Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 19/06/2026 22:34:00

Founded in 1977 by a group of fourteen friends determined to give an ailing local legend a place to play, Tipitina's has grown into the most storied music club in New Orleans. The so-called Fabulous Fourteen, many of them Tulane students and alumni, each put in around a thousand dollars to open a room at the corner of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street, where the pianist Professor Longhair, by then in his sixties and out of venues, could perform in the final years of his life. The club took its name from one of Longhair's best-loved songs, and he played there until his death in 1980; a mural of him still hangs above the stage. The building itself dates to 1912 and had earlier served as a gambling house, a gymnasium and a neighbourhood bar before it became a music venue, opening first under the address-derived name The 501 Club before adopting the Tipitina's identity. A remodel in the 1980s removed the apartments above the room and created the high-ceilinged hall with a balcony that audiences know today, improving the sight lines and backstage areas for a roughly 800-capacity space. Over the decades nearly every major New Orleans musician has played there, from Dr. John and the Neville Brothers to the Meters and the Radiators, alongside countless national and international acts who treat the club as hallowed ground. The venue keeps strong ties to the city's musical traditions, hosting a Fess Jazztival concert series during the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival and supporting brass bands, funk, zydeco, blues and jazz alongside touring rock. In December 2018 it was bought by the members of the New Orleans jam band Galactic, who formed the Tip-It Foundation to promote the music and culture of the Gulf South. A banana motif, an in-joke tied to the song that gave the club its name, has become part of its iconography, and the room remains an essential stop on any tour of the city's nightlife. More than four decades after a handful of fans pooled their money to honour one musician, Tipitina's endures as a working temple of New Orleans music.