Little Feat: Highwire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Little Feat: Highwire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 2, 2023

A lot of folks have tried to pigeonhole Little Feat in the many decades of its existence, but one of the greatest things about the band, at least from my perspective, is how it keeps evading those "genre stuffing efforts". However, in that regard, this release is called Highwire Act Live in St. Louis 2003 and there's some metaphorical liner notes by Paul Barrere that suggest the "high wire act", musically speaking, drives "Little Feat to create on the spur of the moment, a bit of danger, some slips and turns, and finally the beauty of music, flowing gracefully, harmonically, trading off between the group members like they were running on ESP". Despite its somewhat florid sensibility, Barrere's comments might suggest that this is Little Feat in "jam band mode", speaking of pigeonholing. And that's good news. This is an often rollicking concert that has a really enjoyable looseness, but which can also actually offer noticeable moments of players "in tune" (no pun intended), as when Barrere and Bill Payne trade solos in Day or Night, where they mimic what the other one has just played. Some probably thought Little Feat couldn't survive the untimely passing of Lowell George, especially after George himself saw fit to more or less put the kibosh on the aggregation shortly before he passed. That wasn't the last tragedy for the band, as fans will know, but there's a beautiful resilience to the music that may have been sparked by at least some sorrow but which frankly comes across more often than not as ebullient and joyful.

Joining Barrere and Payne are Sam Clayton on percussion and vocals; Kenny Gradney on bass; Richie Hayward on drums and vocals; Shaun Murphy on vocals and percussion; and Fred Tackett on guitars and trumpet.

The band's set list for this concert is:

Time Loves a Hero

Day or Night

Cadillac Hotel

Spanish Moon

Skin It Back

Cajun Girl

Night on the Town

I'd Be Lyin'

The Blues Don't Tell It All

Old Folks Boogie

Oh Atlanta

Dixie Chicken

Tripeface Boogie

Fat Man in the Bathtub

Let It Roll

Willin'

Feats Don't Fail Me Now

Little Feat: Highwire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Little Feat: Highwire Act Live In St. Louis 2003 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mercury Studios with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Fans may know that Mercury Studios is the rebranded Eagle Rock Studios, and in fact this release still bears an Eagle Rock copyright with a 2003 date in its closing credits, and that 2003 date may be a clue as to the overall look of this transfer. While there is certainly nothing seriously askew here, this does have a somewhat dated look, and I almost wonder if it was shot on some slightly lower resolution like 720 and then upscaled, as there are occasional anomalies that may not be "true" signs of upscaling, but can look pretty darn close, including some slight stairstepping and aliasing. The interlaced presentation offers just a few passing combing artifacts, mostly due to the almost insanely manic drumming of Richie Hayward, who kind of comically looks slightly possessed at various points in the concert. Close-ups offer rather good fine detail, and the concert benefits from no real extremes in lighting regimens, meaning the band can be clearly seen. As can probably be made out by some of the screenshots, the coverage is "up close and personal" a lot of the time, which can occasionally offer some slightly weird framings, as well as clear visibility of other cameramen in the frame. Some of the wide shots and especially audience footage can be on the noisy side.

Little Feat: Highwire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Little Feat: Highwire Act Live in St. Louis 2003 features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks, and they both provide really fluid and crisp listening experiences. This is a rare example of a rhythm section heavy band where I thankfully didn't feel like the vocals were mixed down too far in the surround mix, though that said, some may still prefer the stereo mix since it focuses the vocal element even more. Dynamic range may not extremely wide considering the band's high energy output, but clarity is exceptional, capturing everything from some scorchingly high guitar solos to that aforementioned manic drumming of Hayward.

Little Feat: Highwire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Little Feat: Close Up in St. Louis (HD; 11:09) has some good interviews and fun behind the scenes footage.


• 2 CDs offering the concert are included.

Little Feat: Highwire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I joked in another recent music centered review about the almost insane number of categories in the Grammy Awards, and in that regard it's almost shocking that Little Feat has only scored one nomination, and that in the relatively predictable category of Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal (for Let It Roll). This concert might make it abundantly clear that the band easily could have qualified in any number of other niche categories. This concert offers a lot of high energy moments, even if it's unavoidably elegiac when seen now from the vantage point of 2023. Video quality is a little lackluster, but audio is excellent, and the on disc supplements and CDs are fun. Recommended.