After a riotous series of monumental performances, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2024 finally wrapped up last Sunday evening, May 5, with Quint Davis offering gratitude towards Mother Nature at the festival's main stage.
Since its founding in 1970, the Jazz Fest has run into all types of weather-related issues and derailed the event's activities.
However, in this year's iteration, not a drop of rainfall was felt by the festival's stages, giving way for many other priceless moments to bear fruit.
Highlights of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2024
One particular moment was akin to the alignment of major celestial bodies, as the Rolling Stones graced the stage with a profound performance with Irma Thomas last Thursday, May 2.
This immensely impactful collaboration marks sixty years after the UK band adapted the NOLA soul queen's "Time Is On My Side" and made it into their first Top 10 American hit.
It is also the first time the Rolling Stones performed this piece with Thomas, adding to the profoundness of the set and contributing to a full-circle moment for the band.
Not to mention the fact that their momentous 18-song and two-hour set finally took place exactly five years since the band was initially booked for the fest's 50th anniversary in 2019, only to cancel following band frontman Mick Jagger's need to undergo cardiovascular surgery.
Indeed, their appearance at the fest warranted an inundation of fan excitement, with Thursday festival ticket sales clocking in at a capped 40,000, which is the first time the Jazz Fest has ever sold out in its entire over-five-decade-long history.
Take a look at this legendary moment yourself in a video right below shot by a fan.
In the last hour of the 2024 Jazz Fest, an "embarrassment of riches" courtesy of the legendary group Earth Wind & Fire, which set the Congo Square Stage ablaze with funk mastery.
The band kicked off their set with the classic radio hit "September" along with other faves, wrapping up in only 15 minutes of allotted time left.
A hop, skip, and a jump away to the Gentilly Stage was Bonnie Raitt's lulling performance of "Angel From Montgomery," dedicating it to its late composer: John Prine. She also gave tribute to Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack and Charles Neville, beloved departed from the NOLA music community.
All in all, in the words of Davis, 2024 was "a miraculous year," saying, "It was great. I mean, it was really great."
