"Judge Jazz Fest not by what you saw, but what you had to miss to see what
you saw."
We stayed at the Ramada in the Garden District which is right next door to Igor’s, a 24 hour bar known for having the best Bloody Mary’s around, as well as being
packed every hour of the day. It is also the center of many early morning gatherings. Everyone I met, from all over the country, was extremely nice and loved music
just as much as I did (who would’ve thought it?).
On Friday night, things just got better. Medeski, Martin and Wood at the famous Saenger Theater was everything I had hoped. I had first seen the band WAY back at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC to a half filled room, and I’m really happy the band has come this far, deservedly so. For starters, the Saenger is the most gorgeous venue I have ever been in, with an extremely high ceiling and detailed statues all around. The show was peppered with songs from the strong new album Uninvisible and some guest appearances. Several familiar faces were in attendance in the audience, including Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner from The Disco Biscuits. After a brief conversation with them about their late night show time, we finished out the MMW show and made our way over to Tipitina’s for The Biscuits. Much to our surprise, our friend Justin, who had seen another show,
had gotten there before us and was the very first person in line. This, of course, enabled us to get a prime spot in the very front of the stage, right in front of bassist Brownstein. In fact, if you look at Jeff Waful’s picture in the Jazzfest Photo Gallery, that’s my friends and I right in front of Brownie. Anyway, the band took the stage shortly after 3:00 and played to a packed house. The show highlight came early in the first set, as the band showed exactly what they were capable of with a tremendous "Helicopters—>Little Shimmy (inverted)—>And the Ladies were The Rest of the Night.. The band also had another huge jam in the form of "Reactor—>King of the World—>Confrontation—>Reactor"
in the second set. By the time the band finished, it was just past 7:00 AM which meant one thing: more Bloody Marys at Igor’s. Not surprisingly, Igor’s was jam-packed on this morning, and eventually featured an appearance by the band after they finished up with their gear over at Tips. Nothing like Bloody Marys with bagels and cream cheese.
