{"id":2254011,"date":"2026-01-28T06:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2254011"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:01:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:01:31","slug":"the-meters-add-second-show-during-2026-new-orleans-jazz-fest-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-meters-add-second-show-during-2026-new-orleans-jazz-fest-music\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meters add second show during 2026 New Orleans Jazz Fest | Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Iconic New Orleans funk band The Meters’ May 2 reunion at the Saenger Theatre sold out the same day tickets went on sale, but the band has now announced a second reunion show during the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s not surprising.<\/p>\n

What is surprising is how one member of The Meters found out about the new date \u2014\u00a0during an onstage interview aboard the cruise ship Eurodam somewhere between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Cozumel.<\/p>\n

On the morning of Jan. 22, I interviewed Meters bassist George Porter Jr. and percussionist\/vocalist Cyril Neville during the Big Easy Cruise, an annual, weeklong New Orleans music festival at sea.<\/p>\n

At the outset of our conversation in front of a couple hundred fans in the Eurodam\u2019s Rolling Stone Lounge, I congratulated Porter and Neville on how quickly the May 2 show sold out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Porter then shared something he\u2019d just learned: The Meters would play another show, this one during Jazz Fest\u2019s first weekend.<\/p>\n

That was news to Neville. He hadn\u2019t been told about the new concert yet.<\/p>\n

He turned to his wife, Gaynielle, who was standing to the side of the stage and asked her if he was even available to play with the Meters on the fest’s first weekend. She assured him he was available.<\/p>\n

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The Meters’ Leo Nocentelli, left, and George Porter Jr. perform on the Acura Stage during the New Orleans Jazz Fest Sunday, May 3, 2015. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com<\/a> | The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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\n (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com |The Times-Picayune)<\/span>
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On the ship, Porter and Neville were still a little fuzzy on the details. But at noon Tuesday, promoters Live Nation and Dayglo made the official announcement: The Meters will perform at the Fillmore in New Orleans on April 24.<\/p>\n

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These will be the Meters’ first performances since the death of founding keyboardist Art Neville in 2019<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The current incarnation of The Meters<\/a> includes Porter, original drummer Joseph \u201cZigaboo\u201d Modeliste and original guitarist Leo Nocentelli, plus Cyril Neville, who officially joined the band ahead of the classic 1975 album \u201cFire On the Bayou.\u201d Ivan Neville will fill in for his uncle Art on keyboards and vocals.<\/p>\n

Ivan will do double duty on April 24. His band Dumpstaphunk<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which includes Art\u2019s son Ian Neville on guitar\u00a0\u2014 will open for the Meters at the Saenger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sailing with musicians<\/h3>\n

Producers of the Big Easy Cruise hire me to interview musicians as we sail. In addition to Porter and Neville, this year I chatted with Samantha Fish, Marc Broussard, Preservation Hall\u2019s Ben Jaffe, members of Cowboy Mouth and Little Feat, and a southwest Louisiana all-star trio consisting of Chubby Carrier, Wayne Toups and BeauSoleil frontman Michael Doucet.<\/p>\n

I also hosted the \u201cPianorama\u201d concert featuring Jon Cleary, John \u201cPapa\u201d Gros, Oscar Rossignoli and Kyle Roussel. They performed individually then collectively in a four-keyboard finale.<\/p>\n

That was the \u201cwork\u201d part of the trip.<\/p>\n

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Guitarist Leo Nocentelli, left, and singer Cyril Neville of The Meters perform on the Acura Stage during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Sunday, May 3, 2015, at the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course.<\/p>\n

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\n Advocate staff photo by SCOTT THRELKELD <\/span>
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I also enjoyed onboard performances and\/or conversations with John Boutte, Helen Gillet, Anders Osborne, the all-female Shake \u2018Em Up Jazz Band, southern rock sister act Larkin Poe\u00a0\u2014 one of a handful of non-Louisiana artists on the bill\u00a0\u2014 the Honey Island Swamp Band, Susan Cowsill, the Tin Men, Omari Neville & the Fuel, the Pine Leaf Boys, the Soul Rebels, Johnny Sansone and burlesque dancer Trixie Minx.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As on previous Big Easy Cruises, it was fun to be sequestered at sea with a segment of the New Orleans music community and a couple thousand fans. The shared experience only enhanced what is already a tight-knit, collaborative community of musicians.<\/p>\n

When Anders Osborne\u2019s voice gave out on the second-to-last night, Samantha Fish, Johnny Sansone and the Honey Island Swamp Band\u2019s Aaron Wilkinson stepped in to cover the vocals for him. Osborne returned the favor by sitting in on guitar during Fish\u2019s closing-night set.<\/p>\n

There were many other sit-ins throughout the week, and not just during the late-night jams hosted by the Tin Men\u2019s Alex McMurray. During John \u201cPapa\u201d Gros\u2019 tribute to Dr. John, longtime Dr. John guitarist John Fohl and Porter \u2014 who, with his fellow Meters, backed Dr. John on several classic recordings \u2014 joined in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Secrets revealed<\/h3>\n

During my interview with Fish, she said she plans to attend this Sunday’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles; her 2025 release “Paper Doll” is nominated for best contemporary blues album<\/a>. In response to a fan’s question, she also revealed that she has a live album in the works.<\/p>\n

But nobody else surprised a bandmate quite like Porter did with Cyril Neville.<\/p>\n

Porter went on to say he hopes The Meters showcase songs they rarely, if ever, performed throughout the band\u2019s nearly 60-year history.<\/p>\n

That complicated history is full of twists and turns, highs and lows. Getting the principal members of the band together is no easy task. Business-wise, they are not a single, cohesive unit\u00a0\u2014 each musician was apparently contracted individually for the upcoming concerts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But as evidenced by the Saenger show selling out the same day tickets went on sale, love for Meters music remains strong.<\/p>\n

And as Porter let slip aboard the Big Easy Cruise, fans now have a second chance to hear that music come alive again during Jazz Fest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iconic New Orleans funk band The Meters’ May 2 reunion at the Saenger Theatre sold out the same day tickets went on sale, but the band has now announced a second reunion show during the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.\u00a0 That’s not surprising. What is surprising is how one member of The Meters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2254012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[128321],"class_list":["post-2254011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-hardwall"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Meters-add-second-show-during-2026-New-Orleans-Jazz.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2254011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2254013,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254011\/revisions\/2254013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2254012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2254011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2254011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2254011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}