When the heat finally starts to ease, The Northshore heads outside. Lawns fill with chairs and blankets, friends gather under the trees, and live music carries through the evening air. Bring your favorite festival setup, plan to stay awhile and check the details before you go—some venues welcome pets or let you bring your own drinks. Explore the full fall lineups at nine Northshore music venues, from five open-air concert series to four intimate indoor stages.
Bayou Jams in Heritage Park
1701 Bayou Ln, Slidell
Sundays, 5-7 p.m.
Slidell’s Bayou Jam Concert Series turns Heritage Park into an easygoing outdoor music venue, with live performances, waterfront views and plenty of room to spread out on the lawn. Pack a picnic, bring your chairs or blankets, and make an evening of it along the bayou. Ice chests are welcome, and admission is free.
The Lineup:
Oct. 4: Flow Tribe
Oct. 11: Amanda Shaw & The Cute Guys
Oct. 25: Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Nov. 6: Veterans Day Concert with Northshore Community Orchestra
Mandeville Live! Free Fridays
675 Lafitte St, Mandeville
Fridays, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Mandeville Live! brings free concerts to one of Old Mandeville’s favorite gathering places. The Mandeville Trailhead sits along the Tammany Trace on the site of the city’s former rail depot, where an amphitheater, lookout tower, splash pad and cultural museum now anchor a lively community space. On concert nights, the lawn fills with chairs and blankets as neighbors and visitors settle in for live music in the heart of Old Mandeville.
The Lineup:
Sep. 18: Voodoo Gumbo
Sep. 25: Phunky Monkeys
Oct. 2: Soul Revival
Oct. 23: Four Unplugged
Oct. 30: Amanda Shaw & The Cute Guys
Nov. 6: Red Hot Gentilly Peppers
Rockin’ the Rails at Covington Trailhead
419 N. New Hampshire St, Covington
Thursdays, 5:30-7 p.m.
Downtown Covington gets into the groove with Rockin’ the Rails, its free spring and fall concert series. The season opener takes place at Peter Atkins Park, with the remaining shows at the Covington Trailhead.
The vibe is relaxed, lively and distinctly local: couples dancing near the stage, families lining New Hampshire Street with strollers and coolers, and friends catching up between trips to the food trucks and beer wagon. Bring a lawn chair and claim a spot on the lawn or under the awning, or wear comfortable shoes and wander the crowd as the music plays.
The Lineup:
Sep 24: Kevin & The Blues Groovers (at Peter Atkins Park)
Oct 1: Amanda Shaw
Oct. 8: Groovy 7
Oct. 15: Whiskey Business
Oct. 22: Yeah You Right
Oct. 29: Rocketmen
Jazz'n the Vines at Wild Bush Farm & Vineyard
81250 LA-1082, Bush
Saturdays, 6:30-9 p.m. - Gates 5 p.m.
Settle in among the vines for Jazz’n the Vines, the outdoor concert series at Wild Bush Farm + Vineyard. It’s an easygoing evening for date night, a family outing or catching up with friends, with vineyard wines available for tasting and purchase and local food trucks serving dinner.
Bring your fest chairs, blankets and battery-powered candles and claim a spot on the lawn. Outside drinks, pets, bonfires and sky lanterns are not permitted.
Admission: $12 for ages 18+, $5 for ages 13-17 and free for ages 12 and younger.
The Lineup:
Sep. 12: HollyRock
Sep. 19: River Eckert
Oct. 24: T. Marie & Bayou Juju
Oct. 31: Sun Kil Moon
Nov. 21: Sally Baby's Silver Dollars
Sunset at the Landing
100 N. Columbia St, Covington
Sep. 18 and Oct. 16, 6-8 p.m.
Every third Friday from March through October, Covington's Sunset at the Landing turns Columbia Street Landing at the foot of Columbia Street into one of the city’s most atmospheric gathering spots. Bring a chair, blanket or picnic and settle beneath the trees as musicians perform beside the Bogue Falaya and the evening light fades across the river. The stage sits on the site of Covington’s historic boat landing, once an active harbor where schooners and steamboats connected Covington with New Orleans and other river communities, carrying goods, mail and passengers.
The concerts are free, with local and touring artists spanning jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass and more. The lineup is announced on Facebook one or two weeks before each show.
Click for more about Sunset at the Landing.
Friday Nites on the Square
100 Terrabella Blvd, Covington
Oct. 9 and Nov. 13, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
This free event features live music, food trucks and beverage vendors, and lots of green space for families to spread out and enjoy a beautiful evening – right in the heart of TerraBella’s Town Square.
No Weather Worries:
Listening Room Experiences
These indoor shows offer a different kind of concert experience, pairing standout performances with spaces that have character all their own. Historic halls, intimate listening rooms and community gathering places put audiences close to the artists, creating evenings that feel personal, atmospheric and rooted in place.
Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall
430 Lamarque St, Mandeville
Saturdays, 6:30-9 p.m. - Doors 5:30
The historic Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall is more than a music venue, it is an experience. If you’ve been, you know exactly what we mean. You can feel the history and magic inside this 1895-era building, the world's oldest, virtually-unaltered rural jazz hall in the world. The quaint space fills up quickly, but large crowds overflow in the nearby green spaces to hear the show through open windows. Bring your appetite: delicious, home-cooked meals by the ladies of the First Free Mission Baptist Church next door are available for purchase (while supplies last!).
The Lineup:
Sep. 26: Smoking Time Jazz Club: Blues Queens of the 1920s
Oct. 10: New Orleans Legends feat. Wendell Brunious
Oct. 24: Tom Worrell
Nov. 7: Stephanie Jordan
Nov. 14: Craig Klein Allstars & Mandeville High Jazz Ensemble
Dec. 5: Quiana Lynell & Northshore Gospel Choir
The Lobby Lounge
100 Harbor Center Blvd, Slidell
Weekdays, 6:30-9 p.m.
The Harbor Center's Lobby Lounge is an intimate space inside Slidell's largest convention arena, featuring nationally touring acts in a Bohemian-style, smoke-free venue with tables and plush seating in the tradition of an old-style listening room. Artists from the worlds of indie, folk, country, jazz, blues music and more perform acoustic or lightly amplified music. Advance ticket sales only.
The Lineup:
Thursday, Sep. 17: Dawn & Hawkes
Monday, Oct. 19: Abigail Flowers
Friday, Nov. 13: Amanda Shaw
Thursday, Dec. 17: Nanci Zhang
Abita Springs Opry
22161 Level St, Abita Springs
Saturdays, 7-9 p.m. - Doors 5:15
Louisiana roots music, country, bluegrass, gospel, zydeco, Cajun, swamp pop and more are highlighted at Abita Opry, held on three Saturday nights in spring and fall at Abita Springs Town Hall. Tickets are $20, all ages, all seats, and doors open at 5:15 p.m. with shows at 7 p.m. and free performances on the hall’s front porch from 4:45-6:45 p.m. weather permitting. Homemade dinners are available; proceeds benefit the town's cultural programs.
The Lineup:
Sep. 19: The Steve Anderson Band, Gina Forsyth and The Copper Roosters, Jonno and Katie’s “Louisiana Americana”, and Molly Reeves and Her New Orleans Jazz Band
Oct. 17: The Lucky Dogs, Cactus Thief, The Desert Nudes, and Ben Redwine and Friends
Nov. 21: Spring Chickens, Bad Penny Pleasuremakers, The Get Back Band and The Zion Harmonizers
Third Sunday Concerts at Christ Church
120 S. New Hampshire St, Covington
Sundays, 5-6 p.m. - Doors 4:30 p.m.
Now in its 36th season, the Third Sunday Concert Series presents free monthly performances by professional musicians in a variety of genres. Concerts are typically held at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Covington, where each one-hour performance is followed by a reception with refreshments for artists and audience members. Due to construction, the September concert will be held at Atrium Gallery at Christwood.
The setting brings its own sense of occasion. Christ Episcopal Church dates to 1847 and is Covington’s only surviving original house of worship from the pre-Civil War era. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the historic church has remained an important part of the Covington community for generations. The free concerts are a gift to the community.
The Lineup:
Sep. 20: Matt Lemmler & Pedro Segundo -- at Atrium Gallery at Christwood
Oct. 18: Loyola Opera Workshop
Nov. 15: Patrice Fisher and Arpa
Dec. 20: Louisiana Brass, led by Erik Morales
Find Your Fall Soundtrack
From sloping lawns and downtown trailheads to bayou-side parks and intimate listening rooms, fall music on The Northshore comes with a setting all its own. These recurring concert series are as much about gathering as they are about the lineup — spreading out a blanket, running into friends, dancing near the stage or discovering a musician you didn’t know you needed to hear.
And the music doesn’t stop there. As fall festival season gets underway, stages across The Northshore fill with local favorites, Louisiana artists and touring performers, giving you even more reasons to make a night — or a weekend — of it.
Find more live music, festivals and seasonal happenings on our event calendar and start planning your next fall outing.
