Though Jazzfest is ostensibly a daytime music festival, many attendees (this writer included) are all about the nighttime gigs. It is possible to see several shows a night without ever reaching the fairgrounds. Fortunately, we caught some daytime shows, like the McDonogh High School Gospel Choir and Paulette Wright in the Gospel Tent, Ellis Marsalis in the Jazz Tent, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux at Congo Square, and Eric Lindell at the Fais Do Do Stage, not to mention a rousing parade through the festival grounds with the Storyville Stompers. And then there were the headliners – Jimmy Buffett, Paul Simon, and Lionel Richie. But as expected, the real action was to be found outside the festival.

Dickinson, Neville and Medeski Celebrate JazzFest with Galactic - Last night, Galactic kicked-off its JazzFest festivities with a performance at New Orleans' Tipitina's Uptown. As expected, a number of notable names joined the funk collective onstage throughout its show, including the evening's opening act, Papa Mali, who performed alongside guest Andy J Forrest harpist on "Bottle Up & Go" and "I'm A Ram" near the end of the group's first set. During the early portion of Galactic's second set, the Glen Andrews, Troy Andrews and Terrence Higgins all performed on "Lickity Split," while Ivan Neville played keyboards on "If There's a Hell Below," "We're All Gonna Go," "Cardova" and "Look a Py Py." Next, the keyboard section of Will Bernard and John Medeski appeared on "Hot Pants Road" and "Calypso Minor," before Papa Mali retuned to help Galactic close out its set with the aid of Skerik. Finally, during Galactic's encore, Glenn Hartman, Skerik and Luther Dickinson all took the stage for "When the Levee Breaks." In addition, percussionist Mike Dillon performed throughout Galactic's entire jam-session. Galactic will perform at both the JazzFest Fairgrounds and Tipitina's Saturday. [Relix News]