Steve Miller Band - Live from Chicago (2008)

Like most people who didn't experience The Steve Miller Band at their hit-making peak, I discovered the group via their incredible 1974-1978 Greatest Hits collection, perhaps the greatest compilation of its kind. It was my freshman year of college, and the smooth sound of Miller's guitar joined The Who as the two pillars of my post-adolescent pantheon of rock. In a display of kismet, shortly after I learned of Miller's music, his band came to campus for a concert.
I remember enjoying myself, but two things stand out to me to this day. One, the musicians weren't exactly spring chickens, and two, the crowd was rather elderly, and surrounded in a haze. It's a sad fact that as a band ages, their fans do too, but they still act the same way at concerts, which is cringe-inducing to watch. No one over 40 should be throwing devil horns. It's just silly.
But that's exactly the audience that gathered at the outdoor Ravinia Ampthitheater in Chicago for two concerts by Miller and company, which were filmed for this DVD. Admittedly, Miller's music has serious reach, with fans in most every demographic in attendance (including a healthy amount of pretty young things,) but it's hard to miss the soccer-mom-who-thinks-she still-rocks look of the crowd. It may be unusual to focus on the crowd like this, but the DVD, directed by Daniel L. Catullo III, spends just as much time zooming over the crowd and focusing on the rhythmically-challenged jerking around to the music, as it does on the band.
Fortunately, the camera occasionally finds the stage, event though they aren't the most visually arresting group ever. When they're not standing in place, playing competently, they break out the old stage cliches, like the line-up jam or the venerable guitar solo. Miller is a veteran showman, spreading the spotlight to his bandmates, telling stories and playing to an audience he knows well, which keeps the energy just below rocking out, making the concert into a very comfortable frat party with some fun sing-along tunes.
Sadly, Miller's voice isn't what it once was, and coming out of the gate, starting with a 15-minute version of "Fly Like an Eagle," he sounds tired. Things pick up as the show goes on, but the vocals still doesn't sound the way you remember it from the albums. The guitar work, on the other hand, is as brilliant as ever, not only from the masterful Miller, but his backing band as well, peaking in a sweet extended jam on "Winter Time." Indulgent instrumental riffs crop up time and again, especially from keyboardist Joseph Wooten, but it all works on the tracks, like a trippy "Wild Moutain Honey" or the southern-fried "Dance Dance Dance." What doesn't work is Wooten's out-of-place rap on "Fly," which while not technically bad, just doesn't fit.
The setlist sticks mainly to the group's biggest hits, with the exception of a short stretch early on where Miller pays homage to his Chicago blues roots with a run of covers, including Jimmie Vaughan's "Boom Bapa Boom," KC Douglas' "Mercury Blues," and the legendary "Crossroads," by Robert Johnson, with some of Miller's bluesiest work, like "The Stake," mixed in. Getting through that, it's all hits right to the end, before yet another unnecessary encore break, followed by a trio of big songs.
Despite some voice issues, the performance is a good one for the band's fans, but the presentation is a bit too manic for its own good. Even a chill song like "Winter Time" was shot like a John Woo film. It's hard to guess just how many cameras were used to capture the show, because every five seconds, there's another swooping crane shot, another zoom in from behind the band or a close-up of an instrument. Being in the audience must have been a trip, watching the cameras constantly flying over your head, while listening to a blues-guitar wizard at work.

Artists:
- Steve Miller: guitar and lead vocals
- Bill Peterson: bass and vocals
- Joseph Wooten: keyboards and vocals
- Norton Buffalo: harmonica and vocals
- Gordy Knudtson: drums
- Kenny Lee Lewis: guitar and vocals


Tracklist:
01. Intro [0:29]
02. Fly Like an Eagle [14:19]
03. Living in the USA [4:42]
04. True Fine Love [3:10]
05. Abracadabra [3:39]
06. Mercury Blues [3:36]
07. The Stake [5:58]
08. Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma [4:59]
09. Boom Bapa Boom [5:35]
10. All Your Lovin' [3:15]
11. Crossroads [5:07]
12. Serenade [4:14]
13. Dance, Dance, Dance [6:37]
14. Wild Mountain Honey [3:43]
15. Winter Time [5:58]
16. Rockin' Me [5:07]
17. Take the Money and Run [4:33]
18. The Joker [5:58]
19. Swingtown [3:20]
20. Jungle Love [4:51]
21. Jet Airliner [6:17]
22. Credits [2:13]


Features:
- Direct Scene Access
- Interactive Menu