“We didn’t know [Phish] was going to cover our album,” said Payne, the keyboardist for Little Feat and one of the founding members of the band back in 1969. “They just played it and we found out the next day when our manager came up and told me. I thought it was a tremendous tip of the hat. It was kind of a handshake to our band because I tell people the influence is what is important about what we do as musicians and artists.”

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Even so, few classic albums – Exile, Blonde on Blonde, Pet Sounds, any Beatles album – that don’t have at least one song to skip over. Stylistically, Phish’s musical costume was a perfect fit, and maybe that’s the only thing that matters after all. But it wasn’t scary, funny, exotic, esoteric, playful or even popular enough, and unlike Remain in Light, it’s hard to imagine how Waiting For Columbus will push the band’s music forward. It was a rich, maroon-colored crayon of a costume, like dressing up as a Turnbull AC, the much feared, no-frills gang from the movie The Warriors, instead of as a flashier Baseball Fury.

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Most importantly however, was not the days and months that led up to the AC shows, but rather the previous 30-plus years of Phish listening, learning, ripping off ideas and overall living Little Feat. You see, what many of the younger fans might not realize is that while the name Little Feat might not steal as much thunder or light up as brightly as The Rolling Stones, The Who or The Beatles, they were every bit as important to American music – and Phish – as all of the others.

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Frankenstein, BBFCFM, Ghost -> Spooky,  Roses Are Free, Funky Bitch, Boogie On, Stash, Character Zero, Join The Band, Fatman In The Bathtub, All That You Dream, Oh Atlanta!, Old Folks Boogie, Time Loves A Hero -> Day or Night, Mercenary Territory, Spanish Moon, Dixie Chicken, Tripe Face Boogie, Rocket In My Pocket, Willin’, Don’t Bogart That Joint, Apolitical Blues, Sailin’ Shoes, Feats Don’t Fail Me Now

Little Feat has always been, and will always be, a musicians’ band. And so when Phish – the ultimate musicians’ band – decided to cover their 1978 live album, Waiting For Columbus, on Sunday, there was perhaps no album more fitting.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.