Grooveshark

If New York is the city that never sleeps, then New Orleans is a city that perpetually requires an Ambien prescription. We spent 5 days in the Louisiana city and got a combined 11 hours of sleep but still managed to immerse ourselves in New Orleans despite the bags under our eyes and our subsequent surly dispositions.

We were ostensibly in town for New Orleans Jazzfest, but we also attended several (not so) secret shows around the area. Our days would consist of fighting oppressive heat at the festival, whereas our nights typically took place in bars watching the same festival musicians play until 8 am.

The pace proved difficult to maintain for some of the more elderly festival goers:

Here are some of the highlights from Jazzfest and the shows we attended until the wee hours of the morning:

Ludacris joining The Roots on stage:

The Roots are always a fantastic live band, but we got a special treat in New Orleans when Ludacris took the stage. In town to film his new reality show on the Discovery Channel, he spoke at length during a song about his quest to save the environment. The show is (somewhat) aptly titled “Project Green”.

I also got to hang out with Questlove after the set which was simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. We talked for a really long time about The Roots’ affinity for covering Dylan’s “Masters of War”, and I sufficiently ruined any semblance of credibility by requesting a picture (I’m the one with the sunglasses).

Stevie Wonder’s JazzFest Set:

There’s something truly magical about seeing such a legendary performer in person. Unfortunately for us, 15,000 people thought the same thing. Stevie still managed to put on an incredible performance, complete with the requisite playing of the hits and some incredible musicianship from his backing band. He proved why he is unequivocally my favorite blind, multi instrumentalist Motown recording artist.

Jimmy Buffet at JazzFest:

(I found this picture on Flickr and couldn’t justify not posting it. Apologies to the random girl)

We attended Jimmy Buffet’s set solely to analyze the kind of demographic that typically attends a Jimmy Buffet show. Apparently there is a preponderance of middle aged, beer swilling women who know every single word to even the most obscure Buffet song.

The actual show wasn’t terrible, per se, but it was about what you would expect. His cover of CSN’s “Southern Cross” was absolutely incredible, and I’m fairly confident that people in Mississippi could hear the crowd singing along. It almost drowned out JT and I obnoxiously screaming for “Margaritaville” after every song.

M.I.A

We caught M.I.A’s set in a ludicrously steamy warehouse in the French Quarter. It was, to put it mildly, insane. The crowd was going nuts the entire set and never really stopped at any point. It was like being thrust into the middle of a tornado of flesh, with the only debris being chucked beer bottles and cigarette ash.

Jude Law also seemed to enjoy it. The bastard.

• Posted in All of The Rest