Photo by Julie Greenhouse
Back in December, shortly after the death of Eric Lindell’s infant son, four friends and music collaborators took breaks from their regular bands to play their Dragon Smoke side gig at Tipitina’s. It was a powerful show, and for the first time, felt like an actual band rather than four talented musicians improvising on stage. Tuesday night’s jazz fest show was less cohesive. Eric Lindell fought through the first two songs with mic issues before Ivan Neville cranked up the funk with the Dyke & the Blazers cover “Let a Woman Be a Woman.” Lindell and Neville continued to trade vocal duties with Galactic’s drummer Stanton Moore and bassist Rob Mecurio handling the backing beats. There were certainly some highlights throughout the show that kept the packed crowd entertained like the “Country Roads” segue into Jimmy Cliff’s “Every Little Thing” and the cover of Allen Toussaint’s “Yes We Can Can.” But again I left wondering how amazing this band could be if they toured regularly and started cutting albums together. It’s understandable if it never happens, but one can only dream of the possibilities.
