There’s nothing better than arriving at a concert with high expectations and leaving with an utter sense of satisfaction. Which is exactly what we got with the Steve Miller Band on Wednesday, March 26th. The four hour concert consisted of the Steve Miller Band, a dozen special guests, and their opening act, four-time Grammy nominated blues/rock guitarist, Robben Ford.
Tina and I arrived at the Fillmore Auditorium early and got a nice spot for the show – 10 feet from the stage, dead center. The opener, Robben Ford, started around 8:15pm and played an outstanding set. I’d never heard of Ford before the show, but I won’t forget him. His power trio seamlessly fused blues, jazz and rock with undeniable grace and style. One friend summed it up well saying, “You can’t fake this kind of music.”
Robben Ford has released more than 20 albums in his 35 year career and was named one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century” by Musicians magazine. I’ve yet to hear any of his albums but I’m on the hunt and will post a review in the future.
The rest of the evening was a musical journey…
Steve Miller opened the two and half hour marathon sitting on a barstool, telling stories and playing a couple acoustic tracks off his latest album. Between each song he’d tell stories about his trials, tribulations and successes as a musician in San Francisco. He spoke with the energy, passion and humor that one would expect from the mastermind behind the “pompatus of love”. He said Wednesday night was his 109th show at the Fillmore.
Nothing made that more obvious than the special guests that joined him on stage. My personal favorite is actively touring with the Steve Miller Band; the fourth brother of the Wooten family, Joseph Wooten. An incredibly talented pianist, singer and song writer, Joseph plays like a man possessed.
The biggest shock of the evening was 9 time Grammy award winner and Hall of Famer, Bonnie Raitt. After a few minutes on stage Tina and I were both thinking… is that Bonnie Raitt!? She never sang but played 3 fantastic blues songs with the band. On a side note, checkout the Fillmore poster above. Notice a resemblance?
Two other blues musicians (whose names I didn’t catch) also joined the band. A trombone player with an incredible voice and another blues singer shown in the picture above with Steve Miller, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Peterson and Kenny Lee Lewis.
Photo note: we left our camera at home and had to use a cell phone. Sorry for the poor quality.
Shortly after Raitt left the stage they announced the arrival of Joe Satriani. The alien-like guitarist joined Miller and the rest of the band for the reminder of the evening. I gave Tina a little background on Satriani and told her to hold on for a ride. We were not disappointed! He showed off his blues roots and took the energy to a new level.
The final guest for the evening was Al Jardine of the Beach Boys. He took the stage and sang Swingtown and a Beach Boys cover to close the show. It ended around 12:20am and we all left the building with smiles.
It was great show! And to top it off, as Tina and I were walking to our car we ran in to Steve Miller walking out the back door to his tour bus. I stopped and said, “Thank you so much for a wonderful evening.” He looked at us both, smiled and waved goodbye.
Live at the Fillmore