The 2022 French Quarter Festival will return in April. Organisers had to cancel the coronavirus pandemic and last years.
“We worked hard and waited patiently, and now the countdown for our 2022 spring festival is officially started,” stated Emily Madero, chief executive of French Quarter Festivals, Inc., a non-profit that produces the event. We are back strong with more than 1,800 local musicians, 50 chefs and restaurants, interactive fan experiences and evening programming throughout the city. FQFI is proud that it will kick off New Orleans’ festival season with an authentic celebration. We welcome everyone to join us in making this an unforgettable four-day event.
The festival will host more than 260 acts from April 21 to April 24, with thousands expected to crowd the French Quarter. This event will launch three consecutive weeks of music with the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which will take place the next two weekends at Fair Grounds Race Course.
Tarriona “Tank”, the singer, was present to announce the festival’s revival in spring, The Times Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.
Ball beamingly stated, “I love food, I love people, and I love how free and open it is.” “We are happy to be back.”
Ball, from the Grammy-nominated band Tank and the Bangas joins a list of artists who will perform, including Irma Thomas and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Walter “Wolfman” Washington. Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monstrous Gentlemen, Amanda Shaw and Chubby Carrier. Rickie Lee Jones will also be performing at the festival for the first time.
Loose Cattle is another artist who will be performing for the first-time. It features Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris, part-time New Orleans resident and Loose Cattle; the Lilli Lewis Project and Da Truth Brass Band; Gumbeaux Juice and the Electric Yat Quartet. Notel Motel also features Alexey Marti, a Cuban-born drummer.
The music will be played daily from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. The complete schedule will be available in March.
General admission is free. VIP packages can be purchased at $129 per person or $399 for the 4-day weekend.
Festival food vendors will be supplied by more than 50 local restaurants.
The French Quarter Festival moved its springtime festival from 2020 to 2021 in an effort to reduce COVID infections. The French Quarter Fest had to cancel its fall dates, just like Jazz Fest.
However, the partial payment was received by about 1,500 musicians and gig-workers who were contracted to perform at last year’s festival. Chevron, French Quarter Festival’s principal sponsor, provided $150,000 to fund these payments. Jazz Fest paid musicians a portion of their fees last year.
Madero stated that acts that were scheduled to perform in 2020 or 2021 were given priority when this year’s French Quarter Festival festival booking was made.