Thousands of music fans were in New Orleans for the second extended weekend of The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, commonly known as jazz fest, beginning on May 1, 2025. The local nightclubs and live music venues continued their first weekend actions by booking an amazingly diverse series of special shows. Many were filled with artists performing at jazz fest plus others that were only in town to play at the clubs. We attended several of the second weekend shows and mixed in with the fans from all over the world who gathered to enjoy live music in the Crescent City.
New Orleans Concerts, Mini-Festivals and Special Music Events During Jazz Fest 2025 – Part One
Here is a recap of the performances we attended during our second extra-long weekend in New Orleans:
Lettuce has been doing late night club shows during jazz fest for years. Their annual RAGE!Fest took place at the Orpheum Theater on May 1st. This group is built for dance stimulating, chest pounding club shows. The band played mostly instrumental songs that featured thumping beats punched out by drummer Adam Deitch and bass player Erick “Jesus” Coomes. The coordinated visual effects had multicolored lasers and moody, rotating lights that matched the sweeping musical transitions from slick, slow jazz fusion romps to rapid fire funk anthems. “Lettsanity” and “Purple Cabbage” were two songs among many that had the crowd moving.
Trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom and saxophone player Ryan Zoidis blasted distorted solos and syncopated arrangements while guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff played inventive melodies and solos. Keyboardist Nigel Hall floated from his organ to piano to synthesizer and occasionally delivered soulful vocals on the few tracks with lyrics. Two of Hall’s best moments were when he led the band for a cover of Sly and the Family Stone’s “It’s a Family Affair” and the Lettuce original “Do It Like You Do,” which sounds like a 60s soul funk standard.
That same night, we hustled around the corner to The Joy Theater where a sold-out crowd of Grateful Dead lovers, disciples of Phil Lesh and other musicians with Dead connections had gathered to honor and remember the legendary bassist. The show was billed as A Dream We Dreamed: A New Orleans Tribute to Phil Lesh. Several of the musicians including Eric Krasno, Jennifer Hartswick, Ross James and Al Schnier shared experiences performing with Phil Lesh & Friends. Other artists included Duane Betts, Nicki Bluhm, Tony Hall, Ivan Neville, Jay Lane, Vinnie Amico, Rob Derhak, Aron Magnor, Karina Rykman and George Porter, Jr. – a packed lineup of musicians from The Meters, Dumpstaphunk, moe., Trey Anastasio Band, Wolf Bros, Dead & Company, Disco Biscuits and other jam connected acts.
We missed most of the first set and a bit of the second, but what we saw was mesmerizing. Several musicians led the way on vocals. Bluhm and Hartswick sang a rollicking version of “Shakedown Street.” Porter did “Eyes of the World,” “Lovelight” and “Sugaree,” with Krasno and Hartswick offering supporting vocals. “Drums” was a percussive journey between Amico and Lane. Hartswick took the lead for “Dancing in the Streets” while Krasno and Schnier dueled during “Deal.” Hartswick sang lead for the all hands-on deck encore “Brokedown Palace.”
On May 3rd we visited a unique venue for an unorthodox show by a stimulating and creative band. Music Box Village is an inspired community of artist-made, interactive “musical houses” spread among trees, stages and various seating areas. The hard to describe multi-stage, multi-level, fan enmeshed site has a unique vibe. Ghost-Note performed and their percussion-based funk, jazz fusion and hip-hop style blended well with the ambiance of the site.
Fans in the audience were fascinated by the unusual performance and space – sometimes it was difficult to identify where the music was coming from as the lighting was muted and musicians were spread among tree houses, ordinary stages and multi-story backstage “house” patios. Several of the songs included improvisational, instrumental jamming. However, guitarist Marcus Machado led the band through a raucous version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression.” The rhythm section of Nate Werth, Robert “Sput” Searight and J-mack kept the place vibrating while three horns played funky arrangements and impressive solos.
On the last day of jazz fest, there are several special club shows to choose from, but we always try to catch Dumpstaphunk at Tipitina’s. The band blends the finest musical characteristics of New Orleans and the club is the most historic in the city. Dumpstaphunk’s fest closing night show is always super funky and surprise guests often sit in. On May 4th , the band played their usual array of chest pounding songs. Since the untimely passing of bassist Nick Daniels III in 2024, they have added guitarist Ari Teitel, vocalist Rebekah Todd and their Infinity horn section is up to four members (Alex Wasily, John Michael Bradford, Ashlin Parker and Brad Walker).
Ivan Neville and Tony Hall handled most of the vocals and the expanded band filled the stage to almost beyond capacity. Ivan Neville sang “Livin Ina Worl Gone Mad.” Nick Daniels’ high-spirited “Let’s Do It” featured vocals from Neville and Hall with harmonies from Todd and the horns. Those horns were super tight during “Itchy Boo.” Surprise guest Christone “Kingfish” Ingram came next. Kingfish had a virtuoso headlining set in the jazz fest blues tent at the Fairgrounds earlier that day. The band launched into a wild “United Nations Stomp” and Kingfish blasted out electrifying solos along with an alternating lead guitar duel with Teitel. Once Kingfish departed, the band did an outstanding cover of The Rolling Stones “Heartbreaker” before running through several of their standards including “Justice” and “Dancin’ to the Truth.”
Once jazz fest is over, many fans depart town, but the clubs continue to hop. Like Dphunk at Tips, another annual tradition takes place on the Monday after the festival ends. The Nth Power has been doing a post fest performance at The Blue Nile for several years. On May 5th the soul, funk trio played their New Orleans “Last Hurrah” at the intimate Frenchmen Street club. Guitarist Nick Cassarino and drummer Nikki Glaspie shared vocals while bassist Nate Edgar pounded out hefty rhythms.
Songs from their albums Abundance and Reverence were heavily featured. Cassarino was especially soulful on the ballad “Hundred Milly.” Special guest keyboard player, Dominique Xavier Taplin (Prince, Ghost-Note) joined the band for “Shine On.” We eventually had to tap out due to exhaustion, so we missed the late guest appearance by local legend and Grammy winner Nicholas Payton, who joined the band for some modern jazz interpretations.
The two weeks that include jazz fest in late April and early May are like a musical marathon. Eight days at the festival plus shows all across New Orleans at clubs and specialty venues that start in the evenings and run into the early morning hours. The second weekend was loaded with more amazing shows that bookended the first weekend. After that exhilarating journey, it is time for some much-needed rest. But it is not too early to begin planning for 2026. We hope our annual pilgrimage back to New Orleans next year for jazz fest and the array of club shows will live up to what we happily experienced in 2025.
New Orleans Concerts, Mini-Festivals and Special Music Events During Jazz Fest 2025 – Part One
Check out the massive gallery of photos by Andy of many of the events, mini fests and after parties at the 2025 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. HERE
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