NEW ORLEANS — Music fans poured through the gates at Friday’s start of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, staking out spots to catch performances by The Beach Boys, Steel Pulse and Irma Thomas, who is performing a tribute to gospel great Mahalia Jackson.
At the Fais-Do-Do stage, the air filled with sounds of Cajun fiddles and spoons scraping across washboards as Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys entertained the early-birds. His traditional Creole songs, some performed in French, kept Leona Gard of Metairie, La., dancing with a wide smile.
“They’re a nice warm-up, before the faster music comes,” said Gard, 65, as she danced a slow-zydeco step to Thibodeaux’s engaging tunes.
Gard, who’s been a fest-junkie since 1976, said Thibodeaux and the Playboys are one of the few groups that still offer an old-school sound not often heard.
“They set the pace for others like Geno Delafose,” she said. “Come back and see the crowd when he plays. Everyone will be on their feet dancing.”
The festival known simply as Jazz Fest spans two weekends, Friday through Sunday and May 3-6. This year’s lineup includes mostly Louisiana acts accented with national headliners such as Bon Iver, the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Cee Lo Green, Ne-Yo, Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett.
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