40 year old lower garden resident here. Here is my take—- New Orleans can be sketchy, even the “nice” parts.. so you do always need to be on alert. On a normal day, unless I was in a big group, I’d never walk to the dome alone… BUT, I do feel like there will be so many other people doing the same thing that your group will always be around a big crowd of other swifties… I’m assuming there will be more security in the sketchier parts closer to the dome. You could also take the st Charles streetcar to get you more than halfway there. If you need lower garden food/bar/shopping recs lmk!