Jazz Fest 2012 Weekend One: A Recap

On Saturday I skipped going to the festival. I had sh*t to do and the lineup that day left me feeling “meh.” But one of the great things about Jazz Fest is all the shows that take place around New Orleans in small venues — even in people’s homes and backyards. Take, for instance, this: legendary bluesman Lee Fields performed in my buddy Ross’ living room that afternoon, a performance that was streamed live on Liveset. Below is a clip of Fields singing “Faithful Man” during that performance — seeing it in person made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Later that night Fields and his band, the Expressions, played a packed show at One Eyed Jacks. Leo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Quentin Tarantino were all there, though the only one I saw personally was Leo, who sat by himself up in the elevated VIP area smoking something that produced a little green light all night. You can barely see him, but the little dot in the pic below is the aforementioned little green light.