“They come and go to all the night shows because that’s where a lot of the magic happens,” said Paige of Blue Nile on Frenchmen Street.
NEW ORLEANS — As festival-goers prepare to fill the New Orleans fairgrounds for the second weekend of Jazz Fest, Jesse Paige at the Blue Nile on Frenchmen Street is in the middle of it.
“It’s the highlight of the year,” Paige said. “In a two-week period, we are doing about 26 shows. Each of these shows has five to ten musicians on stage.”
The live music bar may be about three miles from the fairgrounds, but like other music venues around town, there’s more than one way to experience some festivities.
“We know people who don’t even go to fairs. They come and go to every night show because that’s where a lot of the magic happens,” Paige said.
Paige says the night shows are a way for people to still have fun without all the worries of the festival, like crowds, lines, expenses or worries about the weather.
“There are many benefits to this. You’ll see things that you wouldn’t normally see, maybe, at fairs,” Paige said.
Since music festivals in New Orleans involve grids for mapping musical acts, there is a website to create your own. The website jazzfestgrids.com, which bills itself as ‘almost world famous’, is a one-stop shop for the who, what, where and when of the musical acts playing on the city’s stages.
“The advantage of having Jazz Fest is that it brings together a lot of people from all over the world and that includes musicians, so you never know who’s going to walk through the door,” Paige said.
Some of these artists are scheduled to perform at Jazz Fest. If you miss Kermit Ruffins or Soul Rebels this weekend, they will both be on Frenchmen Street. All this music and the crowds that accompany it help fill a gap for music clubs as the slow season approaches.
“Jazz Fest is that little economic boost that helps us get through the summer and that’s why it’s so important to us. Plus, we can showcase our musicians who play here year-round to a national audience,” said Paige.
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