New Orleans Jazz Fest Canceled Due To Surge In COVID Cases

For a while, it appeared America was on track to put the COVID-19 pandemic in the past and society would get back to normal in 2021. Even sanctioned live events returned for the first time in over a year, but the coronavirus crisis is still affecting the music industry.

Organizers of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival called off this year’s edition scheduled for October 8-10 and 15-17 at the Fair Grounds Race Course. The Louisiana-based cultural event’s official website announced the celebration is looking to start back up in April and May of 2022.

An update from Jazz Fest reads:

As a result of the current exponential growth of new COVID cases in New Orleans and the region and the ongoing public health emergency, we must sadly announce that the 2021 edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, scheduled to take place October 8 –17, 2021, will not occur as planned. We now look forward to next spring, when we will present the Festival during its traditional timeframe. Next year’s dates are April 29 – May 8, 2022. Ticketholders for both Festival weekends (including those that rolled over their tickets from 2020) will receive an email this week with details about the ticket refund and rollover process. All Wednesday, October 13 tickets will be automatically refunded. In the meantime, we urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials, so that we can all soon experience together the joy that is Jazz Fest.
www.nojazzfest.com

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2021 was scheduled to host Hip Hop and R&B acts like Wu-Tang Clan featuring The Soul Rebels, H.E.R., Lizzo, Ludacris, Jon Batiste, The Isley Brothers, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Ledisi, Big Freedia, PJ Morton, and more.

COVID cases in New Orleans are reportedly up 91% over the last fourteen days. Louisiana is said to be the fifth-least vaccinated state in the nation. Only around 37% of Louisiana residents are fully vaccinated for COVID-19.

Most of the entire 2020 festival season was canceled as COVID-19 spread across the country, eventually causing more than 500,000 deaths in the United States last year. Festivals such as Rolling Loud Miami and Lollapalooza took place over the last few weeks with critics complaining the outdoor concerts could have been super-spreader events for the COVID Delta variant.