FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: French Quarter Fest and Crawfest

Springtime in New Orleans means one thing: festival season. Jazz Fest already announced its typically impressive lineup (one of the best in recent memory, in my opinion), but today two more fests dropped lineups that remind us all how damn lucky we are to live here.

French Quarter Fest continues building its rep as the “local’s Jazz Fest,” with a diverse array of hometown favorites scheduled to play across the Quarter (for free!) the weekend of April 11. Most notably, Dr. John will play a set with his new Night Trippers band that he premiered at Voodoo Fest back in November. That show saw the good doc back in his old voodoo funk ways, backed by a who’s who of NOLA’s finest, who will presumably join him for the French Quarter Fest gig. See below for the complete lineup, along with some of our favorites who will be playing.

Also announced today was the lineup for Tulane’s annual Crawfest celebration of mudbugs and music. On April 5, the Tulane quad will host 18,000 pounds of crawfish, along with some of the best party bands touring today. Brooklyn-based funk powerhouse Lettuce will headline, likely with singer Nigel Hall, who has been holding down some seriously funky residencies around town the past few months. Piano wizard Marco Benevento will also appear for some dance-ready jams to whet appetites until he returns for his annual Jazz Fest marathon of shows. The event is free for Tulane students, and $10 for everyone else. Not bad for all the crawfish and music you want.

Tulane Crawfest Lineup

• Lettuce
• Marco Benevento
• The Main Squeeze
• Wild Child
• Ballyhoo!
• Flow Tribe
• The Original Pinettes Brass Band
• Sexual Thunder

French Quarter Fest Lineup (with our favorites in bold):

Thursday, April 10

• Bag of Donuts
• BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
• Benny Grunch and the Bunch
• Big Easy Playboys
• Blues Masters featuring “Big Al” Carson
• Bonerama
• Chris Owens
• Corey Ledet
• Eric Lindell
• Flow Tribe
• Fredy Omar con su Banda
• Gravy
• Irma Thomas, Soul Queen of New Orleans
• Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & Russell Batiste
• Lionel Ferbos and the Louisiana Shakers
• New Birth Brass Band
• Organic Trio
• Panorama Jazz Band
• PJ Morton
• PresHall Brass
• Soul Project NOLA
• Tank and the Bangas
• The Pfister Sisters
• The Victory Big Band
• Waylon Thibodeaux Band

Friday, April 11

• Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys
• Audacity Brass Band
• Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses
• Banu Gibson & the New Orleans Hot Jazz
• Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass
• Brass-A-Holics
• Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band
• Camile Baudoin and the Living Rumors
• Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band
• Connie Jones and the FQF All Stars
• Dash Rip Rock
• Davell Crawford
• Davis Rogan
• Debauche
• Diablo’s Horns
• Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders
• Donald Harrison, Jr.
• Dr. John and the Nite Trippers
• Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue
• George Porter, Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners
• Kid Merv and All That Jazz
• Lagniappe Brass Band
• Leroy Jones’ Original Hurricane Brass Band
• Luke Winslow-King
• Marc Stone
• Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas
• Nigel Hall
• Paul Sanchez and Minimum Rage
• Rebirth Brass Band
• Robin Barnes
• Rotary Downs
• Shannon Powell and his Traditional All-stars
• Stooges Brass Band
• The Dukes of Dixieland (40th Anniversary)
• The New Orleans Nightingales Revue
• The Roots of Music
• Tricia Boutte & Bootleg Operation
• Wendell Brunious

Saturday, April 12

• Amy Trail
• Andrew Duhon
• Babineaux Sisters Band
• Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr. & the Wild Magnolias
• Brother Tyrone & the Mindbenders
• Charmaine Neville
• Chegadao
• Chris s Mule & the Perpetrators
• Christian Serpas & Ghost Town
• Clive Wilson’s New Orleans Serenaders
• Colin Lake
• Corey Henry’s Treme Funktet
• Cori Walters and the Universe Jazz Band
• Dave Ferrato & Tchoupazine
• Denton Hatcher
• Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers
• Egg Yolk Jubilee
• Erica Falls
• Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes
• Feufollet
• Garden District Trio
• Glen David Andrews
• Hot Club of New Orleans
• Irvin Mayfield and the Jazz Playhouse Revue
• Jaland Crossland
• Jane Harvey Brown Traditional Jazz Stars
• Jerry Embree’s Jazzman Band
• Jimmy LaRocca’s Original Dixieland Jazz Band
• John Autin and Ex-Treme
• Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes
• Jumonville/Staehle
• Lars Edegran’s New Orleans Jazz Band
• Lena Prima and Band
• Lynn Drury
• New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings
• NOCCA Jazz Ensemble
• Onward Brass Band
• Opera on Tap
• Otra
• Ovi-G and the Froggies
• Rebecca Roubion
• Renard Poche Band
• Rick Trolsen’s New Orleans Po-Boys
• Roddie Romero & the Hub City Allstars
• Royal & Dumaine Hawaiians
• Russell Batiste & Friends w/ the Wild Tchoupitoulas featuring Jason Neville
• Rusty Metoyer and the Zydeco Krush
• Sean Ardoin-n-Zydekool
• Sean Bruce
• Some Like it Hot Traditional Jazz Band
• Steve Pistorius & the Southern Syncopators
• The Bottoms Up Blues Gang
• The Dixie Cups (50th Anniversary)
• The Irene Sage Band
• The New Orleans Jazz Vipers
• The Original Pinettes Brass Band
• The Ronnie Kole Show featuring John Perkins
• The Smoking Time Jazz Club
• Tim Laughlin
• Tom McDermott & His Jazz Hellions
• Tommy Malone
• Travis Meadows
• Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters
• Zion Trinity Band

Sunday, April 13

• Alexis and the Samurai
• Anais St. John
• Andrew Hall’s Society Brass Band
• Astral Project
• Baby Bee
• Bamboula 2000
• Bucktown All-Stars
• Carl LeBlanc
• Casa Samba Extravaganza
• Creole String Beans
• Crescent City Brass
• Dancing at Dusk with the Tom Saunders and the Tomcats
• Daria and the Hip Drops
• Don Jamison Heritage School of Music
• Gina Brown & Anutha Level
• Harmonouche
• Harpist Rachel Van Voorhees
• Helen Gillet’s Wazozo Zorchestra
• Hot 8 Brass Band
• I’voire Spectacle
• Ingrid Lucia
• James Andrews
• Jeremy Davenport
• John Fohl
• Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
• Kid Simmons Jazz Band
• Kristin Diable
• Leif Pedersen’s 1944 Big Band
• Leroy Jones & New Orleans’ Finest
• Les Freres Michot
• Lillian Boutte & Gumbo Zaire
• Linnzi Zaorski
• Little Freddie King
• Los Po-Boy-Citos
• Lost Bayou Ramblers
• Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra
• Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns
• Miss Sophie Lee
• Nasimiyu Marumba Band
• New Orleans Classic Jazz Orchestra
• New Orleans Moonshiners
• Orange Kellin’s New Orleans Deluxe Orchestra
• Orleans Brass Band
• Peter Novelli
• Raw Oyster Cult
• Rhodes Spedale & Cool Breeze
• Seva Venet and his Storyville Stringband
• Storyville Stompers Brass Band
• Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots
• Susan Cowsill
• The Believers
• The Friendly Travelers
• The Idlewild String Confederation
• The Iguanas
• The New Orleans Suspects
• The Uptown Jazz Orchestra
• Tommy Sancton’s New Orleans Legacy Band
• Treme Brass Band
• Tuba Skinny
• Wanda Rouzan and a Taste of New Orleans
• Young Reliance Brass Band