This past weekend, Lincoln Center hosted an outdoor concert for the 25th Annual Roots of American Music Festival. Saturday's event was called "The Heart of New Orleans" and on the bill was some of New Orleans' greats ... Hot 8 Brass Band, Shamarr Allen, Marc Stone, Irma Thomas and our very dear friends, John Boutte, Leroy Jones, Todd Duke and Peter Harris!
It was a perfect night. Weather was beautiful, and the crowd was feeling the vibe. I got there about 6:30 and was met at the side of the stage by Lee. He gave me a wrist band so I could hang backstage with them and watch the show from there. When I saw John, he ran at me and just about jumped into my arms (quite the greeting, I must say!). Can't believe I haven't seen him since FQF!
John, Lee, Todd and Peter took the stage at 7pm. Lee was absolutely brilliant, Todd amazing and John, well, was sheer perfection. Even though he was a bit under the weather and felt like he was only at 70%, he really was at 200%. Incredible!! They opened with Louisiana 1927 (of course, I cried), and also did Good Neighbor, Sisters, Broke Down the Door/Treme Song, Door Poppin', Southern Man, Lipstick Traces, Skylark and then he did it ... American Tune, a cappella. Again, I cried like a baby. He had mentioned earlier that he didn't think he had the voice to do it, but he found it ... and the crowd went nuts! It was really an amazing sight to see 200+ people standing and staring in awe at the power of his voice. They closed with When The Saints Go Marching In.
I drove the boys back to their hotel after the show - everyone was exhausted ... Lee had played the Hall on Friday and was on about 3 hours sleep, Todd was spent and as I mentioned, John wasn't feeling well. But, I have to say that the car ride was one of the funniest moments I've ever spent with those guys. John was on fiyah!! Todd said he wished he had a tape recorder so he could capture all of the John-isms that were flying out of his mouth. We laughed so hard and so much in such a short period of time. It was just silly and great and I wished that moment could've gone on forever...
It was such a fun and wonderful night, and it made me realize even more how much I love NOLA, love my friends and how much I am missing them both.
1 comment:
Sounds like another magic moment. Glad you were able to live it.
Post a Comment