But the 2013 festival was plagued by heavy rains on the first Sunday and between weekends, which makes most of the Fair Infield muddy swamp. The festival this year, however, more or less enjoyed perfect weather for seven days.
Given good weather, this slight increase from 2013 is something of a surprise. Nor given year in the white 2012 450,000, the highest total attendance Jazz Fest since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Jazz Fest crowds this year were, predictably, the larger of the two "big" bands on the bill: Eric Clapton, the first Sunday and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the second Saturday. On both days, the public flooded the Acura Stage field and spread all the way to the outer fence around the dirt track.
But the crowds were noticeably thinner for other headliners. It was possible to navigate through the field , and even find a place to sit, Phish, Santana , Christina Aguilera, String Cheese Incident and on closing Sunday, Arcade Fire and Trombone Shorty .
The audience seemed to be distributed in a more uniform through the Fair this year. Frankie Beverly & Maze attracted a large crowd at the Congo Square Stage. Robert Plant and John Fogerty each played to huge audiences in the Samsung Galaxy Stage (formerly the Gentilly Stage). Those crowds took advantage of the extra space created by Portalets move all the way against the perimeter fences.
In addition to experiencing the festival in person, AXS TV broadcast 24 hours of coverage of multiple actions to a national audience.
The dates of the Jazz and Heritage Festival New Orleans 46 presented by Shell are April 24 to May 3, 2015.
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