Laissez les bons temps rouler.
It’s officially Mardi Gras day, which in a normal year would mean that the parades would be rolling through New Orleans and the streets would be filled with purple, green and gold revelers drunk at 8 AM fighting for beads and coconuts being thrown from extravagant floats.
It’s a magical experience, an experience that everybody should have at least once in their lives.
But like everything else, due to the COVID pandemic, this year’s Mardi Gras looks a little different.
Parades were cancelled, bars are closed, and Bourbon Street is shut down, leaving an eerie scene where there should be constant parties and debauchery.
I was supposed to be on a float this past weekend drunk off my ass as I rode through the streets of New Orleans – but since that couldn’t happen, I’ve been trying to make the best of it and remember what Mardi Gras is supposed to be like.
And that led me to this video.
Dierks Bentley released “Mardi Gras” on his 2016 album Black, and it features New Orleans superstar Trombone Shorty providing some accompaniment.
Dierks is no stranger to what Mardi Gras is all about, having ridden in the Krewe of Orpheus parade and headlined their Mardi Gras ball back in 2015. So it’s only natural that he would team up with Trombone Shorty, who’s one of the most popular entertainers in New Orleans today, to record a tune paying tribute to the madness that is Mardi Gras.
So while there are no parades or balls or beads this year, crack a beer (maybe an Abita) or pour yourself a hurricane and enjoy this 2018 performance of “Mardi Gras” from Dierks and Trombone Shorty from the Seven Peaks Festival in Colorado – and hopefully next year we’ll be able to have a real Fat Tuesday celebration.
And for a little lagniappe, here’s the studio version.
Just make sure you get all your sinning out today.
Lent starts tomorrow…
