It was a beautiful way to end the weekend; The Steve Miller Band, Los Lobos, both on the same stage, at one of Los Angeles’ most beautiful venues. Both bands captivated their audiences with their own takes on pop and roots music.
East L.A.’s Los Lobos opened the show at sundown with their fiery brand of Latin-tinged rock and roll. After a homecoming introduction from late night host and fellow SoCal native George Lopez, the legendary locals took the stage and dived right into a rockin’ “Emily”, followed by the hoppin’ blues of “Don’t Worry Baby”. They followed up this one-two punch with a few singy-songy tunes where David Hidalgo’s heavenly voice filled the belly of the Griffith Park canyon that the venue is nestled in. People were up and out of their seats, singing to the first of two Richie Valens’ covers, “Come On, Let’s Go”. The band easily transitioned from one sound to the next, going from rockabilly of “I Walk Alone”, to the Neil Young and Crazy Horse-ish “The Neighborhood”, to the eerie, mysterious feel of “Kiko & The Lavender Moon”.
After this series of different musical landscapes, the band closed out there set firing on all cylinders. They started with the gritty “I Got Loaded”, segued into a blazing version of “Turn on Your Lovelight”, faithful to the Grateful Dead’s version. Pretty much all of the seats were filled at this point, and the whole place erupted. As that song came to an end, the audience was surely in sing-along spirits. The band honored that feeling by delivering Richie Valen’s super-poppy “La Bamba” which then segued into “Good Lovin’” (also faithful to the Grateful Dead’s version) and then segued back to “La Bamba”. It was an epic finale to a set that displayed all the colors of the band’s sound and you can bet they made a few new fans this evening.
After a short intermission, the electric hum of “Threshhold” vibrated through the canyon from the stage. Rippling shadows of a rock band emerged behind the theater curtains. Colorful lights splashed the audience and stage. The dazzling combination of sound and light hypnotized. The electric hum begins to simmer out. A moment of theatrical silence and then, BOOM! The curtains fall, as the Steve Miller Band kicked into high gear with the euphoric guitar pop of “Jet Airliner”. For the next two hours, the crowd would be dancing, grooving, singing at the top of their lungs and lighting up to a dozen classic SMB cuts and a handful of blues covers from his first release in 17 years, Bingo.
From take off to landing, the band flipped the switch to 11, not ever playing a bad note. The Space Cowboy held court backed by a tight, explosive rhythm section. They could get funky on old and new songs like “Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma” and “Tramp”. They brought some extra grit to their pop and blues, as they did in “The Joker” and “Further on up the Road”. The Texas blues influence could surely be heard in the band, as you could expect, considering many of the covers from Bingo were inspired by the blues that Miller listened to growing up in Dallas. You could also hear it in Miller’s electric guitar solos, where he let loose with Stevie Ray Vaughn-like fluidity. Vibrant, rich, and tasteful would be the words I’d use to describe his tone. He also picked up the acoustic guitar for a couple of songs in the middle of the set, playing beautiful versions of “Seasons” and “Wild Mountain Honey”. Both felt very intimate and celestial under the starry skies.
Former Checkmates Ltd. singer Sonny Charles, who found some chart success in 1969 with the Phil Spector-produced song “Black Pearl, sang lead vocals on many of the songs. His voice had that same raw passion of Wilson Pickett, while his dance moves were all Motown. Sonny would slide, spin and bounce to the beat of drummer Gordy Knudtson, moving from one side of the stage to the other singing his ass off and having a blast working the engaged crowd
The biggest surprise of the evening was Dillon Brown, a 15-year-old student from the Kids Rock Free program at the Fender Center in nearby Corona. Miller, an avid supporter of the organization, gave the young gunslinger his moment in the spotlight to affirm the success of the program and to hopefully raise funds for it. Dillon looked every bit the rock star trading lead with Miller on “Rock n’ Me” in front of the stage’s cosmic backdrop (a vortex of electric guitars circling one giant, neon guitar neck, a very cool sight to see). He returned shortly to play on the three-song encore made up of “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Swingtown” and “Jungle Love”, wrapping up an amazing evening of live music. With both the Steve Miller Band and Los Lobos delivering heavy doses of hits, catchy covers, and new music that hold up with the classics, the audience surely started the working week off on a high note.
