Mark your calendars for the 45th Annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (for the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May.) Popularly known as Jazz Fest, from Friday, April 25th – Sunday, April 27th, and Thursday, May 1st – Sunday, May 4th, music fans from all over the world will flock to the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course for seven days of musical acts, traditional foods, and art from around the globe. Whether you are a visitor to New Orleans, or you are a resident that frequents Jazz Fest regularly, making plans to attend Jazz Fest comes with its preparations and efforts. Between transportation, “weathering” the weather and crowds, and knowing the rules and regulations, as your local lawyer, I am here to offer you all the details you need to prepare for Jazz Fest 2014.
Buying Your Tickets to Jazz Fest
The best resource to find out which musical acts are playing at Jazz Fest this year is to visit the official website at www.nojazzfest.com, but I’m personally looking forward to Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen. In addition to this, you can download the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival App for your iPhone or Android mobile device. Before you decide which days you want to attend Jazz Fest, you should take a look at the schedule of musical acts. In New Orleans, we call the schedule of musical acts, the “cubes.”
Did you know there are 12 stages and at almost any given time between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., you can watch and listen to someone amazing? Some of the headlining acts this year include Santana, Eric Clapton, Christina Aguilera, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Phish. Tickets to each day are $55 in advance and $70 at the door. This is why you want to know which musicians you want to see perform, in advance! Children’s tickets (ages 2-10) are $5 and only available at the gate. When you buy a ticket to Jazz Fest, you are buying it for either the first weekend or the second weekend. So, although you should decide which weekend you are buying the ticket for, you do not have to make a decision as to which actual day of that weekend you are going until the day comes. There are no refunds, so don’t miss out and first weekend tickets cannot be used for the second weekend.
How do you buy tickets? You can buy them online here through Ticketmaster. You can also call Ticketmaster by Phone, visit a Ticketmaster Outlet, or visit the Smoothie King Arena Box Office at 1501 Girod Street. All tickets are subject to additional service fees. Jazz Fest tickets are General Admission unless you choose a ticket package such as the Big Chief VIP Experience, Grand Marshal VIP Pass, or Krewe of Jazz Fest VIP Pass. These ticket packages offer reserved seating for each specific weekend. A final way to purchase your Jazz Fest tickets is through a combination of the Gray Lines Jazz Fest Express shuttle. This is a great way to avoid the service fees and brings us to “getting to Jazz Fest.”
Transportation and How to Get to Jazz Fest
The Gray Line Jazz Fest Express is one of the many ways you can get to Jazz Fest. The benefit of this shuttle is that it is the only bus that takes you within the gates of the festival. What does this mean? It means that as early as 11:00 a.m. (the opening of the gates), you can enter the Festival through a line that is only as long as the number of people on your bus. This is huge because we can predict a record number of people will be at Jazz Fest in 2014, and those lines will be long! There are three shuttle pick-up and drop-off locations around New Orleans: Steamboat Natchez Dock (Downtown, $18 RT), Sheraton Hotel at Canal Street (Downtown, $18 RT) and City Park near Marconi & Harrison Ave (Mid-City, $15 RT). You can purchase your shuttle ticket and your Jazz Fest admission ticket by calling Gray Line through 4 p.m. on April 24th for the first weekend and through 4 p.m. on April 30th for the second weekend. My hidden tip to you is if you choose to do this: there are no extra service fees!
Other ways to get to the Fest include the RTA Canal St Streetcar Line, which will bring you to the end of the Museum line (not the Cemeteries line!) at Wisner Blvd and Esplanade Ave. From there, you will walk to the Fair Grounds, but you won’t be alone. The RTA also operates their Esplanade bus at Canal & Rampart Streets and rides to Grand Route St. John. If you have a car, the parking lot at the Fair Grounds is reserved for Big Chief and Grand Marshal VIP ticket holders. You may have to park in the surrounding residential neighborhoods, but it is recommended you stay with a partner or group when walking these streets. Also, beware of street signs!
Parking Enforcement will be out and about in the area and they will be looking for the following:
- Cars parked within 20 feet of an intersection, crosswalk or stop sign
- Cars parked within 20 feet of a fire hydrant
- Cars parked facing the wrong way on each side of the street
- Cars parked in a driveway blocking a sidewalk
Parking will be difficult in the vicinity, so plan to walk. Or, use the public transportation. New Orleans is a zoo around Jazz Fest and the traffic is utterly insane. There is free bicycle parking available near the Gentilly Blvd. pedestrian gate. Lastly, and especially if you plan to drink alcohol, you can always call one of the local New Orleans taxicab companies such as United Cab or American Taxi.
Getting Safely to Jazz Fest
This is your friendly reminder that drinking and driving is illegal and that you can not only be pulled over and charged with a DWI but you can also seriously injure or kill yourself or someone else. Do not plan to drive during Jazz Fest if you are drinking. If you happen to get pulled over for a DWI, it is important to call an experienced New Orleans DWI Lawyer immediately. Know your rights. If you aren’t planning to drink at Jazz Fest, and you do drive your car, make sure you are aware of the street signs and laws of parking in New Orleans. Should you receive a parking ticket while at Jazz Fest, you will have to pay it. But, if this is an accrued parking ticket and you now owe a number of fines, it may be possible to arrange a deal for paying off all of the parking tickets at a reduced total amount. As your lawyer, I can help arrange for the consolidation and negotiate the total amount of the final bill. John Radziewicz of Crescent City Law Firm is available to speak with you for a free initial consultation via e-mail or phone at (504) 264-9492 days, nights and weekends. Stay tuned for more pertinent 2014 Jazz Fest information right here on our blog.
