I have always been a huge fan of The Steve Miller Band, especially being a Wisconsin native myself… just like Steve Miller. With this little fact it was quite fitting that I saw Steve Miller live at the Wisconsin State Fair in 2010! Actually I saw him once before that at the Washington County fair… however I was way too drunk to remember a whole lot of it… and missed a lot of the show due to shananagans, lol this is why it was a must to see the show again next chance I had.
Me and my friends Mike and Sally all went down to the state fair nice and early to make sure we could get our “fair share” (no pun intended lol) of awesome fair food… beer… and what have you. After an awesome free shoe shining, free wine smoothie sampling and several beers later… it was time for the show! It took us a while to actually find the gate… but the confusion paid off because we got in just on time for the beginning of the show! We found our seats while jamming out to “Jet Airliner” and I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I had this opinion of what the show would be like due to all his hits, but knew he was a little older now so was hoping it would live up to my expectations. Well it did.. and THEN some!
The first half of the show had a number of surprises for me… Steve Miller brought out some extra guitarists to jam with him. I can’t remember their names but they definately jammed! A great deal of the first half of the show was mostly all those guys jamming the blues and some great newer material. It wasn’t what I had expected but really loved it! Steve Miller also paid amish to his famous Godfather Les Paul during the first half of the show, and talked about how he grew up in Wisconsin and it was great to be back. (of course he had to say these things but being a wisconsinite I really liked that part of course lol)
The second half of the show had the majority of his classic hits that we all came to see. He played every song I wanted to hear! But there was also a surprise in the second half of the show… Steve Miller sponsors and started some musicial school out in Cali to teach young kids how to play and appreciate music. One of the reasons for this is due to the school system cutting band and music classes out to save money, which is obviously not a good thing. But I digress… he brought up one of the stars of this school… probly around the age of 16? To come out and jam a few of his last songs with him. I thought this would be kinda cheesy and wierd at first but the kid really rocked! It was pretty amazing for Steve Miller to do that and I can’t imagine how psyched/nervous that kid was lol.
After a song or two with this kid the show ended.. they all left stage… chants started for an encore of course and he came back for the encore and played like 3 more of his hits. Overall I’d have to say this was one of my favorite shows that I’ve been too, and i’ve been to a lot of great ones! I recomend this show to anybody who has the chance to see it! Just make sure your not too wasted to remember the first one lol! good times… 😀