I was there for Halloween, and it is so incredibly awesome. You're going to have an amazing time.
Bourbon Street is insane. 100's of bars you can just walk into grab a drink and walk out on the street and keep going. There is all kind of different places to check out on Bourbon, lots of dance clubs and a ton of live cover bands. If you're on Bourbon, don't stay in one place too long. There is so much to check out. The Beach and Pat O'Brians were the two places I remember on Bourbon that are definitely worth checking out.
If you're looking for an awesome club, go to Club Ampersand. Its not on Bourbon, but its great. They usually throw huge parties. Make sure you get a ticket in advance though, the lineups are usually brutal.
If you want to get into the local music scene the place to go to is Tipitinas. Its kind of in the middle of nowhere, but they always have great music. If Trombone Shorty is playing anywhere try and go see him, he is amazing.
Best part about New Orleans: bars don't close. Don't get too loaded too quick. I don't think we even started hitting the bars until about midnight.
The food is great. Make sure you try a Po Boy somewhere. We never went to any nice food places really, mostly just pubs and street vendors, but the food was still awesome. Crawfish, cajun food, Creole...it's all great.
As for sketchy/dangerous...yeah its pretty bad. Remember its one of the poorest cities in North America. Try and stay together as much as possible and avoid side streets and alley ways. If you're smart about it, you should be fine. On Bourbon Street and the touristy areas the worst thing you have to worry about is pick pockets. Once you get outside of the touristy areas it gets real sketchy real quick. But if you're smart about it, you shouldn't have any problems.
Have fun!
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