Little Feat with Los Lobos at PNC Pavilion, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 18, 2024
When writing about a two-band gig, journalistic norms dictate leading with the headliner. But where Little Feat and Los Lobos are concerned, such guidelines are bunk.
For on June 18 at Cincinnati’s PNC Pavilion, support act Lobos, a band with its core quartet in place for 51 years, was the brightest star on a stage shared with the recently reconstituted Feat, with original keyboardist and onstage traffic cop Bill Payne; Dixie Chicken-era members Sam Clayton (percussion) and Kenny Gradney (bass); Let it Roll arrival Fred Tackett on guitar, mandolin and trumpet; and new additions Tony Leone on drums and Paul Barrere vocals and Scott Sharrard on guitar and Lowell George vocals.
What the fans who filled some one-third of the venue’s 4,000 seats received in return for braving the outdoor sauna was an hour from one of America’s longest-running and stable bands - horn/keyboard man Steve Berlin joined in 1982 - and 90 minutes from the world’s-best Little Feat tribute act with members of Los Lobos sitting in on multiple cuts.
It was still near 90 degrees when Los Lobos wrapped at 9 p.m., yet the fans dancing to the Grateful Dead’s “Bertha,” which morphed out of “Not Fade Away,” rewarded the group with a standing ovation. And Cesar Rosas (guitar, percussion, vocals), Conrad Lozano (bass), Louie Pérez (guitar, jaraña, drums), David Hidalgo (guitar, accordion, vocals), Berlin and touring drummer Alfredo Ortiz earned the accolades with a career- and-genre-spanning set bridging decades, cultures and influences.
The sextet opened with “Flat Top Box” and “Love Special Delivery” from 2021’s covers album, Native Sons, songs that featured Berlin’s baritone saxophone underscoring the 1950s vibe. Hidalgo’s Hendrixian guitar solo on the latter added trippy color to the song Rosas typically calls “LSD.”
It was off to the stratosphere from there with Lozano, who spent the gig seated on his amp, and Ortiz signaling a deep-pocketed “Dream in Blue” with an extended sax solo from Berlin. Rosas was on maracas and Pérez on jaraña for “Maricela,” instrumentation that would be reprised later on “Chuco’s Cumbia.”
Jazz was the hallmark of a 10-minute plea for peace on “The Neighborhood;” blues and a dedication to John Lee Hooker on “Don’t Worry Baby;” and the band looked to the East (“Kiko and the Lavender Moon”) and South (“Georgia Slop”) when Hidalgo strapped on a squeezebox and Pérez retuned temporarily to his original spot behind the kit.
Though Lobos’ opening set was necessarily truncated, Berlin, Hidalgo and Rosas had more stage time to come, as each sat in during Feat’s performance, bookended with “Fat Man in the Bathtub” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now.” Harmonica blower Michael LoBue also appeared for “Mellow Down Easy” (with Hidalgo) and “Long Distance Call” (Rosas) from Sam’s Place, the band’s 2024 blues covers album with Clayton on lead vocals.
These songs, Payne’s “Oh Atlanta,” and 1988’s “Hate to Lose Your Lovin’” sounded like the band that recorded them, as Sharrard (Gregg Allman Band) is more adept at channeling Craig Fuller than George.
Other tracks from Feat’s golden era were less successful. “Willin’” featured a mandolin solo and was akin to John Mayer singing “Ripple” for Dead & Company; Leone (Chris Robinson Botherhood) didn’t quite capture the essence of “Old Folks Boogie;” and “Dixie Chicken” - outfitted with trumpet, bass and synth solos - lost its momentum in the gratuitous showcases.
But “Cold, Cold, Cold,” “A Apolitical Blues,” “Spanish Moon” and “Skin it Back” - the latter two with Berlin reading charts from a piece of paper taped to a mic stand and honking on a baritone sax - almost sounded like Little Feat. Not quite. But almost.
In the end, Los Lobos met the absurdly high expectations that come with being the best live band in America on any given night, while Little Feat exceeded the more-modest hopes for a group of veterans and ringers.
Grade card: Little Feat with Los Lobos at PNC Pavilion - 6/18/24 - B/A
