Galactic and Tipitina’s’ inaugural Landing Festival brought two days of music to New Orleans’ newly renovated South Shore Harbor over the weekend. Our own Elsa Hahne was there on Saturday to grab some excellent photos of the event, which you can check out below.
Paul Janeway of St. Paul and the Broken Bones.
Saturday’s festivities kicked off with a run of local acts, including Gravy, Maggie Koerner and the Soul Rebels, with the latter getting some help from Galactic’s Stanton Moore. Local guitar master Anders Osborne also played a set with his friends the North Mississippi Allstars, who invited the one-and-only Johnny Vidacovich to add another drum kit to the mix. The collaborative outfit–dubbed North Mississippi Osborne–treated fans to a number of tunes from their 2015 release Freedom & Dreams (the jammed out “Katrina” was a highlight), as well as a show-stopping rendition of Neil Young’s “Down by the River.”
The day continued with a delightful set from soul revivalists St. Paul & The Broken Bones, as frontman Paul Janeway once again proved himself a force-of-nature while backed by a tight rhythm section that included local saxophonist (and Loyola instructor) Jason Mingledorff. Eagles of Death Metal were up next with an hour of pure, undistilled rock before Cake came out for a generally solid performance that was ever-so-slightly held back by singer/guitarist John McRea’s penchant for dull stage banter.
Finally, festival hosts Galactic made their way to the main stage for the night’s headlining set. The show, which followed a fireworks display and a brief appearance by the Sophie B. Wright Charter School marching band, saw Galactic dive into plenty of material from their more recent albums. The set was elevated by sit ins from two of the band’s recurring guest vocalists, with Erica Falls joining the group for tunes like “Heart of Steel” and “Into the Deep,” and Maggie Koener bringing the energy on “Hey Na Na” and “Dolla Diva.”
All photos by Elsa Hahne.
