Dang, Jack, wish I'd have known you were going, I'd have loved to buy you a beer or something. My favorite part of the festival always happens in the small tents. I love David's Atelier specials.
I went and had a great time. Yeh, I thought the music was great. Living in the Baton Rouge area, finding live Cajun music within a distance I can drive home after (a few beers) is difficult, so having a couple of days of band after band after band was a special treat. I wish I could pick out a few to describe, but really it has all turned into a blur of enjoyment. Being from Lafayette, I grew up with the festival being just about a mandatory event. I have missed the last few years for various reasons but this year brought back the old feelings and I will definitely put it on my calendar next year as a priority. It still is my all-time favorite festival.
I concur with Jack on Les Ferailles. They were a real treat.
Because of the many conflicts, I missed Kyle Huval & Co, but did catch the Mid City Aces and Jesse Lege at the D'Anniversaire Stage. Although the venue is sort of off-grid, it's not as crowded as others, has it's own dedicated beer tent, and a museum with indoor plumbing.
The line-up in Cajun music was a little deeper this year - a welcome adjustment. Kudos to the organizers for a splendid festival.
I listened to the Festival Acadians on KRVS that weekend as I worked around my garage. They had a booth there that they kept mentioning how it was so nice to be right in the middle of everything, and they'd jump around to different stages to let the listening audience hear a variety of musicians. I caught about 2 hours of the program but that's about it. It was ok. I didn't hear anything nor any certain band or song that made me cry nor run to grab my accordion in uncontrollable excitement to play along. In other words, it was a sort of blah-zey affair for me that day. Just like any other Sunday. I did hear some chic singing some crazy stuff during that 2 hours, and that sealed it for me. They, "the organizers" are already importing foreignors to perform in place of the Cajuns. The writing is on the wall and ....."I SAW IT FIRST AND SCREAMED IT TO THE WORLD"
I digress, did anyone happen to catch the prices this year for a small, medium, and large bowl of gumbo? I'm trying to keep records on this matter so I can sue them for price gouging the people..... eventually.