The two jam-happy rock bands with more than a half-century of music to unleash had folks dancing in the sunshine at Meijer Gardens in June. Revisit one of Local Spins’ top reviews of the year.
Time Loves These Heroes: Little Feat on stage at Meijer Gardens. (Photo/Joshua Tufts)
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What happens when you bring two rootsy, rambunctious jam bands together for one night of music under the blazing sun?
A sold-out Friday crowd at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Amphitheater found out on the second day of summer as the vintage rockers Little Feat and Los Lobos collaborated for a night of endless jams.
Little Feat, whose debut self-titled album came out in 1971, kicked its set off with “Let it Roll,” and roll it did, for about an hour and 35 minutes during the June 21 show.
“Fat Man in the Bathtub” was a fun romp, as was “Oh Atlanta,” a riotous song keyboardist Bill Payne wrote about a city in Georgia, though he insisted on Friday: “Let’s pretend it’s about Michigan.”
Iconic Tunes: David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. (Photo/Joshua Tufts)
“Spanish Moon” told the story of a “cold situation” in a bar, and the pawning of a watch and a ring just to hear “that girl singing” while trying to survive all the vices and dangers surrounding her song.
Midway through the set, things took a turn for the dark blues as the band showcased several songs from their first album in a dozen years, “Sam’s Place,” which was released in 2024. Recorded at Sam Phillip’s iconic studio in Memphis, the album is a “love letter to the blues,” sung in the grittiest, most gravelly voice of percussionist Sam Clayton.
After that foray into the blues, the band’s most commercially successful song, “Willin’,” seemed light as air and just as breezy. A trucker anthem, the song has been covered by everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Phish to Mandy Moore on the “This Is Us” soundtrack.
Nearing the end of the show, as the air finally cooled, the band launched into an extended play version of their 1973 frisky hit “Dixie Chicken,” which had the sedate audience on its feet at long last. Always experimental, the band explored different genres and instrumentation on the tune, including a thumping bass solo by Kenny Gradney.
Maybe it was too much of a good thing as about a quarter of the crowd began to pack up and drift out of the amphitheater, perhaps seeking relief after an early evening in the heat or possibly having waited too long for the song to find its way back to what was familiar. By the time the last notes of “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” were winding down, Little Feat had outlasted some of its concertgoers.
THESE SURVIVING WOLVES HAD FOLKS OUT OF THEIR SEATS
Launching the night in celebration of more than 50 years as a performing band (which has played Meijer Gardens many times before), Los Angeles’ iconic Los Lobos displayed its impressive range, merging lanes from rock ‘n’ roll to blues to country to zydeco to Latin rock.
“How Will the Wolf Survive?” they asked, rhetorically, on the bright first song, the title track from the band’s first major label album of 1984. These “wolves” (Los Lobos is Spanish for the wolves) have not only survived, but thrived over decades of their own music and many collaborations.
The Steamy Scene: The amphitheater on Friday. (Photo/Joshua Tufts)
They paid tribute to Richie Valens in their familiar cover of the 1958 gem, “Come On, Let’s Go,” which they recorded for the “La Bamba” soundtrack. Concertgoers took the chance to pop up from their seats and bop around to the joyful tune.
Nodding to their Mexican-American roots, the band poured heart and soul into “Chuco’s Cumbia,” a Spanish-language song that made audience members wish they could shake some congas along the way.
A highlight came with the band’s luscious cover of “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” which segued into a piping hot “Oye Como Va” — such an entertaining blend. It was also easy to relish “Georgia Slop,” another cover, this one of a 1959 Jimmy McCracklin jitterbug.
While the band opted out of playing “La Bamba,” fans who wanted to lose themselves by floating down a lazy, rushing river of guitar solos were in luck: The Grateful Dead’s “Bertha” fit the bill.
PHOTO GALLERY: Los Lobos, ittle Feat at Meijer Gardens
Photos by Joshua Tufts
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