Thousands of fans in the Big Easy on Wednesday returned to Faubourg Brewery for the second and final day of Daze Between New Orleans 2023. The second-year festival, which takes place during the “Daze Between” the two weekends of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, came to a close with a consistently collaborative day of music by Goose, Neal Francis, David Shaw, George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners, Eggy, and Honey Island Swamp Band as well as a number of sit-ins by surprise artists-at-large The Horn Section and more.
Local favorites Honey Island Swamp Band had the honor of opening day two of Daze Between New Orleans. With early afternoon temperatures in the mid-80s, minimal cloud coverage for shade, this was likely no easy feat. Still, the hometown crew turned in an energetic performance that showcased a unique blend of roots music inspired both by their longtime status as New Orleans residents and their birth in San Francisco, where the members moved in the wake of Hurricane Katrina—only to later return home. The band also welcomed plug-and-play brass trio The Horn Section (Chris Brouwers, Greg Sanderson, and Josh Schwartz) for its first of many appearances throughout the day.
Related: Daze Between New Orleans 2023 Kicks Off With Goose, Lawrence, Melt, More [Photos/Videos]
Opening the main Daze Between Stage Powered by Meyer Sound, local legend George Porter Jr. and his Runnin’ Pardners kicked day two into gear on a truly authentic note. Porter, who maintains a prodigious touring schedule, playing hundreds of shows a year despite his 75 years of age, acted as a history lesson to the many fans in the audience visiting NOLA for the first time. The foundational funk bassist of The Meters fame interspersed songs like “Talkin’ ‘Bout My Old Friends”—in which he wistfully remembers the many fellow musicians who have gone before him—with his own personal memories of playing at the historic brewery, which operated as Dixie Brewing Company for more than 100 years before moving to its beautiful new oasis in New Orleans East in 2019 and rebranding as Faubourg Brewing Co. in 2020.
With an ace backing band behind him, fueled by drummer Terrence Houston, Porter provided the proper funk warm-up to get bones shaking on day two of Daze Between. The classic “Wanna Get Funky” may as well have served as the anthem for the eventful Daze Between New Orleans finale.
George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners – “What’cha Say” – 5/3/23
[Video: FunkItBlog]
Eggy, the fast-rising jam quartet out of Connecticut, made the most of the band’s first trip to the Big Easy for Daze Between. After making their NOLA debut the night prior at The Howlin’ Wolf as part of the festival’s Tuesday after-party, Eggy’s Jake Brownstein (guitar, vocals), Dani Battat (keys, vocals), Mike Goodman (bass, vocals), and Alex Bailey (drums, vocals), headed to the brewery on Wednesday for an afternoon set on the Faubourg Stage. Following a glowing intro by festival co-producer Paul Levine, who heralded them as stars of the future in the jam band world—and, he hoped, players in the collaborative Jazz Fest late-night scene for years to come—the band dove into fan-favorite “Shadow”. Goodman’s thumping bass lines gave the set a steadfast pulse while the group worked through improvisational peaks and valleys on the ensuing “Bobcat Flow” and “Wayless” as Brownstein periodically locked eyes with Mike or Dani to square off in a head-to-head battle of intertwined melodies.
After beginning to say how fun the weekend had been, Battat caught himself: “It’s not the weekend, but it feels like the weekend,” he mused to the growing Wednesday afternoon crowd. “Must be a New Orleans thing.” From there, the band welcomed The Horn Section to the stage to assist on a sing-along cover of Phil Collins‘ classic “Sussudio” led with gusto by Bailey on drums and lead vocals. With time for one more, the core Eggy quartet wrapped up its first NOLA excursion with an emphatic “City Lights” as they looked out over the city skyline in the distance.
David Shaw – Daze Between New Orleans – Faugbourg Brewery – 5/3/23 – Preview
As the sun began to dip toward the tree line surrounding the scenic brewery, Shaw’s soothing voice washed away another evening’s worth of sins from yet another of those seemingly never-ending Jazz Fest late-nights. Though Shaw is renowned as the leader of New Orleans indie rock powerhouse The Revivalists, his solo set provided him an opportunity to showcase his extensive range of influences. The aforementioned soul spirit permeates everything he does, but songs like “Disrepair” show a country side. Rifling through his ever-expanding solo catalog, the range of moods moved through hard blues, sanctifying gospel, and more as he shuffled through his creative palette.
Like many during Jazz Fest, Shaw may have neglected to pace himself, feigning surprise when the band still had ten minutes to go on the main stage. After conferring with his bandmates, Shaw closed the set with a roaring cover of Tom Petty‘s “You Wreck Me”, with the frontman pointing out midway through the song that the late singer-songwriter was due to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Florida the following day.
David Shaw – “You Wreck Me” (Tom Petty) – 5/3/23
[Video: themeboudin]
Vintage piano man Neal Francis was tasked with keeping the crowd moving as afternoon moved into evening with the festival’s final set on the Faubourg Stage. Francis and his band showed no mercy, ripping into some psychedelic soul from the opening “How Have I Lived” through the entire 12-song set.
Wednesday’s recurring theme of special guests continued to manifest as Cool Cool Cool vocalist Shira Elias hopped on the stage to add some subtle backing vocals to “Problems”, which Francis co-wrote in 2021 with David Shaw guitarist Chris Gelbuda. Elias’ appearance left audiences wanting more—and luckily, later on in the set, that’s exactly what they got as Shira returned to duet with Neal on victorious “She’s A Winner”.
Francis gave a nod to previous performer George Porter Jr. with a cover of The Meters’ “You’ve Got to Change (You’ve Got to Reform)”, prefacing the song with a dedication to George (“That dude knows how to rock”), and the cover proved that Francis, too, knows how to rock. As Francis attempted to bring “Can’t Stop The Rain” co-author David Shaw back out for a sit-in, the band locked into a deep, funky, holding-pattern groove. It soon became clear that Shaw was out of earshot, but while a sit-in from the vocalist would have been a nice treat, this jammed-out “Can’t Stop The Rain” was a worthy consolation prize.
The sun was still bearing down as Goose took the Daze Between Stage Powered by Meyer Sound for its second of four sets at the festival. The show started off with a nod to the golden hour ambiance, “California Magic”, before a run through one of the band’s recent crop of originals, “Lead Up”, one of several that debuted at The Capitol Theatre back in March. The meteorological nods continued with “Turned Clouds” as sun-kissed attendees hoped that some of the sparing clouds in the skies above NOLA would turn toward the sun and provide some much-needed shade. David Shaw then made a long-awaited guest appearance to provide a faithful tribute to Shannon Hoon for Goose’s time-tested cover of Blind Melon‘s “No Rain”. Hopefully, Neal Francis didn’t take it personally.
Goose – “California Magic”, “Lead Up”, “Turned Clouds” [Pro-Shot] – 5/3/23
Goose, David Shaw – “No Rain” (Blind Melon) [Pro-Shot] – 5/3/23
As the New Orleans heat began to subside during “Thatch”, Goose utilized some of the lingering funk left onstage by George Porter for a jammed-out vamp. Goose then tapped into the star power on the Daze Between New Orleans roster by inviting The Horn Section and Neal Francis for a fully-loaded take on “Hot Tea”. Similar to the version with Stuart Bogie from Radio City Music Hall, this rendition seemed a little slowed down compared to how the band usually plays it, but that only gave audiences all the more time to savor the sit-in. Peter Anspach and Neal duked it out in Clavinet-versus-Rhodes formation—a rivalry surely intensified by the fact they were wearing the same shirt—while The Horn Section got the time to shine and helped give this jam a distinctly NOLA flavor to close the set.
Goose, Neal Francis, The Horn Section – “Hot Tea” [Pro-Shot] – 5/3/23
Taking the Daze Between Stage Powered by Meyer Sound for the final set of the weekend—wait, that’s right, it’s not the weekend—Goose dove into “Hungersite”. Now devoid of guests, the band members could once again stretch out for some deep improvisation. Taking it down low so as to build it up later, Goose rode drummer Ben Atkind and percussionist Jeffrey Arevalo‘s rhythms into a pulsating jam as Peter wailed on the electric piano and Rick worked himself into a machine gun frenzy. The song opened up into a blissful jam with twinkling keys and guitar that shined like the night sky above Faubourg.
“Hungersite” rolled into Peter’s “Feel It Now” as piano chords banged down hard on thundering beats. The band made use of its time with the core five before bringing out The Horn Section for its fourth appearance of the day on a beautiful arrangement of “Fish In The Sea”. With the nearly-full moon shining over Faubourg, Goose let its inner werewolf howl on “Silver Rising” as the clock wound down on the festival.
Eschewing an encore break in the interest of curfew, Anspach took a moment to thank the band’s crew at the end of a two-month spring tour, and reminded everyone to “be nice to each other, this is NOLA.” Finishing out the show with the jaunty jam “Empress of Organos”, Goose left audiences with some island vibes to carry them home. Getting in the spirit of Jazz Fest, Peter even threw out some jazz hands prior to the final clapping breakdown to put a wrap on the second annual Daze Between New Orleans.
There’s no place like New Orleans, there’s no time like Jazz Fest, and after two incredible weekdays at Faubourg Brewery for the second straight year, another maxim is becoming evident: There’s no festival like Daze Between New Orleans. See you next year!
Check out some image galleries from Daze Between New Orleans 2023 from photographers Jay Blakesberg, Brittany NO FOMO, Katie Sikora, and Katie LaRocca.
