Since I had so much fun on the first Friday of Jazz Fest, I went the second Saturday as well, this time with Dana. Plans came together only the day before; Dana actually scored us both free tickets, as well as passes into the Miller Lite Beer Tent. (She pretty much rocks.) So we left Dave and Kenny with the kids and had a girls day.
Nopsi dropped us off at the Fair Grounds around 12:30pm (thank you, Nopsi!); we entered on the track across from the Acura Stage. It was already much more crowded than it had been the week before. The weather was beautiful, so people were out in full force to listen to great music and eat tasty food.
Uncle Jeff and his friend Jenn were there too, set up at the Gentilly Stage on account of Ed Sheeran closing out the day there (!). Dana and I walked over to find them, and then the girls went off in search of something to eat. I of course got another cochon de lait po-boy, and it was just as delicious as the first. After a bit of shopping, the three of us headed back to re-join Jeff.
We were just in time to see Marc Broussard take the stage. I love Marc, and I was so glad he was performing that day.
After Marc, Jenn walked with Jeff to get food while Dana and I went to the Miller Lite tent. They were supposed to meet us there, but we quickly realized the crowds were getting really thick. And since the tent was on the opposite end from where we wanted to be at the end of the day, the two of them went back to our spot while Dana and I took advantage of the free beer. And took a picture on the throne.
We didn’t stay too long in the tent so we could get back to Gentilly before Ed started. The main reason there were so many people near Acura was because Elton John closed out that stage on Saturday. Since Elton started 25 minutes before Ed, Dana and I thought we could listen to Elton’s first few songs and then hightail it back to see Ed. But after seeing the amount of people out there, we knew that just wasn’t possible.
So we each got our three free beers and made our way back to Gentilly. We were feeling pretty good and ended up taking a few detours, stopping to get Creole’s stuffed bread and sweet potato chips (both delicious), posing with a flock of flamingos, checking out some of the contemporary art, looking for QP and James in the Grandstand (and not finding them), spilling strawberry lemonade on the track (totally Dana’s fault and so funny), and finally arriving back to our spot.
Aunt E had made it out there by that time, getting dropped off by Nopsi as well (thank you Nopsi!). Her school fair was that day, and her kids’ fair dances were unfortunately scheduled for that afternoon, preventing her from going out to the festival any earlier. But she made it before Ed started, which was all she wanted.
Ed was fantastic; all of us really enjoyed seeing him live. He sounded just like he does on the radio. And it was actually just him out on the stage; he had no band accompanying him whatsoever. It was a bit strange but very cool and it totally worked.
Ed threw in a number of fun and unexpected covers, including “Feeling Good,” “Fancy,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Very Superstitious,” and “No Diggity,” as seen and heard in the video below.
The Jazz Fest skywriter was out that day, and we saw a number of the messages and pictures he drew in the sky.
But one of the last things he wrote was timed very well. The word “Yup” appeared in the sky as Ed Sheeran was performing his last song, “Sing.” One of the lyrics of that song is, “Can you feel it?” Yup. Yup, we sure could.
Despite having to wait a really long time for the shuttle to take us back to Jenn’s car, we had a really great day. I think I preferred the first Friday only because it was overcast and not nearly as crowded, but I’m so glad I went again.
Jazz Fest 2015, out!
