3 Nights, 3 Shows, 3 States — Night 2: The Feat didn't fail us
The crowd was light and low-energy, but Little Feat remains one of the great underappreciated bands
Little Feat lost their main musical force over 40 years ago and only briefly tasted mainstream success. It hasn’t exactly been an easy road.
But while many better-known bands have fallen by the wayside or become shells of their former selves, Little Feat is still going strong. The second night of my 3 Nights, 3 Shows, 3 States tour landed in Davenport, Iowa, where I met up with concert buddy Shawn and watched the Feat rock what was, unfortunately, a disappointing crowd.
There were many times Little Feat could have failed permanently. One of their founders and the driving force behind much of their best music, Lowell George broke up the band several times, including before his untimely death in 1979.
Even at their most popular, the band was never a household name. They reformed in 1987 and had some of their biggest mainstream success — my parents had Let It Roll on cassette, which was my introduction to the band.
The band has had times of dormancy and plenty of tragedy. But original member Bill Payne — one of the finest keyboard players in rock history, along with members for more than 50 years in bassist Kenny Gradney and percussionist Sam Clayton, and 38-year member Fred Tackett — have managed to keep the tradition going. And when other longtime members like Richie Hayward and Paul Barrere passed, outstanding replacements were chosen. Scott Sherrard on vocals/guitar and Tony Leone on drums/vocals have helped give the band new life.
In fact, Little Feat recently released a new album — Strike Up the Band. It’s outstanding, with the songs fitting seamlessly into their live show. This was my second time seeing Little Feat — I first saw them in Decatur in 2023.
Here’s a look at night 2 — a true honor to still be able to see this legendary band. Thanks to Shawn for being a part of the night and helping out with photos/videos. It was also great to connect with Big Jim, who I first met last summer in Peoria for Allman Betts and JD Simo.
VENUE: Capitol Theater, Davenport, Iowa. This was my first time there — it’s a renovated old theater, à la the Castle in Bloomington or the Lincoln in Decatur. They took out the seats near the stage to make a pit area, but for this show they had temporary plastic chairs for seating in that area.
MERCH: Little Feat had a great selection of shirts, vinyl, CDs and other accessories, including socks! They had tour posters, but I didn’t love the way they looked. I didn’t buy anything the night of the show, but plan to pick up their new record on vinyl, a tour shirt and definitely those socks.
VIEWING SPOT: We started out in row 5, center cut — really solid seats. But we eventually moved to a spot two rows closer but off to the side in hopes of finding a place we could stand without being told to sit down…
CROWD: It wasn’t very full. I have to think booking shows in Chicago and Peoria in the same week affected attendance. I’m not sure why they would do that.
Little Feat is an upbeat band — not a lot of ballads. It’s dancing music. But their crowd is mostly older — I joked with Shawn we were the youngest people there (we weren’t). We were asked to sit down twice, causing us to move once.
I sit at home every night watching TV and typing on my computer. When I’m at a concert — unless it’s an acoustic show or something really mellow — I’d rather stand and dance. If I get tired, I sit. But I don’t get mad at the people standing and enjoying themselves.
OPENER: Chris Jacobs was the lone guy with acoustic guitar opener but had the kind of voice needed to pull it off, and also pulled out a cigar box guitar. He didn’t get much time, though. I’m not sure how many songs he did but it couldn’t have been more than four or five.
THE SHOW: World class musicians who have been playing together for a lifetime performing a great set of songs both old and new — that’s Little Feat in a nutshell. They do plenty of jamming, with every musician getting plenty of time to show their stuff, though Payne’s keyboard is the main attraction.
SETLIST HIGHLIGHT: “Willin’” and “Fat Man in a Bathtub” are such crowd-pleasers — I turned to Shawn after “Willin’” and told him that was worth the price of admission right there. Of the new songs, “Too High to Cut My Hair” was a ton of fun, complete with Clayton’s growling vocal refrain and Sherrard ripping on guitar.
CHATTER: Payne has a bit he does talking about George and other members of the band no longer with us, but Little Feat mostly lets the music do the talking. Clayton didn’t say anything, but his shirt — “The Groovefather” — says it all.
Coming up
Night 3 — Larkin Poe in Chicago. And some more thoughts on 3 Nights, 3 Shows, 3 States.
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