The Boss is heading to New Orleans.
A performance by Bruce Springsteen is one of 35 added to the lineup for this year’s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, scheduled over two weekends — April 28-30 and May 5-7. He’s slated to close out the first weekend, festival producer Quint Davis said Wednesday.
Springsteen will perform with the Seeger Sessions Band, the musicians who backed him on an upcoming album inspired by folk singer Pete Seeger. It’s scheduled for release April 25. Davis said part of the album’s title, “We Shall Overcome,” is a fitting theme for the spirit of the storm-battered city.
It features Springsteen’s interpretations of 13 traditional folk songs that have been associated for decades with Seeger.
Etta James, Herbie Hancock, Dave Bartholomew and Warren Haynes were among the acts announced Wednesday.
Dr. John, Bob Dylan and Cowboy Mouth will be performing on opening day, April 28. Galactic, the Dave Matthews Band and Clarence “Frogman” Henry will perform April 29, and joining Springsteen on April 30 will be the Meters, Yolanda Adams and Allen Toussaint.
Kicking off the second weekend on May 5: Doug Kershaw, Keith Urban, Little Feat, Marcia Ball and Koko Taylor and Her Blues Machine. Jimmy Buffet, the Radiators, Buckwheat Zydeco and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band perform on May 6, and Fats Domino, Paul Simon, Lionel Richie, Irma Thomas and Pete Fountain close out the festival on May 7.
As usual, Jazz Fest will be held at the New Orleans Fair Grounds. The horse racing track was flooded and had wind damage from Hurricane Katrina, but work crews have been repairing and upgrading damaged areas, Davis said.
As with Mardi Gras, it’s hard to say what kind of attendance this year’s festival will draw. It usually brings in roughly 500,000 music lovers over the course of the two weekends.