The inaugural edition of the NOLA Crawfish Festival lived up to the hype with a perfect day of music, food and fun under the sun at the NOLA Brewing Company in New Orleans yesterday. Shaggy, the NOLA Crawfish King himself, was all smiles as he served the eager crowd heaping helpings of his world famous boil, along with other regional specialties like jambalaya, locally caught seafood, pasta and more. The NOLA Brewery had their whole line-up of specialty craft beers pouring, including their “Daze Between” brew made specially for the occasion. Naturally, the centerpiece of the day was the funky jams being thrown down by the likes of Neville Jacobs, the Honey Island Swamp Band, Mike Zito & The Wheel, Colin Lake and Johnny Sansone on the fests stages.
Colin Lake kicked things off on the main stage with a rollicking, bluesy set that had folks trying desperately to dance and eat at the same time in the cavernous main stage area. Inside the brewery itself, a more intimate stage featured some impressive jamming from Johnny Sansone and Mike Zito that served as high energy guitar laden bookends for the Colin Lake set. New Orleans premiere rocking Americana act Honey Island Swamp Band had the ever growing audience singing along and enjoying tunes from their excellent new album, Demolition Day.
Wrapping up the first day of the festival was a special set from the Neville Jacobs collaboration between Dumpstaphunk‘s keyboardist supreme Ivan Neville and soulful guitarist Cris Jacobs, formerly of The Bridge. Neville related the story of the new band’s formation, as he told us in an interview earlier this year, around a poker table. After recognizing Jacobs from various mutual festival appearances, the two bonded over a bad night at the tables and decided to try and at make something positive come out of their unlucky stretch, and the rest was history.
Jacobs’ guitar style practically has its own southern drawl, and it fits well with Neville’s sweetness on the keys and gruff singing voice. Veteran drummer Benny Blade and Neville’s Dumpsta bandmate Tony Hall on bass round out a truly intriguing and original sounding line up.
Their set was marked with a variety of remarkable covers mixed in with material from the band’s forthcoming album. An emotional tribute to the recently deceased Prince, including a emotional “Little Red Corvette” and a jubilant “I Would Die 4 U,” added to the many moving tributes that have been performed all around the city and on the stages of Jazz Fest.
With the first day in the books the NOLA Crawfish Festival bolted out of the gate and set a high bar for the days to follow. Sunny skies and smiling faces were all around as the air was filled with wonderful music and the intoxicating aroma of fresh seafood. Check out some exclusive videos and photos from Day One below, and come by the NOLA Brewery today and tomorrow from 3-10 PM for hours of funky tunes and delicious food!
Honey Island Swamp Band:
Neville Jacobs “Wasted”:
Neville Jacobs “Little Red Corvette”:
Setlist: Neville Jacobs at NOLA Crawfish Festival, New Orleans, LA – 4/25/16
Set: Wasted, I Wanna Know. Makeup Of A Fool, Good To You, The Stakes, Don’t Do It*, City Rain, Money Talks, Little Red Corvette#, I Would Die 4 U #, Dance For Me Momma
Encore: Night People
*The Band
#Prince
A full gallery of photos by Rex Thomson, Marc Millman, and Jerry Moran can be seen below:
