The celebration of jazz, rock, pop, country, R&B, gospel, blues, Cajun, zydeco and world beat kicks off with hometown hero Wynton Marsalis performing his epic Congo Square, featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Yacub Addy and Odadaa!
 

Also confirmed to appear at the event are Bonnie Raitt, Earth, Wind & Fire, Joe Cocker, Ben Harper, Erykah Badu, Etta James, Pete Seeger, Spoon, Common, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Buddy Guy, Los Lobos, Drive-By Truckers with Booker T. Jones and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.
 

Jazz Fest founder and executive producer George Wein joked that the crowd for Tuesday's news conference surpassed attendance at the first festival in 1970 as about 300 people witnessed performances by jazz pianist Duke Ellington and gospel singer Mahlia Jackson.

Attendance this year was between 375,000 and 400,000 people. About 400,000 people attended Jazz Fest in the spring of 2005, a few months before Katrina struck. Three years after the devastation of the hurricane, the music fest will be at full strength, with roughly 5,000 musicians in 580 groups filling 11 stages over seven days. "We've got a great party," Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis said as tickets for the 2009 festival went on sale. "We want the world to come."
 

For the 2009 event, prices for general admission tickets are frozen at $40 if purchased in advance and $50 at the gate. But Davis said a package of discounted tickets will be available for the first time, an idea developed before the country's economic meltdown.

"This is the year that our culture may actually save us economically," J. Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau said. "Travel is going to become softer across the U.S., but people are looking for one thing: They're looking for something that's real. They're looking for something that's authentic.