As Chuck Credo IV prepares an all-star band of New Orleans musicians to pay homage to the Rolling Stones at the NOLA Stones Fest on Friday night at Tipitina’s, he can’t help remembering what happened last year.

He calls it “the night the lights went out at Tipitina’s.”

Photo by Stephen Maloney

The 2014 NOLA Stones Fest was disrupted when a massive downpour outside got the better of the always shaky New Orleans power grid, and the packed house was instantly plunged into darkness in the middle of the show.

On stage, the band – Credo, John “Papa” Gros, Dave Malone, Alex McMurray, Joe Stark, Carl Dufrene, Chad Gilmore, and the Honey Island Swamp Band – were tearing through “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” when the power went out.

“We were right at the part where you sing ‘if we don’t, we’re gonna blow a 50 amp fuse,’ and boom, the power goes out,” Credo said.

While all electronic instruments were immediately rendered mute, drummer Chad Gilmore never stopped drumming, and he never missed a beat.

Chris Mulé, who had joined the percussion section on congas, kept time with Gilmore.

The crowd, initially silenced by the flashes of lightning and explosions of thunder that had suddenly claimed the night, roared back to life as cell phone lights illuminated the still-jamming drummers.

Photo by Stephen Maloney

From his spot at the center of the stage, Credo, who produces and organizes the show every year through his company WCA Festivals, was ready to signal Gilmore to wrap things up.

“I’m looking toward the back of the stage, and all of the sudden I see these lights start to flicker back on,” Credo said.

The rest of the band noticed too, and when the power flicked back on as abruptly as it had shut off, everyone was ready.

“We picked back up right where we left off!” Credo said. “It was unbelievable!”

The band dropped right back into high gear, but the storm outside didn’t let up for several hours.

Streets flooded, tree limbs blew down, water cascaded in along a backstage wall, but the music kept on going.

Dave Malone, who has seen pretty much everything in his days with the Radiators, said the power used to go out at Tipitina’s all the time in the 70s, but not like it did at that show.

“That was wild, man,” he said.

This year’s lineup, which includes Credo, Gros, Gilmore, Mulé, McMurray, Stark, Fred LeBlanc, Mike Dillon, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and several surprise guests, is ready for everything.

Hopefully, this year’s show will go off without a hitch.

But if something does go wrong, the band won’t miss a beat.