The Café Istanbul Nightfest will return to the intimate Café Istanbul with a two-week lineup of exciting nighttime concerts on April 27th–May 7th during New Orleans Jazz Fest.
The festival will kick off on Thursday, April 27th—the first day of Jazz Fest—with GATORATORS featuring Dave Malone, Camile Baudoin, and Reggie Scanlan of the legendary New Orleans swamp rock band The Radiators. Then on Friday and Saturday, members of the extended Grateful Dead family will gather for Axial Tilt. The annual two-night all-star Dead tribute will feature a lineup of John Kadlecik, Rob Eaton, Lisa Mackey, Mitch Stein, Skip Vangelas, Jay Lane, and Wally Ingram.
The music will continue on Sunday, April 30th with three shows in one night starting with legendary New Orleans drummer Herlin Riley & Friends followed by esteemed NOLA bassist James Singleton’s MALABAR. Naughty Professor’s late-night End-Of-1st-Weekend Blowout Bash brings Weekend One of the Fest to a close.
The Nightfest will ramp up again on Thursday May 4th along with Jazz Fest for a second weekend of stellar shows beginning with a battle of Wills: Guitarist Will Bernard & Friends will get things started before turning the stage over to organist Wil Blades & Friends featuring Donald Harrison, Mike Clark, and Bill Summers, members of the legendary jazz-fusion group Headhunters.
Melvin Seals & JGB will play their first-ever shows in New Orleans on Friday, May 5th and Saturday, May 6th, then Grammy winner Nicholas Payton presents his star-studded Covers For Lovers for a late-night Saturday dance party like no other. Sunday the 7th features GATORATORS featuring members of The Radiators, and then powerhouse trombone-fronted juggernaut BONERAMA caps off the Nightfest with an End-of-Fest Blowout Bash late that night.
Tickets for the Café Istanbul Nightfest are on sale now. For more information and to purchase tickets, head here.