In recent years, Jazz Fest hasn’t released its attendance figures, contending that the number gets too much attention. The quality of the festival and the enjoyment of those who attended are overlooked in post-fest stories that too often declare the festival a success or failure based solely on attendance. Good point – just because something’s measurable doesn’t mean it’s the story.
The number does give us an occasion for a final reflection on Jazz Fest and possible reasons why attendance was in the ballpark of 350,000. The press release that announced the attendance suggested that the rain and the threatening forecasts for more on the first weekend kept crowds down, but it’s hard to imagine that another day’s worth of people were kept away.
Many have pointed to the ticket prices, grousing that they were too expensive. Considering the price of other festivals and other concerts, $45 in advance, $60 at the door is a bargain. In other parts of North America, fans will pay more than $200 to see Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel act like the “happy” couple at a shotgun wedding. At those prices, it’s very possible that some of the people who used to attend daily are forced to take a few days off, but we’d all like better days when our houses were worth more, our jobs took care of our health insurance and the American League didn’t have the designated hitter.
Those who want lower ticket prices point to the Acura Stage and argue that we could do without the expensive talent that performs there. Typically, emails we get along those lines talk about how the writers never go to the Acura Stage, preferring instead the smaller stages like the Fais Do-Do Stage. If people did that, they came disguised as muddy turf; it was never easier to get to the front of that stage than it was this year. Those emailers usually eventually say, “and when I did go to Acura to see fill-in-the-blank,” after which they retell stories of bad behavior in Acuraville.
It’s easy to throw stones at the Acura Stage because inevitably, it’s the place where bands that don’t fit someone’s definition of Jazz Fest perform. But when bands that they think belong play Acura, the haters are there just like the people they look down on.
It’s also important to remember that tourists may come to Jazz Fest looking for a New Orleans/Louisiana musical experience, but for those of us who live here, we can have that experience daily. An all-NO/LA lineup offers little for locals; world music and the headliners are the only shows that we can’t see at least once a month in the artists’ more natural habitats, the bars.
I’ve just finished editing our Jazz Fest wrap-up, which will be out in the June issue, and two of the writers wrote that the festival has lost context, that what once made it special is missing, and what’s left behind is a sort of Disneyland for music-oriented adults. An event that once presented a number of unpredictable artists – some of the New Orleans greats that have passed including Professor Longhair, Earl King and Snooks Eaglin come immediately to mind – now features artists recreating a condensed version of their club shows, which are stronger because they assume more natural rhythms.
There’s a lot to think about in that. Obviously, not everybody played Jazz Fest as if it were just another gig. Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s set with Terence Blanchard, Jim James and Amy LaVere was a one-of-a-kind event, and I can’t imagine any two James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars shows being identical. His set leaned heavily on New Orleans R&B standards, but constantly changing lineup and ad hoc vibe to the show made it feel like anything could happen at any minute, and that if the same lineup was on another stage the next night, everything would be different except for the extreme looseness.
But Jazz Fest does seem aimed more than ever at musical tourists more than locals, offering those who’ve been at the festival before a chance to relive their previous year’s good times. The same bands play, often on the same stages and at the same times. Cowboy Mouth – late afternoon on the Gentilly Stage. Voice of the Wetland All-Stars – mid-afternoon on Acura. Young Cajun bands – before 1 on the Fais Do-Do Stage. Young rock bands – opening slot on the Gentilly Stage or mid-afternoon in the Lagniappe Stage. Dirty Dozen – early afternoon at Acura or Congo Square. That not only means that attendees can have the same fun they had in the same order, but it suggests that the NO/LA music scene is static, and that the biggest bands 10 years ago are the biggest bands now.
Obviously, there are some year-to-year changes – Pres Hall moving out of Economy Hall to Gentilly, Theresa Andersson moving to Fais Do-Do, Better Than Ezra moving from Acura to Gentilly – but this year it really seemed like a static festival, one that was there to offer the same fun that people had in years gone by. That feeling was underscored by the final Sunday, which now has three regular stage-closing bands: the Neville Brothers on the Acura Stage, the Radiators on the Gentilly Stage, and Frankie Beverly and Maze now close the Congo Square “My Louisiana” Stage with the electric slide.
The downside of so much repetition is that there’s less urgency to go to Jazz Fest. It has created the sense that if you miss this year, you can see it next year and not have missed much.
One friend that I used to race from stage to stage with now goes once a year at most, and then to eat more than anything else. Another friend considered this year a good year because the crowds were smaller and he could get what he wanted to eat. Music in both of their cases was a tertiary concern at best. If this admittedly anecdotal evidence represents more than just two people’s attitudes, that’s not a good sign for a music festival.
The more Jazz Fest emphasizes its continuity from year to year, the more it resembles the French Quarter Festival, and when people are given the chance to have two similar experiences, it’s not surprising in this economy if more and more opt for the free version.
It was understandable in the years immediately after Katrina that Jazz Fests were more or less like the pre-K Jazz Fests. The continuity then was reassuring. Now, the festival feels inert, and once-exciting out-of-town bookings (Old Crow Medicine Show and Elvis Costello, even though his show was really good) now contribute to the air of static-ness. That doesn’t mean its wholly static – the Dead Weather, My Morning Jacket and Elvis Perkins in Dearland were moments when the festival was absolutely contemporary, but they only made the umpteenth return of Van Morrison and B.B. King seem mossier in contrast. Clearly, Jazz Fest has the imagination to book with more adventure and find bands that make sense within the Jazz Fest rubric, but it doesn’t follow through.
Obviously, it’s dangerous to read too much into one year of the festival. I think this year’s attendance was largely predictable because it was hard to see who on the marquee would sell a lot of tickets beyond Simon and Garfunkel, Pearl Jam and perhaps My Morning Jacket, and each act had caveats. Another year and a stronger set of marquee acts adds 50,000 bodies in a moment. Factor in better weather and you get the sort of crowds that become uncomfortable on the Fair Grounds and no one’s second-guessing the festival. But if the festival wants difference-making numbers and the sort of experience that makes attendees feel like they’re learning something as opposed to having their preconceptions confirmed, Jazz Fest needs to shake off the crust.
