Spring Excitement in Music
This spring, the South is the place to be if you are as big of a music fan as I. Not only does southern Louisiana and southern Alabama have phenomenal springtime weather, but we have a collection of world class festivals to accompany the perfection. Two of the festivals a music fan can attend exposed their 2014 line-ups for this spring. Both line-ups have me feeling like a kid on Christmas. To start, New Orleans’ 45th annual jazz and Heritage Festival will begin April 25-27 and end May 1-4. This year’s festival may be the best ever with Santana and Phish opening the main stage and Eric Clapton closing the weekend with a bang. That’s right! You read correctly; Eric Clapton will be at this year’s Jazz Fest. It’s been rumored that he is coming to the end of his career now that he is pushing 70. What a treat for a Clapton lover and appreciator like me to be able to witness one of his last shows.
This spring, the South is the place to be if you are as big of a music fan as I. Not only does southern Louisiana and southern Alabama have phenomenal springtime weather, but we have a collection of world class festivals to accompany the perfection. Two of the festivals a music fan can attend exposed their 2014 line-ups for this spring. Both line-ups have me feeling like a kid on Christmas. To start, New Orleans’ 45th annual jazz and Heritage Festival will begin April 25-27 and end May 1-4. This year’s festival may be the best ever with Santana and Phish opening the main stage and Eric Clapton closing the weekend with a bang. That’s right! You read correctly; Eric Clapton will be at this year’s Jazz Fest. It’s been rumored that he is coming to the end of his career now that he is pushing 70. What a treat for a Clapton lover and appreciator like me to be able to witness one of his last shows.
The
following weekend will be nothing but awe inspiring as well. The String Cheese Incident and Lyle Lovett
take the stage on May 1, Christina Aguilera May 2, Bruce Springsteen May 3, and
Aaron Neville and The Radiators closing out the festivities. Of course, I’ve only mentioned a minute few
talents at this year's jazz festival.
There are hundreds of big name bands as well as local talents gracing
the music lover with their beats and rhythms this year. Check out the Jazz Fest website for more
information. And as the locals say,
laissez les bon temps roule!
As if the
Jazz fest announcent wasn’t enough to make you smile for a year, Gulf Shores
Alabama’s Hang Out festival comes right around the corner. For those who have lived under a rock for the
past few years, the Hang Out festival is a one-of- a-kind festival. Three days filled with sun and sand, and bathing
suits are the norm! This festival is by
no means any less exciting than that of the Jazz Fest. Hang Out also brings some big name
headliners. Some of the big names
include The Black Keys, Outkast, Jack Johnson, Queens of the Stone Age, and
Amos Lee. I’m very excited to see a new
talent making his way up the charts. His
name is Allen Stone. He is a younger
talent with style that is Stevie Wonderish.
His style is so sweet, I bet he
will be the headliner for next year.
Unlike Jazz Fest, this festival is a three day event starting May 16 and
ending May 18. If you are new to the
Hang Out fest, I recommend you follow Brian Kelly. Here you will find pictures, video clips, and information about previous
years at the Hang Out festival so that you can be completely prepared for the
excitement you are in store for.
I hope to see you at both festivals. This is what my spring consists of and if you
are a true festival lover, yours will too.
Sullivan, James. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/clapton- springsteen/and/santana-top2014-jazz-fest-lineup-20140114
Specker, Lawrence. Http://blog.al.com/entertainment_impact/print./2014/hangout
http://blog.nola.com/entertainment/impact_music/print.html
