish was the Crawfish Fest closing headliner later that night, but since we had seen her in town already, we were set to move across town for the last sets at Daze Between. Before we left, we witnessed the riotous annual crawfish eating contest – eight minutes of messy twisting, squeezing, sucking and swallowing for the title of Crawfish Fest Eating Champion.
- We made it over to Daze Between in time to catch a local one-off supergroup. Guitarist Leo Nocentelli and bassist George Porter, Jr., both original members of The Meters, joined forces with Galactic drummer Stanton Moore and Dumpstaphunk keyboardist Ivan Neville to form GeoLeo. Porter and Neville traded vocals on Meters classics including “People Say,” “Africa,” “Fire on the Bayou,” “Sissy Strut” and “Just Kissed My Baby.”
- The final show at Daze was billed as The Allman Betts Band New Orleans Revival. Devon Allman (Gregg’s son) and Duane Betts (Dickey’s son) have been playing together under various band names for the past several years. They occasionally bring together musicians with historical ties to or a great love for The Allman Brothers Band. This show had that pedigree and vibe. In addition to the Allman Betts core band (Allman, Betts, Johnny Stachela, Alex Orbison, John Ginty, David Gomez, John Lum) additional guests G Love, Ivan Neville, George Porter, Jr., the Dirty Dozen Brass Band horns, Eric Krasno and Sierra Green performed throughout the show.
They got things rolling with two original songs, “Magnolia Road” and “King Crawler,” before diving into the Allman Brothers catalog. While Devon Allman belted out the lyrics, Duane Betts let it rip on guitar for “Statesboro Blues.” They brought out Anders Osborne and G Love for “Southbound.” Next, G Love took over vocals for his tune “Cold Beverage.” The local New Orleans talent came out subsequently. Porter, Neville and the DDBB horns joined the band for the funky Meters instrumental “Cissy Strut.” The locals stayed for a sweet version of “Midnight Rider.” Krasno came out for extended guitar solos plus a back and forth battle with Betts and Stachela during “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” The jam continued for a lengthy, trippy “Dreams” before all the guests except the horns participated in the set closing “One Way Out.”
The closing set started with the core Allman Betts Band members for “Don’t Want You No More.” Devon Allman really channeled his father while he sat behind the Hammond B3 organ singing “It’s Not My Cross to Bear.” Duane Betts then led the way and brought up fond memories of his dad on a sweet version of “Blue Sky.” Devon invited Sierra Green to the stage and she sang passionately during Gregg Allman’s “Please Call Home.” Only the Allman Betts Band members were onstage to wrap things up with an outstanding “Jessica.” The band came back for one more song with Anders Osborne who took over lead vocals on the festival closing “Ramblin’ Man.”
Our first week in New Orleans during jazz fest was an amazing adventure of club shows and specialty venues. The second weekend is also loaded with more amazing shows throughout the city. We’ll ignore the fatigue caused by lack of sleep and hit some more concerts which we will chronicle in Part Two of New Orleans Concerts, Mini-Festivals and Special Music Events During Jazz Fest 2025. Look for that recap here soon.
Photos courtesy of Andy J Gordon ©2025
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