Essence Fest Day 1 Part I

Guest Blogger:Alison Fensterstock

One of my favorite parts of Essence Fest doesn’t even happen in the Dome. You can always tell the big weekend is starting, usually, when two things start happening on Poydras Street: one, huge crowds of dressed-to-kill festgoers parade in sky-high heels and ice-cream-colored summer dresses and linen suits from the hotels near the river toward the show. It’s a trek, but it’s better than finding parking, and it’s like watching a runway.

Two, a funky shantytown of vendors pops up in the blocks around the Dome, selling everything from handmade jewelry to barbecue. This year, I was especially excited to see what kind of Michael Jackson memorabilia would be on offer, but sadly, this year there was no vending – for no reason I could figure. (Does anyone out there know?)

In any case, lack of distraction got me to the Dome on time to see Salt-N-Pepa kick off the weekend with the mainstage’s first set. The duet was slicker and more polished than when they busted up the charts in 1986, as hip-hop’s first platinum-selling female act, and though both they and DJ Spinderella are hardly the bouncy, bratty teens they were, they don’t lack for a drop of energy. Classics like Push It and My Mic Sound Nice sounded totally true to form, and a couple of tracks the pair debuted from their upcoming project were top-notch vintage Salt-N-Pepa. In the first of what would be many, and many more elaborate tributes to Michael Jackson throughout the night, they dedicated their ’93 hit Whatta Man to the late singer.

Keeping it truly old-school in the McDonald’s Superlounge early in the evening was the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who also paid tribute to MJ, but with a twist. The group played a rollicking trad-jazz take on Rockin’ Robin, which Jackson recorded in 1972 with the Jackson 5.

Pres Hall had its own connection to the song. Elliot Gabriel, brother of the Hall’s clarinetist, Charlie Gabriel, had sung backup on Bobby Day’s original– in 1957.