Reviews

It wasn't just Steve Miller the singer, guitarist and hit machine who showed up at his Dallas homecoming Friday night. The genial 64-year-old also played the role of musical tour guide and storyteller for a five-figure crowd at Superpages.com Center.

MIKE STONE/Special Contributor

Kenny Lee Lewis, Billy Peterson and Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band perform at Superpages .com Center on Friday night.

Mr. Miller told the apocryphal-sounding tale of how he acquired his 19-string electric sitar for $125 and was later offered $700,000 for it. Of course, he kept the instrument. How else would he pull off the meditative "Wild Mountain Honey"?

"Are you ready to slide into the blues side of Swingtown?" he asked. "Now we're going to the intersection of jazz and blues."

The references were a hint of the influences that came together to create one of the most successful catalogs in pop history. Throw in country, '60s psychedelic rock and a little abracadabra, and you have the beginnings of where he's coming from, man.

Mr. Miller hasn't made a studio album since 1993 or toured through the town where he grew up since 1999. He partied Friday as if the clock hadn't moved a second – since 1977.

During a nearly two-hour set, he and his smooth six-piece band performed the dozen-plus songs that must be heard at a Steve Miller concert, almost all from the three mid-'70s albums that have made him a classic-rock staple.

And why not? "Swingtown," "Fly Like an Eagle," "Take the Money and Run," "Rock'n Me," "Jet Airliner," "Jungle Love" and "The Joker," most of which were stacked at the end of the concert, were hits for a reason. Their hooks are irresistible, and when Mr. Miller took brief solos, they were as fluid and melodic as the verses and choruses.

His longtime band was no slouch either. Harmonica player Norton Buffalo cut through the slow grooves of "Mercury Blues" and "The Stake," and rhythm guitarist Kenny Lee Lewis added grimy licks to a cover of T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday Blues," a showcase for the newest band member, vocalist Sonny Charles.

Rather than return to his early blues-rock records, when Mr. Miller strayed from the syllabus it was to reach back even further to feature Mr. Charles, who lit into Willie Dixon's "Pretty Thing," Muddy Waters' "I Be's Trouble" and one of the highlights of the night, Jessie Hill's 1960 classic, "Ooh Poo Pah Doo."

British soul singer and fireplug Joe Cocker opened the show with an hour of his own hits, from 1968's "With a Little Help From My Friends" to 1992's "Unchain My Heart." The original air organist, he was at his best on a duet of Bryan Adams' "When the Night Comes" with backup singer Nichelle Tillman and the Beatles covers "Come Together" and "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window."

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