New Orleans Festival Has Beer, Bands & Is A Blast

The 2017 New Orleans Jazzfest lineup is nothing to get really excited about, really.
There’s Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, Maroon 5, Trombone Shorty and Harry Connick, Jr. That’s good, but hardly anything to really make one jump up and run around the room and start calling and texting friends. Snoop Dogg does nothing for me.
A Top Party Events Bucket List Item
But this is Jazzfest in New Orleans and no matter what bands take the stage it’s a hugely fun event. It’s one of the most fun events you could ever attend, in fact. If you’ve not been then it should definitely be on your Bucket List for top party events.
That’s because Jazzfest is, first and foremost, a gathering of people who are there to party. There are huge beer stations everywhere where you buy beers by the cooler-load. They even give you ice.
You establish a “home base” for the day somewhere in the vicinity of one of the stages – the main acts are on the Acura Stage – and then wander around to meet other people.
You go to stages to hear bands you’ve never heard of or barely know and are often pleasantly surprised at how good they are; I recall doing just this to listen to Elvin Bishop for the sole purpose of hearing him sing “Fooled Around And Fell In Love.”
He played in a fairly small tent and I walked right up to the stage and sat down and was blown away by him; I had no idea he was such a fantastic blues guitarist.
At Jazzfest, you’re drinking beer all day, meeting people right and left and listing to all kinds of great music. And the food is fantastic; it’s not your typical fair food or even festival food. It’s Nawlens food!
After it’s over for the day, you walk out the gate into a neighborhood that’s having a mini block party. People are singing and dancing in the street and there’s a little bar that’s jamming with a great party scene.
Then you spend your nights on Bourbon Street.
Jazzfest takes a lot out of you – when you return from it you want to refrain from consuming pretty much anything for the next three to four days – but it’s a trip you’ll always remember.
No matter what bands are – or are not – playing on the stages.
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