Concerts Review—

Steve Miller, Pretenders Keep Defying Age

While Acquiring New Generations Of Fans

By John Voket

I’ve written a lot about the many “classic” genre acts that are still going strong, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so conscious of how well preserved some of these acts are physically. You’ve heard the old saying, “…if you closed your eyes, it sounded just like the album?”

Well, when it comes to many of the classic acts, the word “seasoned” can probably best be related to the stuff they put on meat to make it into jerky. That’s right, with your eyes closed it does sound like the album from 20 or 30 years ago – but open your eyes, and for the most part some of the more seasoned members of these “classic” acts are a little scary, or at least showing their age quite defiantly.

A few of those acts, however, seem to have found that miracle elixir. They not only sound great – maybe even better than the original album – but some of them look downright fantastic. I reference the recent appearances by Steve Miller, who performed at Danbury’s Ives Concert Park last week, and Chrissie Hynde and Martin Chambers, original co-founders of The Pretenders who rolled into the Waterbury Palace Theater a couple of weeks ago.

Steve Miller, who was born in 1943, hit the stage looking like he just stepped off the golf course, unassuming in loose-fitting jeans and a button down Oxford, not looking remotely near his age. He was relatively svelte and seemed quite happy to be basking in the adoring attention of several thousand fans who turned out to the unique outdoor venue at WestConn’s westside campus. (where else can you see a band playing on its own island?!)

Since he’s been going strong since he formed his first band 51 years ago (!!!), you might approach a Steve Miller shows like returning to a favorite family restaurant. Despite your 10-, 20-, even 30-year absence, you know the food will be good, the portion sizes generous, and you can still practically order without a menu.

This proved to be the case as Mr Miller jumped right into the familiar but still highly energizing hit “Swingtown.” He followed up, jumping around the timeline, with “Livin in the USA,” “True Fine Love” and “Abracadabra,” before retreating into the first taste of blues.

His rendition of “Mercury Blues” was spiced up even sweeter, as he let longtime sidekick Norton Buffalo rip out the first of several harmonica solos that helped fire up the arrangement. After another time trip with “The Stake” and “Gangster of Love,” it was time for the big surprise.

Bringing out his friend and opener, Eric Johnson, to add some interesting elements to the tried and true mix of Miller’s material, the result was comparable to that good old family restaurant bringing in a hot new chef to shake up all the recipes.

What followed was a four song blues set that may have been reminiscent of the days when Miller used to sit in with the likes of Chicago session mates Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Howlin’ Wolf, the leaders of the most dynamic blues scene in the world.

Miller and Johnson swapped off leads, feeding off Buffalo’s feverish harp and percussion work, delivering one of the truly most memorable concert jam sessions I’ve ever seen, particularly on the blistering Otis Rush tune “I Don’t Know.” Kudos to Buffalo for practically one-upping them both with his own solo during “Just Got Back From Texas,” which followed the Rush number directly.

And just when you thought you’d seen it all, the surprises just kept on coming. Several stagehands appeared with a cake in celebration of Johnson’s birthday, as Miller motioned to a crew member to bring out the special gift he obtained just for the occasion.

Johnson lifted the lid, and pulled out a stark white custom Fender Stratocaster, which he proceeded to tune up and play for most of the rest of the evening. And indeed, it was the audience who got to enjoy the gift, perhaps even more than Mr Johnson.

The talented bluesman was invited to remain on stage for the entire rest of the show, and so he did, punctuating Miller’s remaining tunes with his staccato axework. From that point on it was basically classic rock lover’s heaven, as  Miller produced hit after hit including the acoustic backed “Dance, Dance Dance,” “Wild Mountain Honey,” an incredible “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Jungle Love” and “Jet Airliner.”

Throughout the entire evening, Miller beamed from behind the microphone, hitting all the vocals spot-on and working his own instruments expertly, and with nary a moment of tentativeness or scaling back you sometimes see from other contemporaries by the time they hit the two-hour mark on stage.

This may have been one of the first multi-generational concerts I have attended, with young children being accompanied by parents and grandparents. Virtually everyone in the audience got into the music – and if they weren’t old enough to know, or too old to remember the words, they danced and twirled with wild abandon.

Fans were able to enjoy a similar experience July 28 as The Pretenders put on a similarly impressive show for a two-thirds full house at the beautiful Palace Theater in Waterbury. Supporting the band’s Pirate Radio box set, Chrissie Hynde and company walked a tightrope balancing about an equal number of popular hits with somewhat obscure album cuts that left more than a few audience members asking their seat-mates, “…what song is this??”

Of course there were the blockbusters — “Time The Avenger,” “Back on the Chain Gang,” even a rare encore of “Brass in Pocket.” But those commercial successes were intertwined with some numbers resurrected out of the personal stash of Hynde and Chambers.

It was these gems that seemed to push the buttons on small pockets of audience members who would intermittently rise up howling their approval while most of the rest of the house sat quietly waiting for the next chart-topper.

Among these lesser- or little-known songs were “Message of Love,” “Night in my Veins,” “Jealous,” “Time the Avenger” and “Don’t Get Me Wrong.”

In between numbers Hynde and Chambers sparred a bit, at one point eliciting an energetic expletive from the energetic drummer when his fearless leader called for him to regale the audience with a few birdcalls. The two also displayed remarkably fit forms for all the hard roads they traveled together since the Pretenders first blasted onto the music scene in 1978, outliving their two other original bandmates, Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott, both of whom overdosed within a year of one another in the early ‘80s.

At one point in the show, Hynde made reference to her passion for animal rights, thanking all the cause’s supporters who turned out for the show. She also referenced her vegetarian practices, wondering aloud if it was the meat-free lifestyle that kept her young and so willing to keep hitting the live tour circuit.

A few days after the Waterbury show, The Pretenders were airing a interview and concert segment on satellite radio, and Hynde and Chambers both commented about how much fun they were having, putting off rumors of retirement in favor of endorsing an indefinite extension of the short tour they were currently on.

As far as this reviewer is concerned, as long as bands like The Pretenders and Steve Miller can maintain any semblance of a touring schedule, their hits and even a few of their misses will endure with audiences that continue to buy their tickets and enjoy their timeless tunes the way they were meant to be heard: live and loud!