The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with performing artist Tab Benoit, Boyfriend,The Revivalist, Javier Olondo & AhseSon, Jake Shimabukumo, Fi Yi & The Mandingo Warriors, Tribute to Luther Kent with Trickbag featuring Jonathon "Boogie" Long, Burma Boy, Corey Ledet Zydeco & Black Magic, Haim, and Dave Mathews Band
performing at the New Orleans Fair Ground and Slots on Sunday, April 27, 2025. #jazzfest2025 #jazzfest #music #whereyatnola2025
Dave Matthews & Jazz Fest Sunday
By Shane Finkelstein
It's been 12 years since Dave Matthews Band headlined the Jazz & Heritage Festival, but he's still drawing huge crowds, albeit not the record-breaking crowd they once attracted at the height of their popularity in 2001. The rest of the crowd on the final day of the first weekend of Jazz Fest seemed lighter than normal, likely due to the third straight day of high temperatures and oppressive humidity.
My day started a little late due to said humidity, but I settled in at Congo Square for a full set of RAM of Haiti. Due to the political unrest in their home country, New Orleans has become a de facto home for the Vodou rock band. No longer fronted by the band's founder Richard Morse, vocal duties now fell to his wife Lunise, who commanded the stage in her flowy purple dress. Haiti has long ties to the Crescent City and the musical influences are evident. Mixing gospel, Cajun, and Creole with a high-pitched reverberating guitar, heavy drums, and a one-note Haitian trumpet called the kona satisfied the sparse crowd that grew larger throughout the set.
Unlike Thursday where I meandered around the Fair Grounds all day seeing as many bands as I could, this day was mostly spent around Congo Square. I bought a sweetened Blackberry Breeze Ice Tea, which could have used a lot more honey, to cool me down, and a muffaletta, which was the perfect sandwich on a hot day. A smoking set by Cyril Neville—the Uptown Ruler—brought the heat to a crescendo with a special guest appearance by piano prodigy River Eckert and the colorful chanting of the Wild Magnolias to close out the set while Neville played percussion.
I took a quick walk around the field to check out Tuba Skinny at the Economy Hall tent. The highly-touted seven-piece band was not at all what I was expecting. The tuba isn't front and center. It's more of an ensemble band playing old ragtime, jazz, and blues. Perhaps the catchy name is what made the tent so crowded. Later on in the day when I was walking out, I caught a song in a nearly empty Economy Hall Tent of Kid Merv's tribute to the Olympia Brass Band, the latter of which was more interesting to my ears.
Next up on the Congo Square Stage were the Soul Rebels. If these guys aren't the tightest brass band in town, I don't know who is. They jammed hard for an hour and a half featuring hip hop, rap, and R&B over their funky brass beats. There really is no one doing it better than the Soul Rebels right now.
The featured act of the day was Nigerian singer/songwriter Burna Boy, who was making his first appearance at not just Jazz Fest but in New Orleans. He gave a shout out to all the beautiful women he had met in the city. His band consisted of no less than 20 members, including two drums, two keyboardists, four back-up singers, four female dancers, two guitarists, a bassist, and a four-piece horn section. Burna Boy's schtick leans heavily on reggae influences and crowd participation, and Congo Square was full of fans eager to participate.
After 30 minutes, I decided to end the day at the Festival Stage, where Dave Matthews Band was playing their poppy brand of rock 'n' roll to adoring fans. The field was full from stage to track, but not overflowing onto the track like some of the biggest acts in recent years. While I was swept up in the DMB craze of the late '90s, I've kind of lost interest in the band over the decades since. Sunday's performance was a reminder why. Poppy jam bands like DMB, Hootie and the Blowfish, Spin Doctors, and Blues Traveler just aren't what I'm into anymore. My musical tastes are much more influenced by brass, blues, funk, and R&B.
I got plenty of that at Congo Square on the final day of the first weekend. Soul Rebels and Cyril Neville reminded me of why I come to Jazz Fest. Sometimes it's for the big headliners, but I can be equally satisfied by our homegrown talent, who bring out all the stops at their Jazz Fest performances.
