Steve Miller Band Rocks the Pacific Amphitheatre

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Written by John Alvarez

Saturday, 23 July 2011 02:17

Those who showed up to the sold out Steve Miller Band at the Orange County Fair’s Pacific Amphitheatre last night were treated to an exciting mix of hits from the band’s some 30 years of experience, proving that unlike pop, and hip-hop, age doesn’t affect a rock bands ability to get a crowd moving.

Steve Miller, now 67 years of age sounded better than his recorded material. Those who like to watch Britney Spears and such might not understand the point of a live concert (where there is singing) but rock fans were definitely alive and rocking at the Pacific Amphitheatre.

Miller’s concert featured many classic rock hits as well as some of their more recent bluesy stuff off their newest record.

Visually the stage was setup with swirling guitars with a backdrop of what could have been the universe. This would further be amplified by the beautiful light work that the venue is capable of. Throughout the night the backdrop was lit up with a beautiful array of colors from purples to reds, greens and blues and everything in between without overexposing anything creating a beautiful scene for the night.

When Steve Miller took the stage, he had no problem getting people on their feet for songs like “Let’s Dance”, “Living in the U.S.A”, the beautifully executed and sounding “Serenade” and “Abracadabra”. The highlight of his famous songs however could very well have been the extended version of “Fly Like an Eagle” Which enabled both Steve Miller and Keyboardist Joseph Wooten to show off their instrumental skills. Another crowd favorite “Dance, Dance, Dance” also was a great way to mark the almost halfway point of the party at Pacific Amphitheatre.

But the event wasn’t only about Steve and his band. Surprises were in store for the audience. The band played an Otis Redding cover, “Tramp”, along with some other songs which was sang by new bandmate, Sonny Charles, lead singer of Checkmates, Ltd which now put Soony in the spotlight and Steve the rest of the band as backup.

On top of Soony’s singing, which the woman in the audience ate up, it was time for somebody else to shine. After some promotion of Fender Guitar’s, “Kids Rock Free” organization, a group that aims to bring music education and training to kids nationwide, one of its young graduates, Dylan Brown, joined the band on stage and played 2nd lead guitar with the band for the rest of the set.

The short lived encore was only two songs. The first one, “Winter Time” dedicated to Norton Buffalo who passed away two years ago of cancer. The set ended with “The Joker”

The one complaint that could be heard throughout the venue after the set finished, was the set was cut short and the band didn’t play “Jungle Love”. Speculation around the venue was that there is a curfew that caused the band to skip one or more songs, but that could not be confirmed.