'ACL' Live Shots

Rebirth Brass Band

This gig may as well have taken place in the Economy Hall tent at New Orleans' annual Jazz & Heritage Festival. That's the famous home to the best in jazz, Dixie, and big band blues, swing, and other specialties of the Big Easy, such as the Rebirth Brass band. The eight-man brass band made all the comparisons of ACL Fest to Jazz Fest favorable and pleasurable. Their rollicking opener, "Feel Like Funkin' It Up" decreed that the crowd stand, as the singer pointed to the SRO audience of at least 1,500 to "tell those people sitting down in the middle to stand up!" The standers told and the sitters stood and from that moment until the last note of "Tutti Frutti," it was nonstop, ass-to-brass jumpin' and pumpin' into late afternoon. There were some mighty spectacular performances under the mantle of the CapMet tent during ACL Fest's debut year, including divinely inspired gospel sets from the Bells of Joys and the Mighty Sincere Voices of Navasota. Here's a prediction that this tent will have to double in seating next year.