New Orleans Jazzfest

Share this Post

Sorry for the lack of posts and interaction over the weekend and yesterday. Caitlin and I took a very fun (and frugal) 3 day vacation to New Orleans. It’s driving distance from Houston (6 hours) and we have family there, so a free place to stay (and a free tour guide). We went down for Jazzfest. I love festivals, good music, and there aren’t many places better in the country for culture, food, music and fun.

We headed down Thursday night after work, got there late and crashed. The next day we had a leisurely brunch and one of the best places I’ve ever been – Biscuits & Buns on Banks. This is a a cute part of town outside the French Quarter, with shops, restaurants, and tall trees. The service and food was amazing and the weather couldn’t have been better. Try the French toast.

After brunch (and a nap), we headed to Jazzfest. The crowds weren’t really out yet, so we were able to easily get around the park with very few lines.

We heard a lot of great music and jazz throughout the day. Had a few beers. Definitely had a snowball and a daquire (or 3).

We ended with the day with No Doubt (straight out the 90’s) and jammed to things that reminded me of high school. Gwen Stefanie looks amazing to be about 50.

Overall very successful first day.

After the festival ended, it all spilled in to the surrounding streets with their neighborhood bars. People were so friendly. We had a round of beers bought for us and then mango daiquiris. Everybody just wants to have a good time.

Creative bar advertising with the puppy below.

My cousin got off work and we headed out to the best music and bar scene in Nola (no not Bourbon), Frenchmen Street. This part of town has amazing bars and live music, and you can frequently find a brass band on the corner, playing their asses off for just tips. The entire square shut down with people dancing in the streets. For dinner we grabbed some ‘Dat Dog‘, check them out if your in the area.

Next day my cousin showed us some of the best Po Boys in town at the Parkway Bakery and Tavern. Check it out if you get a chance.

On to the festival. We got a late start and it was much more crowded than we anticipated. By the time we were situated we caught the 2nd half of Jerry Lee Lewis and were dead center for all of Elton John. We jammed out to Tiny Dancer, Benny and the Jets and the rest of the hits. Elton’s still got it.

Crowd’s and lines were a bit miserable for Day 2 and if I’d known how long it would take, we would have left quite a bit earlier for the festival.

To give a review of Jazzfest for my fellow music festival enthusiasts that haven’t been before:

• Music – Music was fantastic and your going to hear a lot of things you won’t find at any other festival in the country.
• Demographic – Crowd leans older. A lot more people above 40 than at ACL, Lola, Bonnaroo or any other major festival.
• Location – Incredibly close to everywhere you want to be. The park is 10 minute drive from Frenchman or Bourbon and near plenty of hotels.
• City – Can’t beat Nola.Probably the best festival city.
• Festival – Could really use some ideas from another major festival. Several things really surprised me:
  • No camelpack fill up stations. I brought a camelpack assuming like at any other festival you could easily fill up for the day. They had no idea what I was talking about. Strangely though you can bring in small outside coolers with sealed water.
  • No wristbands for entry or drinks. This meant no re-entry which is a stupid policy and it meant you were carded every single time you got in line for a drink (making the lines slower and longer). Please add wristbands (see ACL).
  • No free maps. They didn’t give you one when you came in the door. It’s not that big a place and I downloaded the app, so no big deal, but they should really be handing out some maps.
  • Chairs were allowed WAAAAY to close to the stage. This caused bottlenecks, crowds, and lines that were completely unjustifiable based on the size of the crowd. By allowing chairs so near the stage, it creates huge swathes of area that you can’t create a path through. Major traffic jams anywhere you can walk. Also, a person with a chair takes up 10x the room of someone standing, so it artificially filled the crowd. Chairs should be banned anywhere near the stage.

We were pretty beat by the time Saturday night came around. 2 nights of 2am fun had taken its toll. We just ended up staying in with a pizza, which was a very old person thing to do, but definitely the right decision to feel good for our Sunday drive home and work Monday. There is a Sunday Jazzfest, but the only parts of the lineup we were excited about didn’t come on until 5-7pm, which we couldn’t stay for anyway.

We got up and did some shopping along Magazine Street and a few other areas. Didn’t really buy anything, but we enjoyed looking through all the small and eclectic shops. We did stop at the La Boulangerie French Bakery for some coffee and bites.

 

This trip cost less than $100 in travel costs, $0 in hotel costs. Tickets to the festival were $250 for the entire weekend. I haven’t done a final tally, but I’m pretty sure we took a 3 day vacation for less than $500 all in, including tickets. You can’t beat that. New Orleans is a special place, so if you can go, definitely do it every chance you get.

Back to more consistent posts this week.

---

Still here? If so consider using Tradeking (Special $200 bonus offer) for your next brokerage and Personal Capital, my favorite tool to see all your accounts in place. You can also support us by using our Amazon link. We get a bit back if you do and it helps keep the lights on.