Medeski Martin & Wood have announced a headlining show at New Orleans’ The Orpheum Theater on Friday, April 23. Described as an “exclusive, one-night-only performance,” the gig will take place during the first weekend of the revered New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and is currently the jazz-funk trio’s only confirmed 2027 date.
Artist presale tickets go on sale this Wednesday, October 21, at 10 am local, with the general on-sale beginning Friday, October 23, at 10 am local.
“New Orleans holds a special place in our hearts. [Superfly co-founder] Jonathan Mayers, who we sadly lost in 2025, was an early supporter and he flew us down to play Tips in 1996. We brought our parents and dubbed it ‘The Parental Summit,’” says Medeski, who performed at Mayers’ 2025 memorial at New York’s Brooklyn Bowl. “We fell in love with the place and over the following 20 years we had countless great shows, met so many of our musical heroes and had great times there.”
MMW reconvened for two shows aboard Jam Cruise this year as well as an appearance at South Kora’s Seoul Jazz Festival, but the trio’s upcoming New Orleans gig is their first North American show since a single-set spot at Brooklyn Comes Alive in 2022. They have largely been hiatus for much of the past decade, coming together only for select appearances, usually at a festival or in a collaborative setting.
Medeski Martin & Wood will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of Shack-man, which was originally released on October 15, 1996, via Gramavision, with a limited-edition fluorescent green vinyl reissue from Real Gone Records. Recorded at a remote DIY studio in the Hawaiian jungle that the band dubbed The Shack, it remains one of MMW’s most iconic works.
