JazzFest '08

JazzFest was a muddy, sticky, loud, and crowded blast. At about 9 in the morning, the rain was coming down in sheets in Pass Christian. We had a hour and a half drive to New Orleans and we were keeping our fingers crossed that somewhere between the two places, the rain would let up so we could enjoy the festival without putting on the trash bag ponchos that we snagged from the kitchen. After a stop at a delicious farmer's market in the city, we drove out towards the race track where the festival takes place.
The festival is full of music on several different stages and arts and crafts vendors and friendly, drunk people, and mud. The first group we saw were the Pine Leaf Boys, a group that I'd meant to see when they came to a local bar in Baton Rouge. They play Creole music with a fiddle and an accordian. Some songs were upbeat and dancey and some were sad. If I could understand Creole, I'd guess that they talked about broken hearts and lost love and the like.
Each of the performances that I saw were great, but the set by The Roots was definetly a standout. I'd never seen them before, but had heard that they put on live shows that are amazing and full of energy. Sometimes predictions like that make my expectations too high and therefore, unreachable, but The Roots really lived up to the hype. Most impressive was their sousaphone player (nicknamed Tuba Gooding, Jr.) who bounced around the stage and through the crowd with that giant silver intrument twisted around him. The Roots' music was tight, relevant to current political situations in Washington, and full of energy.