TVD is proud to once again be a media sponsor of the French Quarter Festival. The “Little fest that could” is all grown up. They have added a big stage on the riverfront and have the best lineup in the event’s history. Here are our picks.
We have always referred to the Thursday at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as “slacker’s day,” and now FQF has its own limited schedule to tempt you to head to the Quarter on a workday.
Start things off bright and early with PresHall Brass. It such a no brainer for the Preservation Hall organization to have a brass band that its amazing they didn’t put one together sooner.
I saw the group for the first time at the Month-out press party for Jazz Fest and they were great. With Tanio Hingle and Kerry “Fatman” Hunter manning the drums, add another great group to the burgeoning list of New Orleans brass bands.
Another group I heard for the first time recently is Tank and the Bangas. Sporting two saxophonists and two backing vocalists, this new neo-soul outfit was firing on all cylinders from the get go. This will also be our first chance to check out the new Big River stage.
Irma Thomas holds down a sweet spot right in the middle of the day. As my colleague Geraldine Wyckoff says, “don’t miss the legends.”
Last year they moved the Cajun/Zydeco stage to the middle of Decatur Street. This caused some pedestrian traffic jams, but with Beausoleil closing out the day, that’s nothing but a good thing. See you there!
