Springsteen Lights Up Jazz Fest

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"There's a lot of places I like," Dylan wrote in his Chronicles Volume 1. "But I like New Orleans better." So do we! That's why the Smoking Section rolled into the Big Easy this past weekend: to suck on some crawfish heads, savor the sweet sazerac's around Bourbon Street (the best are at Pat O's) and hit the first weekend of the thirty-seventh annual Jazz Fest.

On Friday, April 29th, seemingly unfazed by the horrific onslaught of Hurricane Katrina (known as "The K Word" down here) Jazz Fest went on, and music fans from all over the world converged at the racetrack here for three days of music featuring gospel, blues, zydeco, Indian groups, as well as superstars like Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews Band and Bruce Springsteen, who debuted his Seeger Sessions backing band on the main stage with a dramatic set on Sunday afternoon.

Inside the racetrack, the effects of Katrina were relatively unnoticeable. Those returning to Jazz Fest this year would notice nothing amiss: Volunteers manned food stands, pumping out po'boys, fried frogs' legs and almond-encrusted catfish; the brewskies flowed; the weather was flawless, hot and breezy, with a few sprinkles on Saturday.

Bob Dylan -- one of the few national acts on the bill (of Jazz Fest's 2006 more than 4,000 musicians, ninety-two percent could be considered locals, though many are still unable to return to their homes in the area). Wearing a white satin suit, Dylan didn't speak to the crowd aside from introducing his band. His set list offered imagery of floods in the Love and Theft gems "Highwater (For Charley Patton)" and "Lonesome Day Blues"; an ode to the mighty Mississippi, "Watching the River Flow"; and a venomous "Positively 4th Street," which could have been directed at FEMA.

Though a surprise appearance by the Edge during Dylan's set (a rumor that spread like wildfire on Friday) failed to materialize, the U2 guitarist sat in on a rendition of "Smooth Rider" with Dave Matthews Band on Saturday, as well as a pre-Jazz Fest set with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Thursday night.

Katrina seemed to be on the minds of all performers at the festival. "This is like a rebirth right here," said Lawrence Batiste, a survivor, and drummer with the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. And festival-goers could not escape witnessing the aftermath: Many homes around the racetrack are still abandoned, and it seems every other home down here has suffered extensive damage or boasts a "for sale" sign. In the French Quarter, where the Smoking Section has partied for years, nighttimes were eerily quiet. Restaurants and bars are still desperate for employees, and shops are closing due to a lull in tourism. The massive trees at the racetrack are still standing, but up to six feet high, the bark on their trunks is worn white from the flooding.

Elsewhere at Jazz Fest rapper Juvenile, a New Orleans native, sweated through his set. In the Gospel Tent -- the place to be, with one stunning soloist after another, backed by massive congregations -- the Antioch Choir won new believers. And the Meters, the Big Easy's legendary lords of funk, strutted on the Blues Stage.

Watching the great blues guitarist Sonny Landreth dazzle the crowd with his lightning slide guitar, infusing blues, soul and zydeco rhythms, was mesmerizing. But then we were sidetracked by Allen Toussaint's arrival in his pristine green and gold Rolls Royce. "It's a 1974-and-a-half Rolls," Toussaint told us backstage, after a moving set with Elvis Costello. "That car been with me since it was brand new. I wanted a white one, but when I looked at the white one in the sun it looked like a big white egg. So I got a green and gold one from Texas. It's part of the family."

Toussaint and Costello played tunes from their upcoming album, The River In Reverse, out next month. They're also planning a summer tour to include the Hollywood Bowl and New York's Beacon Theater. Toussaint says that he's still repairing his home in New Orleans, and he's elated by the turnout at this year's Jazz Fest. "It looks better than it did last year," he says. "There are more people than I've ever seen in my life."

But the most emotionally charged moment of the weekend came with the closing act. Springsteen and his Seeger Sessions Band came and rocked the Crescent City with their first-ever public performance of songs off the brand new, Pete Seeger-inspired We Shall Overcome: The Seegers Sessions.

With the eighteen-piece band wielding everything from banjos to accordions, steel guitars and mandolins -- and with plenty of backup singers in tow -- Springsteen inspired sing-a-longs throughout his very communal set. The rocker opened with the spiritual "O Mary Don't You Weep," singing with deep feeling the lines, "Brothers and sisters don't you cry/There'll be good times by and by."

In a performance dominated by numbers off We Shall Overcome, Springsteen also sang the Depression-era song "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" -- with new verses he wrote in response to Katrina. "Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?/There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levee's gone to Hell."

Jazz Fest continues next weekend, kicking off Friday May 5th with weekend performances by Paul Simon, Keith Urban and Fats Domino.