Steve Miller Band

When Miller and band took the stage at the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday the reaction was slightly less than ecstatic - after all it had been over 20 years since he had graced any London stage and he has not been prolific in the last few years (‘Bingo!’ is his first album for 17 years). By the time the band finished and they took a bow the scenes in the stalls and in the boxes were more like complete abandon – nearly two hours of fine music and excellent songs had reminded the audience just how good music can be and considering that he has been around since the mid-‘60’s he showed a remarkable ability to be relevant today and the numbers of young nubiles up and dancing gave ample evidence that he appeals, still, to a wide range of ages and classes.

If I simply listed the hits that he played during the show that would take up most of the space this review has but the songs are an important part of the continuing charm of Miller and he played them one after the other without any filler needed to pad out the gig. His back catalogue goes back over at least a half a dozen killer albums that don’t have an ounce of fat and he was able to show off great song after great song without having to reach down for any long lost ‘miracles’.

From the opening bars of ‘Big Old Jet Air Liner’ his guitar playing was spot on and his voice, a little deeper than I remembered it, was still as good as ever and he took the stage with just a guitar, drums and keyboards in the band as well as the voice of Sonny Charles (the ex-Checkmates vocalist) to back him up. He was confident, positive and there were no long instrumental breaks to support him – you got Steve Miller and band with him on lead vocals and guitar – but there was plenty of superb playing in evidence. The songs - ‘Swingtown’, ‘Take The Money & Run’, ‘Space Cowboy’, ‘Abracadabra, ‘Jungle Love’ – just kept rolling out and I was quite stunned by just how many I knew intimately.

The audience was getting well into the performance by midway and an acoustic passage where he remembered some fallen comrades – Nicky Hopkins, Norton Buffalo and his old mentor and friend Les Paul – was well received and genuinely moving, including a delicious version of ‘Wild Mountain Honey’ and the acapella version of ‘Nature Boy’ that he sang at Les Paul’s funeral. Of course the crowds were really ready to go ape over the biggest hits and the encore of ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ and ‘The Joker’ had the whole place rocking and bouncing.

Steve Miller is and was a great singer of pop/Blues as well as a fine guitarist and this shows that he isn’t just remembered but relevant. A brilliant gig.