[Dixielandjazz] Pareles on the N.O. J & H Festival.

[Stephen G Barbone]

Two interesting points made in the below blog.

1) The Bon Jovi Set was mobbed.

2) Its scheduling in  the prime 6 PM slot left jazz fans with more  
time to see other bands.

Sounds like that's a win win situation for both promoters and fans.

Cheers,
Steve barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreet

NY TIMES - May 2, 2009, 11:32 PM - By JON PARELES

Jazzfest: A Bit of a Stretch

NEW ORLEANS — O.K., Saturday’s Jazzfest lineup was not exactly my all- 
time favorite, not with Bon Jovi — which is from a place somewhere  
outside New Orleans called New Jersey — as the top headliner. It’s a  
long way from Jazzfest’s origins as an event devoted entirely to music  
from Louisiana. At the first one, in 1970, the only band from outside  
Louisiana was the Duke Ellington Orchestra, which the festival  
commissioned to write his “New Orleans Suite.”

The Louisiana-only policy changed long ago, as the festival began  
booking some nationally known acts as bait for a wider audience, at  
the top of the bill, while locals still fill the vast majority of the  
slots. Even so, Jazzfest has always sought out acts with some  
connection to Louisiana music’s roots and offshoots, though that casts  
a wide net: jazz, blues, country, funk, bluegrass, hip-hop, African  
music, Caribbean music and jam bands.

The Dave Matthews Band, Wilco and James Taylor were among the  
headliners for Jazzfest’s first weekend this year; still to come  
tomorrow, unfortunately scheduled simultaneously, are Neil Young, Los  
Lobos and — hotly anticipated in this city of marathon funk jams —  
Chuck Brown, the patriarch of Washington’s go-go music. They all have  
more plausible connections to Louisiana music than Bon Jovi, even if  
Bon Jovi’s most recent album, “Lost Highway,” had some country  
trappings. But hey, I’m no concert promoter. Its set was mobbed — I  
wandered by long enough to hear Jon Bon Jovi announce that the New  
Orleans heat felt like summertime, which of course was an intro to the  
Bon Jovi song “Summertime” — and Bon Jovi left a lot of satisfied  
customers. If Metallica could headline Bonnaroo, Bon Jovi could play  
Jazzfest.

And for me, skipping Bon Jovi in the highly competitive 6 p.m. slot  
made more time for other bands. So I’m not complaining.