Sightseeing in the Big Easy

Check here for “just the Tip(itina’s)” for Jazz Fest virgins.
http://www.petdekat.com/p/jazz-fest.html?m=1

Check here for where all the nightlifie is going to be:
http://www.jazzfestgrids.com/first_weekend/

And sorry you’ll miss the Rolling Stones playing the next weekend.

Check “the cubes” for who will be playing when.
Don’t overschedule. Pick the highlights, and go where the music leads you.

Be sure to check out the craft areas for local artists.

And the food vendors are not going to disappoint. My “go to” items: Rose mint tea, Softshell crab poboy (I’m a total sucker for them, that’s just me, and they’re pricey at the Fest), Crawfish Bread (booyah!), Crawfish Monica (now available year round in the grocery stores like Rouse’s), boudin balls, crawfish sacks, heck all of the rest. I try to get items that I can’t make at home or are available only at Jazz Fest.

Don’t plan on trying everything. Treat the food like Spanish Tapas (another thing borrowed from our Spanish heritage in the NOLA gumbo). You plan to come again next year instead.

@star2286
and one of my favorite things to bring back when we visit:

Rouses Supermarket has good prices on this.

@mike808
I did not want to go when there was a huge festival going on, that’s why I avoided Mardi Gras. For my first time, I wanted to experience the city without a clusterfuck of people there. I don’t want to have to wait forever for food, drinks or have trouble getting around. I’m contemplating canceling my trip but I really don’t want to go much later either bc I don’t want it to be to hot and humid either.

Do you live in New Orleans?
If you do and I still go am I gonna have trouble booking tours (like a ghost tour or something) the day I get there or should I do that now? Do you know a tour company that’s a good one? Also as I mentioned, my last night, sat the 27th, I have no hotel booked (better get on that now) do you recommend checking out a different part of the city like the garden district or something? Do you have any other recommendations of things to do besides the jazz festival? I’m not renting a car so I don’t even know how I’d get there and back and with drinking who knows where I could end up. I’m assuming they’re still gonna people preforming in the streets and bars as usual even though it’s jazz festival? What is the weather gonna be like? I think these are all my questions for now.

@mike808
To see the arts and crafts do I have to buy a ticket to jazz fest? I was looking at the bands playing throughout the city and I don’t know any of them. You wanna maybe give me a few suggestions of bands that are worth checking out? Thanks it would super helpful or at least a couple of places that are gonna be closer to canal and bourbon street (where I’m staying) or a place that’s better than the other to see bands? I obviously know nothing about the city really, I’m just gonna explore. Any and all suggesting would be extremely helpful and I’ll grateful for.

@chienfou
Do you drink it by itself or mixed with something?

@Star2236
It’s a sipper (at least for me)

@Star2236 Nail down where you’re staying Sat night. It’s going to be a tough ticket, as everyone will be in for Jazz Fest. Everyone with a spare room has already rented it out on Airbnb or the other bnb sites. Hotel availability will be out in Metairie or the West Bank or even Slidell for non-jazz fest rates. And for that, you’re going to need a car. If you’re near Canal & the river, there’s quite a few hotels, but they’ll all be pricey and with Jazz Fest, no discount rooms are available.

Practice situational awareness. There’s places you can walk alone at night and odds are youll be fine. But there’s also places a block away that you are fresh tourist prey for the predators. Be aware of your surroundings and follow your gut. Pop into a bar, talk with a bouncer if you’re wanting help getting a cab/uber/lift back to wherever you’re staying/safe place.

Cab companies (if they haven’t been destroyed by Uber/Lyft) I remember are United Cab and Bell and Yellow Cab. Also, Uber/Lyft are going to have surge pricing in place. Everyone will be taking cabs from Jazz Fest after 7pm and then going out to dinner/nightclubs.

Streetcars run 24x7 (but like only every 30 min at the wee hours of the AM), keep singles and some change handy or buy a day pass on your phone via the Transit Authority app.

Bus lines also run nearly 24x7 as well on the main lines - Canal, Carrollton, Claiborne, Poydras.

If you’re hitting up nightclubs, it’s probably best to take a cab/uber/lyft, unless you know its right on the streetcar line.

Outside of Jazz Fest at the Fairgrounds, it will be more tourists than normal, but it won’t be Mardi Gras packed with crowds everywhere.

On the crafts, I was referring to those at the Fest and in the Fairgrounds (meaning it’s part of yoru admission ticket to the Fest). There’s all kinds of crafts/arts shops in the French Quarter, mainly along Royal street and Chartres by the Esplanade side of the quarter. And in the Market along the riverwalk.

You can walk anywhere in the quarter (as in don’t need a car) although it will take like a half hour to get from Canal to Esplanade. You can also probably walk from Canal to Poydras and along the convention center in the warehouse district.

There are any number of places to eat and splurge - too many to list. There are also some budget gems, and unfortunately, also some mediocre overpriced places that cater to the tourist industry because they don’t rely on local or repeat business. That said, places that suck don’t stay around in New Orleans.

One of my Jazz Fest favorite not-at-Jazz-Fest place is Port O’ Call (on Esplanade) for the Monsoons and burgers. Nearby is the Marigny/ Frenchman St area which has plenty of restaurants and bars and nightlife/entertainment.

@chienfou At Jazz Fest, this is another favorite.

@mike808
Thank you very much

@chienfou Do NOT wear dark colors when visiting Cafe DuMonde. Just don’t. Even if you skip the beignets, there will still be confectioner’s sugar spilled on you somehow.

@chienfou Posted above.

Rolling Stones are the following weekend at Jazz Fest.

For anyone that can’t be there, WWOZ will be streaming live performances (not headliners - due to recording contracts by the artists prohibiting concert recordings and broadcast).

https://www.wwoz.org/

Whisper me if you want to listen to WWOZ “Fest in Place” podcasts they aired in 2021 from the only JF that never happened (due to the Covid pandemic). Not even Katrina stopped the Fest. We just all went to Saint James Infirmary to get healed.

Those podcasts are the most hallowed collection from the WWOZ archives mind-blowing, booty-shakin’ funkmastery, tears of joy and sorrow () at the same time streaming down your face, “Dog died, roof leaks, crops failed, my baby left me” Blues, “Oh Lawdy, He’s Comin’” gospel, “Ain’t got dat ting if you ain’t got dat swing” Jazz, legendary performances by legendary artists.

@mike808
Thanks Mike