Laissez le bon temps rouler again! October 2021 was supposed to bring the long-awaited New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for the first time since 2019, but the event had to be cancelled due to the Delta surge. So New Orleans musicians and music venues are saying the show must go on and launching an unprecedented new innovative way to welcome visitors called “NOLAxNOLA” (NOLA BY NOLA).
Grammy Award Winner and “Soul Queen of New Orleans” Irma Thomas and NOLAxNOLA creator and producer Sid Greenbaum will be LIVE from one of New Orleans most iconic live music venues.
NOLAxNOLA is brand new concert series in which some of the Crescent City’s most celebrated musical entertainers will perform concerts at iconic venues throughout the city, in smaller, safer crowds.
Some of the city’s most well-known venues such as Tipitina’s and Preservation Hall will host musicians including Trombone Shorty, Jon Cleary, Big Freedia and many more renowned artists who call New Orleans home.
Music venues, nightclubs, performers and the city’s tourism leaders have formed a new coalition to bring live music back to New Orleans after the COVID crisis when musicians and other live performers from across the country lost billions as entertainment venues were shuttered.
Throughout history, some of the world’s most legendary brass musicians and singers are all credited as a major influence in the birth of Jazz music which began in New Orleans.
New Orleans joins other major cities in the United States such as New York and San Francisco with the highest COVID safety guidelines for residents and visitors.
To keep music lovers safe, all guests who attend NOLAxNOLA must wear masks, show proof of a COVID vaccination or a negative COVID PCR test from within the last 72 hours of entry into venues. City officials say 80% of New Orleanians have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
Tickets can be purchased at neworleans.com/nolaxnola.
Upcoming Events
- NOLAxNOLA: October 7-17 (and possibly longer)
- Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade: October 23
- Halloween Festivities: October 29-31
- Bayou Classic Weekend: November 26-27
- Holidays New Orleans Style: December 1–31
- Carnival Season 2022: January 6 – March 1
- Fat Tuesday: March 1, 2022
2021 New Orleans Tourism Facts:
- New Orleans has opened new hotels, new restaurants and new cultural and tourist attractions including The Four Seasons, Hotel Kimpton, JAMNOLA, Virgin Hotel, the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience and much more.
- New Orleans tourism and entertainment venues are fully open, and the Carnival Glory ship is once again sailing from the Port of New Orleans.
- New Orleans has become creative in preserving its generations old cultural traditions such as transforming homes into house floats at Mardi Gras, a new tradition that has become a year-round neighborhood event. And now, NOLAxNOLA in place of the traditional Jazz Fest.
- Tourism is a $10 billion annual industry in New Orleans, employing more than 100,000 people prior to COVID.
