Yesterday (April 17th, 2009), marked the kickoff of the 26th annual French Quarter Fest. As the workweek wound down, I listed along with WWOZ’s live broadcast, anxiously racing down to the French Quarter, hoping to catch the tail end of the Honey Island Swamp Band’s set. That unfortunately didn’t happen, but I did arrive in time to hear the powerhouse wail of Irene Sage rip through a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On." It’s always a treat to see Sage, whose presence in the scene has declined over the years. Her husky, unhinged vocals always bring about a good time. She’s the closest thing the Big Easy has to Ann Wilson, and her thunderous closer at FQF, “Soul to Soul,” certainly solidified that comparison.

It’s certainly been a busy fulfilling few months for us at Groovescapes since our launch in October.  As we begin a new year, the horizon is looking brighter than ever.  We have a lot in store for you in 2009, including a soon-to-be launched social networking platform for both musicians and fans and a New Orleans specific online music store.  We’ve also got a few changes in store for the Groovescapes blog as well.  But before I get ahead of myself, I’d like to usher in 2009 with a monster photoblog from a handful of shows which occurred over the last few months…. beginning in October at Gretna Fest and continuing to cover the New Orleans Indie Rock Collective, the Super Secret Fireman’s Other Masked Band Ball, Tim Reynolds and Paul Sanchez, and Connor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band.

The word on Wednesday is which fake show will be better?