New Orleans Jazz Fest 2025 Review: Weekend 1 Highlights & Memorable Moments
Wesley Hodges runs down his experiences in New Orleans attending the first weekend of Jazz Fest.
By Wesley Hodges Apr 29, 2025 • 1:32 pm PDT
Now my longest running annual tradition (a shared experience with countless lifelong attendees no doubt), New Orleans Jazz Fest acts as a centerpoint on the calendar and internal clock, a special gathering of friends from all around to plan and look forward to throughout the year. With some new element(s) and fine-tuned touches introduced each year to enhance the Fairgrounds offerings, the adventure continues to evolve in the American institution’s sixth decade, while still providing an essential level of familiarity around the track.
The Fest welcomes over 5,000 musicians playing nearly every conceivable style of music imaginable, making it hard to capture much of a comprehensive take in this space (because you inevitably miss a lot when there are a dozen-plus stages over the Festival’s 64 hours of operation over eight days).
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While the outsized NOLA and Gulf South presence on the artist bill is always the baseline all-but-guaranteeing an impeccable weekend (or weekends) filled to the brim with outstanding (and diverse) music, it was the African continent that truly shined (in addition to Cultural Exchange Pavilion feature country artists, art and cuisine from Mexico) this year on the Fest’s first weekend.
So here’s my best shot at capturing what I was able to see (or hear about) during the first half of Jazz Fest 2025, an opening weekend filled with food, drink and eclectic music from all around the globe are below.
Thursday, April 24
Opening day, ever since the second Thursday was added (increasing the total of unique bills / Fest days from seven to eight), is always the best chance to enjoy a spacious, relaxed and less-crowded version of Jazz Fest. This year’s Cultural Exchange Pavilion was decked out in colorful cantina-style “papel picado,” art installations and accented by a Mexico flavored dining and drink area (*phenomenal* tamales, micheladas, mezcal, etc).
At high noon on opening day (after a quick pit stop for the dapper Audrey Ferguson and The Voices of Distinction — a quartet in matching lavender dresses who clearly just got their hair done up), a first stop in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion was in order for Mariachi en Nueva Orleans Los Viajeros, a local uptempo mariachi group setting the special international area’s impeccable vibe for the next eight days – this is where an outsized share of the most memorable magic occurred.
Le Trainiump | Congo Square
Over at Congo Square, Mamou, Louisiana’s rising star LeTrainiump did an outstanding rendition of Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step” (the first of two covers of the song on the stage – Babyface would later hit the 1989 new jack swing classic during his chartbuster set).
Flagboy Giz and Wild Tchoupitoulas | Congo Square
Next up at Congo Square, the local Black Masking Indian troupe Flagboy Giz & The Wild Tchoupitoulas threw down one of the most powerful, boisterous and downright fun sets of the weekend, delivering a hard-hitting set of bounce-heavy New Orleans-style hip-hop, much of which coulda fit among some of the greatest Cash Money releases in the 1990s and 2000s.
Highlights from the set included “Uptown” (the studio feature is a track with Mannie Fresh) and the Central City holiday anthem “Saint Joe” (a time-honored tradition held every March 19 to honor the patronage of St. Joseph, always heavy with Mardi Gras Indian parades throughout the city’s center). Giz’s songwriting and prowess are as good as any producing in the city (or anywhere?) at the moment, with sharp and cutting rap commentary about the dynamic and ever-changing demographics in his hometown (check out “Gentri Fire in the City”).
I got the neighborhood lookin like a reservation
Everything I wear I make it
I’m a warrior with the feathers but I ain’t Aztec
Gentrify (Gentri Fire) til all the culture gone
El Dusty & The Homies | Cultural Exchange Pavilion
The Texas-based trio El Dusty and the Homies lit up the Cultural Exchange Pavilion, comprised of a drummer, percussion player and a DJ, and blended cumbia beats with psych-tinged jazz, hip-hop and soul. This was one of the better sets and most energized crowds of the entire first weekend, setting a tone for this particular space, which more often than not, played host to lively dance parties in a well-decorated and joyous environment.
El Dusty was one of the many featured artists making multiple Fest appearances as part of the celebration of Mexican music.
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe | Congo Square
Making a first Fest appearance in ages with his main squeeze the Tiny Universe, the legend of Jazz Fest late night Karl Denson was back in a big way in 2025 (he notably performed as a member of The Rolling Stones in 2024), putting on a groove-laden funk party for the Congo crowd, in addition to his slot in as a member of Current Futures (see below) and an appearance at Preservation Hall's Midnight Preserves set with Goose and David Shaw.
The ageless sax king showed no signs of slowing down any time soon, and the world continues to be better for it, the man knows how to lead (and have) a good time.
Sam Bush | Fais Do Do Stage
Speaking of grey-haired legends/masters of their musical domain, bluegrass/new grass icon Sam Bush's headlining slot may not have had the massive draw of Goose, John Fogerty or Seun Kuti, but the Telluride mandolin king put on a show for those who made it over, touching on his well-worn classics like the reggae-tinged “Revival,” New Grass classic “Same Ol River” and some John Hartford covers (“On The Road” and “Up on the Hill Where They Do The Boogie”), serving up his trademark congenial smile and masterful playing throughout.
Photos by Adam McCullough
Thursday Bites, Sights & Lagniappe
Temperi’s Market Kitchen Yella – Tamales Pollo Con Mole (quite possibly the meal of the weekend, right out of the gate)
Mike Dillon joined The Iceman Special's well-attended psych rock set at Gentilly Stage for the duration. The beloved rockers have quickly become a can’t miss staple at the Fairgrounds.
Goose (Gentilly Stage) – The Connecticut jam band celebrated last weekend’s release of their latest LP Everything Must Go in spectacular fashion, playing their first headlining set at Jazz Fest on Thursday, appearing at Preservation Hall's Midnight Preserves and three members playing a special one-off jamtronica show alongside Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner (as the cheekily-named Foie Gras & CrumpUntz) that went deep into the wee hours Thursday. Kicking off their set at Gentilly with “Madhuvan,” the set served as a nice entry point for those new to the band, and an opportunity to debut a few of the new songs from the latest output.
Current Futures at Cafe Istanbul: Undoubtedly one of the strongest superjam-style shows going down during all of Jazz Fest, the Saint Claude venue was packed out for a two-hour-plus jam led by Robert Walter, alongside his bandmates, Karl Denson (sax) and Chris Stillwell (bass), along with Will Bernard (guitar) and Stanton Moore (Galactic) on drums. This was as good as they get as a pure improv offering and captured the essence of what makes the after hours so special.
Friday, April 25
Starting things off in the dewsweeper slot at 11:15am, the locally famed singing car salesman Ronnie Lamarque played alongside his 21-piece big band (including John “Papa” Gros on keys), leading a Vegas lounge style set through a dozen classic covers including Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” The Allman Brothers Band’s “Statesboro Blues” and Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” to close.
Mahmoud Chouki | Lagniappe Stage
The first of a half dozen stellar performances by an African born and/or based artist I saw during weekend one, NOLA resident Mahmoud Chouki, a musicultural pluralist originally from Morocco dazzled amongst the greenery and hedgerows surrounding the Lagniappe Stage (located in the paddocks of the horse track’s venue), playing with emotional depth and raw emotion on an array of far out stringed instruments (cigar box oud) alongside Noah Young from Naughty Professor on bass and an all round stellar backing ensemble.
Chouki took the crowd on a journey through music, embellishing the sheer fact that “New Orleans music” goes far beyond the bounds of brass band, bounce rap, jazz and funk, and this endlessly ranging palette is always best on display at the Fairgrounds. Chouki has made a name for himself in the city over the last decade or so and his set at Lagniappe showed why cultural pluralism is perhaps the city’s greatest strength, an ever-increasing asset.
Gospel Tent Wedding
At just after 2:30 p.m., a couple (congrats to the newlyweds Perry and Alex Rankin) were united in marriage onstage in the Gospel Tent, a time-honored tradition in Jazz Fest’s most holy venue. Good luck to the happy couple.
Youssou Ndour | Congo Square
Youssou N’Dour led one of the most raucous sets of the weekend at Congo Square, holding the crowd in the palm of his hands and leading much call-and-response, surrounded by a wildly colorful and dance-talented band. Pure, unadulterated fun and heavy on personality, N’dour is a larger-than-life Afropop icon in his home country and continent, and it’s easy to see why.
Vickie Winans & Davell Crawford | Gospel Tent
Vickie Winans & Davell Crawford played to one of the largest crowds of the weekend. This duo had major pipes that could stack up to Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville, stunningly uplifting and chills-inducing sounds of praise from these two.
As the day winded down on Friday, the conflicts began to build. I wanted to see four different acts closing out the day, so a long tour was in order. After a quick hit to see Return To Forever jazz bass titan Stanley Clarke N4Ever was followed by a stop for country/folk sensation Kacey Musgraves on the main Festival Stage, then on to catch a glimpse of “Empress of Soul” Gladys Knight before rounding it out over at Gentilly just in time to see Cheap Trick invoking a major singalong to their 1978 classic “Surrender.”
Friday Bites, Sights & Lagniappe
Quail and Pheasant Gumbo from Prejean’s in Lafayette never misses, one of the Festival’s best and smokiest bites, every single year.
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Saturday, April 26
Arriving later than the other three days, Saturday had the largest crowds of any of the first four days after a couple lighter first two days, largely thanks to the first time pairing of Lil Wayne with The Roots to close out the main Festival Stage, who had folks parked in front of the Festival Stage in chairs for the entire day (a concept I cannot understand, but respect nonetheless).
Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band | Fais Do Do Stage
One of Jazz Fest’s longest running traditions, zydeco veterans Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band have played every year on the Fais Do Do Stage since 1991, which has had the same stage manager for 50 years. Daigrepont pointed out that it’s a true family affair, his wife plays washboard and most of his extended family was in attendance (including his son and grandchild).
Always fun to see new things, but there’s a level of comfort being in the same place at the same time seeing the same band each and every year. Long live Bruce Daigrepont, once again the quartet delivered a stirring good time zydeco set and all those who stopped in as they strolled by seemed to stick around for awhile. Moths to a flame when the good time zydeco is churning at Fais Do Do.
Big Freedia | Congo Square Stage
The evolution and growth of Big Freedia over the last 15 or so years I’ve been seeing shows has been fascinating to behold. From ratchet bounce parties at The Republic to this year’s heavily gospel-influenced shows (Freedia also performed with a children’s choir on Sunday in the gospel tent), the star continues to grow on the heels of 2022’s breakthrough feature on Beyoncé‘s summer anthem mega hit “Break My Soul” (which was performed towards the raucous later portion of show when the gospel robes and songs were put aside for twerk-laden bounce bangers.
Touching on “Killing Me Softly” and setting the stage aflame with a dance competition, this was as good and fun and musically well-executed as any Freedia set I’ve ever seen among dozens. Plus, I can’t imagine Bill Haley and (or?) His Comets envisioned a bounce version three-quarters of a century later when they first wrote and performed “Rock around the Clock” (which went into Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.”)
Zar Electrik: Music of The Maghreb | Lagniappe Stage/Cultural Exchange Pavilion
Zar Electrik was circled and highlighted during the cubes review, I was intrigued by their description and this trio delivered the most unique set of weekend one. Anass Zine’s voice is stunning in power and captivating to a live audience, when he opened the show the crowd watched in stunned near-silence, before the band leveled up and people started moving. The songs carried activist messaging over utterly engrossing and entrancing music with a whole lot of danceability.
After recently having a breakout moment with the recent release of a Tiny Desk concert, the sky’s the limit for this group, with enough power, entrancement to lead a much larger crowd (come to Red Rocks some day, please). The Lagniappe stage set was only to be topped for the day by Zar’s later set after an hour break, where they played more of an upbeat trance, techno and house set in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion. Gotta love when a one hour set feels like an odyssean (and out of this world) journey across the globe.
Babyface | Congo Square
As a kid of the 1990s, the set I looked forward to most this weekend was at Congo Square, the 67-year-old singer/songwriter/producer was decked out in a dripping silver Versace sequin, while his band donned sparkling matching black sequins, the look was as good as the music.
Babyface remarked that he “just had a birthday (67) and I’m feelin it” and joked that it’s “Babyface not baby body” before playing Boyz II Men’s “Water Runs Dry” seated while plucking an acoustic before going into Eric Clapton’s ’90s hit “Change The World.”
Following the stripped down acoustic segment, Babyface ran through one of the most impressive medleys of songs he’d written, performed, recorded and/or produced, the kind of live career retrospective very few if any have in their history (Nile Rodgers is the only comparison I can think of). The medley included a run through songs recorded by Toni Braxton, Madonna, Karyn White, Usher, Monica, Boyz II Men, TLC, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Whitney Houston (while “we miss you Whitney” was shown on screen).
Not exactly a lightweight that Babyface…
Saturday Bites, Sights & Lagniappe
Buffaleaux Oysters / Vegan Gumbo Brocato
Greyboy Allstars took things deep into the night at their 2 a.m. performance at Tipitina’s. A return to the stage, Karl Denson has played until near-dawn countless times in his career. No exception, always one of the best sets of the year when Greyboy is back in motion.
Val & Love Alive Mass Choir in the Gospel Tent on the way out signed off on a spectacular day.
While I was at Babyface for the duration, The Roots backed Lil Wayne on the main stage, performing for a good 30 minutes to rev the swelling crowd up before Weezy joined and tore through snippets from his lengthy catalog, bringing the largest audience of the weekend to the Fairgrounds.
Sunday, April 27
Jake Shimabukuro | Cultural Exchange Pavilion
A year after appearing and taking a solo medley on the Festival Stage at the Jimmy Buffett Coral Reefer Band celebration/tribute, Jake Shimabukuro dazzled with dizzying ukulele dexterity and range in the Cultural Exchange early on Sunday, playing to a packed house and covering “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” among others. Spotted the great John Boutté in the crowd trying to get up close to behold.
New Orleans Gospel Soul Children featuring Big Freedia | Gospel Tent
In perhaps the set of the weekend for the Gospel Tent, the New Orleans Gospel Soul Children featuring Big Freedia was a star-studded and joyous hour of praise, with Freedia showing much range and powerful director skills as a choir leader for the group she spent many years in the ’90s as a member.
After Freedia’s stint, Gospel tent titan Craig Adams took over lead responsibilities and led the charge on keys and vocals for a stint midway through the set. With a gospel album release on the horizon this year (a couple singles are already out), hoping Freedia gospel becomes an annual tradition, if anyone with decision making responsibilities/influence happens to read this, bless up for making this happen.
Etran de L’Air | Cultural Exchange Pavilion
Etran De L’Aïr of Niger in the Cultural Exchange was perhaps the most fun moment of the entire weekend (along with Zar Electrik’s phenomenal sets on Saturday at Lagniappe and in the Exchange Tent). Etran was different from other solo guitar led Tuareg groups I’ve seen over the years (Bombino and Mdou Moctar to name a couple), the two lead guitarists trading solos and in a continuous improvisational dialog was riveting to behold and incredibly easy to dance to.
A wildly emphatic dance party ensued as the stone cold focused and serious Saharan rock band from the mountains of Agadez made a name for themselves to folks like me who had never seen (or heard of) these guys before Sunday. Seemingly everyone who got in for this one walked away weary from dancing with big smiles – Etran delivered one of the more memorable and charged performances of the entire Festival, without question, tearing through an hour of electrifying party music in my now favorite Jazz Fest venue (the Cultural Exchange Pavilion played host to no less than four of the dozen standout sets of the weekend I was able to see).
Dave Matthews Band | Festival Stage
Dave Matthews Band chose New Orleans Jazz Fest’s main stage to play their first full performance of 2025 (and Dave would later play at Preservation Hall’s Midnight Preserves for a lucky couple hundred folks) and did the main stage crowd well, putting on a two hour set chockful of classics, a few covers and the band’s first performance of “Word Up” by Cameo.
This was DMB’s 10th time headlining Jazz Fest (their first being May 5, 1996) and fans of any era were treated to a career-spanning setlist that hit on the early classics (opening with “Ants Marching” and “So Much To Say,” in addition to “Dancing Nancies” and “Jimi Thing”) and the nod to cajun country and sounds of “Alligator Pie” from 2009’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, the album paying homage to beloved original member LeRoi Moore after his passing.
Closing out the show in style with the first “Thank You” performance in a decade, DMB shut down weekend one strong with “Grey Street,” exiting the stage after a burner of a two-hour headline set.
Sunday Bites, Sights, Night Moves & Lagniappe
Over to Oak Street after the fest for featured Tony Hall and Ivan Neville (both of Dumpstaphunk), Ari Teitel (of The Rumble) and Raymond Weber on the kit.
A tradition unlike any other: Fried chicken on Sunday for lunch to soak up a big weekend
Caught the Irish rock juggernauts Fontaines D.C. at the sold out downtown Civic Theatre on Monday night, who are on a quick ascendance to festival headlining status on a sold out US tour and plans for a trio of festivals in the UK and Ireland with 40,000 or more fans (all sold-out). Energy of the crowd on the floor may have put a sinkhole in the New Orleans CBD.
