An electric air of anticipation and gratitude surrounding the Saenger Theater on Saturday night was impossible to ignore as a sold-out audience prepared to soak up the soul of the Neville Brothers one last time with the star-studded “Nevilles Forever” that proved to be a festive and fittingly funky family affair.
Citing the lack of a proper tribute to the living legends, who bequeathed their long-standing closing set at the Acura Stage after Jazz Fest 2012 to the next-generation star power of Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, promoter Keith Wortman (who organized a similar tribute to Dr. John at the Saenger during Jazz Fest last year) brought together a who’s who of musicians for an instant-classic concert that achieved steadily higher heights and capped by the chill-bumps closing appearance by the four Neville Brothers—Art, Charles, Aaron and Cyril (in order by age)—that will only add to their global lore.
With Art’s daughter Arthel Neville, an accomplished broadcast journalist, charmingly polished and in command in her role as emcee, the show kicked off with Anders Osborne joining the house band—featuring backing vocals by the McCrary Sisters, guitarist Brian Stoltz, drummer Omari Neville and a horn section of Mark Mullins, Bobby Campo and Jason Mingledorff—for an expert take on “Meet the Boys on the Battlefront.” The first of many standing ovations came next as Irma Thomas graced the stage to sing a cover of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” The angelic voice of John Boutte filled the gloriously renovated theater next as he sang “Like a Bird on a Wire.”
A grand piano was then rolled onto stage (the first of many quick and flawless instrument/set changes accommodating the array of musicians) for an appearance by Allen Toussaint to perform “The Greatest Love.” In one of many insider anecdotes that highlighted her role as emcee, Arthel Neville said the next musician told her over Jazz Fest a couple years ago that he saved a thank-you note she wrote to him as a child: Dr. John (Mac Rebennack), who was joined by Charles Neville on tenor sax for a stellar take on the instrumental “Valence Street”—a Nevilles’ classic named for the Uptown location that’s the center of the fabled clan—before “Big Chief.” The nod to the Nevilles’ music’s roots in the Mardi Gras Indian tradition continued in the following number as Trombone Shorty led on the Meters’ “Hey Pocky Way.”
After intermission, Georgia rockers Widespread Panic (the only non-New Orleans act to perform, but one steeped in local musical traditions) hit for two songs from the Nevilles’ considerable canon, performing tidy, reverent versions of “Voodoo” and “Hercules,” after which Panic frontman John Bell said “God bless the Nevilles, God bless New Orleans” upon exiting.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu then took to the stage, welcoming with him Quint Davis, who declared the Neville Brothers “carried the banner of New Orleans music around the world further and bigger than anyone,” before the mayor waxed political with musings on music’s transcendental power, the unrest in Baltimore, and memories of the Nevilles helping to reopen the Wisner Playground in the 13th Ward as a child before declaring May 2 Neville Brothers Day in New Orleans to wild applause.
The band Vintage Trouble played a spirited “My Brother’s Keeper” before Cyril Neville took to the mic. Saying he was going to “flip the script,” Cyril explained the role of the late George Landry, aka “Big Chief Jolly,” as “the patron saint of the Neville family” before launching into a “Wild Tchoupitoulas” jam highlighted by the thundering bass guitar of Charlie Wooten. Cyril’s current project Royal Southern Brotherhood played “The River of Life” next before a couple of songs by Dumpstaphunk, featuring second-generation Nevilles Ivan (keys) and Ian (guitar), during which the interplay of Charles Neville’s sax and Tony Hall’s bass provided one of the night’s many shining moments.
Trombone Shorty returned to the stage for “Fire on the Bayou” with his spirited solos giving a fitting energy to the epic song. Arthel Neville then announced “the moment we’ve all been waiting for” before the four brothers took to the stage to prolonged ovation. First performing “Yellow Moon,” the Neville Brothers next went into “Indian Red,” delivering vocal harmonies with such passionate precision on the timeless tune to create the night’s crowing achievement, showing once and for all that their harmonies, their sound will indeed live on forever.
