SEE ME, FEEEEL ME, TOUCH ME, HEEEEAL ME.....
Tinno and I are like kids in a lolly shop today, if things go to plan, this will be the day that defines our festival. Last night we went to see
Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen at the
House Of Blues. To absolutely nobody's surprise, the played an immaculate two hour set of New Orleans funk and R&B and it dawns on Don L that Cleary never plays a bad show.
We grab some breakfast from the
Quarter Master store and plan our attack from the strategy table.
Miss Mae, the IOU head housekeeper, greets us like lost family and immediately commandeers our rooms for her roster - she knows there's a nice tip waiting at the end!
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| Miss Mae - Shocked at the price of fags in Oz, she opines: "I'll come to Australia but I'll bring my own cigarettes!" |
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| The brains trust planning the big decisions |
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| Quarter Master store - corner store oasis |
Tinno and JJ catch a
rickshaw to the festival and it's seriously wet as I arrive to the sounds of
Tommy Malone - terrific singer once leader of the
Subdudes.
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| Tommy Malone |
As he finishes, he apologises for the weather - as if he could do something about it! I stand in front of the
Fais Do-Do stage and the rain is horizontal, so strong that performances are suspended. But wait,
Warren Storm and his playing partners
Willie Tee & Cypress throw caution to the wind and decide to play for the
six people silly enough to be standing in the slush and rain - let's face it, if Warren isn't comfortable in a storm then who could be? He was great, looking sharp in
white trousers (obviously didn't check the weather forecast!),
red shirt and shoes, and of course
jet black dyed hair, playing a ripping set of
swamp pop with an ever present grin - he appreciated people braving the elements.
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| Warren Storm |
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| Willie Tee blows hard |
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| Glad he could see the funny side of the deluge! |
Best of all, I turned around to find
Prudy and John deliriously splashing away...the moments that make a festival great.
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| Prudy and John make a splash |
Tinno and JJ were in the shelter of the grandstand listening to (apparently) renowned hip-hop mogul/producer
Mannie Fresh being interviewed. His anecdotes were very funny; reflecting on his first
Japan tour (where he thought he was unknown) he expressed surprise to hear thousands of concertgoers singing all the words to his songs, prompting him to ask
"Where's my Money?" - the internet has a lot to answer for when it comes to artist royalties! When asked what would get him to reunite his group
Big Tymers (Nah, I haven't heard of 'em either!), he drily retorted:
"Some zeros, some commas would be a good start". Funny man.
The rain was now drizzle as Tinno and I stood three rows from the front to watch
Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk. These guys lay down the
heaviest 'fonk' groove going round, but whilst never boring it does bear a certain sameness after about 30 minutes. But we are stayers, and there's a pot of gold awaiting us at the end of the Dumpstaphunk set.
We are now in prime position to see
Pete and Roger - THE WHO. This is our JazzFest moment, like
Jeff Beck and
Robert Plant one after the other in 2011.
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| 2011 archive photo |
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| 2011 archive photo |
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| 2011 archive photo |
There are tens of thousands in attendance, for there is a chance that this could be their last tour. We talk to
three mid-teen girls, curious about their attendance -
"Dad plays us their records and we're getting to like them" (go Dad!). They ask us what our fave Who songs are and what will they start with -
'Pictures of Lily' is Don L's all-time fave 'Oo song and Tinno reckons they'll start with
'I Can't Explain'.....here's what happened.
The dynamic duo enter with
Pino Palladino, Zak Starkey,
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| Zak is in awe of Pete's playing.... |
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| .....Pino is bemused by Roger's playing |
Simon Townshend (no, not the dude from Wonderworld!) and three keyboard players and immediately launch into....
.'I Can't Explain'!! The teenagers joyously turn around and give us a thumbs up and big grin. For the next
two hours, they rip apart a
"greatest hits" package of songs (although Pete proffers the truism that they
"haven't had many hits but their songs form an immaculate treatise on English 60's and 70's pop culture" - I think he confused more than a few in the crowd!), before closing with a snorting
'Won't Get Fooled Again'. In between, there was
'My Generation', 'I Can See For Miles', songs from
'Tommy' and 'Quadrophenia', 'Who Are You', Pete
windmilled incessantly to rapturous applause
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| Pete winds up the windmill.....ka-chaaaangggg!! |
and managed
one scissor kick, Roger fluffed some minor notes but
nailed all the really big ones as he refused to lower the key of any song, At one point Pete started singing a completely different song to the rest of the band (he was looking at an old set list!) and then drew the band into an unrehearsed
'Pictures Of Lily' (having explained for the uninitiated what the song was about) - the teens turned around again and Don L was flying!! Divine intervention came with 20 minutes to go when the
sun broke through the grey clouds - even the Gods were loving it.
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| Who are you.... |
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| ....who who, who who |
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| It worked when I swung it at Woodstock! |
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| Ah, that's better! |
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| And the Gods were happy |
At the end, the stage announcer proclaimed it to be one of the
greatest performances he'd witnessed in
27 years at JazzFest, and around New Orleans it was the
talk of the town for the duration of the festival and will go down in future years as the show that everyone attended.
When you outlay
$58 and you get
two hours of The Who in all their pomp, preceded by
11 other stages of acts to choose from, and can eat some of
Louisiana's finest cuisine, then it really is a
bargain. We're on a high and so dinner is at the
Star Steak & Lobster House, a place we vowed never to go to again after 2013. But with
'Mr. New Orleans' at the door and the
formidable 'Miss Penny' serving our table (and having the sneaking suspicion that she remembered our prior encounter) we happily devoured our
lobster tails (2 for $20!). Making our way home we encounter a
Nawlinz wedding party in full swing,
umbrellas and white hankies waving, and
second line brass band blazing away as they danced down the street in their finery - the pics are awful and rushed, but somehow convey the excitement of the revelry.
GREAT DAY!! What's that? Another windmill? Okey dokey one more for luck......
Let's talk about JazzFest food tomorrow.......
