Steve Miller Band - Live from Chicago (2008)

Fortunately, the camera occasionally finds the stage, event though they aren't the most visually arresting group ever. When they're not standing in place, playing competently, they break out the old stage cliches, like the line-up jam or the venerable guitar solo. Miller is a veteran showman, spreading the spotlight to his bandmates, telling stories and playing to an audience he knows well, which keeps the energy just below rocking out, making the concert into a very comfortable frat party with some fun sing-along tunes.
Sadly, Miller's voice isn't what it once was, and coming out of the gate, starting with a 15-minute version of "Fly Like an Eagle," he sounds tired. Things pick up as the show goes on, but the vocals still doesn't sound the way you remember it from the albums. The guitar work, on the other hand, is as brilliant as ever, not only from the masterful Miller, but his backing band as well, peaking in a sweet extended jam on "Winter Time." Indulgent instrumental riffs crop up time and again, especially from keyboardist Joseph Wooten, but it all works on the tracks, like a trippy "Wild Moutain Honey" or the southern-fried "Dance Dance Dance." What doesn't work is Wooten's out-of-place rap on "Fly," which while not technically bad, just doesn't fit.
The setlist sticks mainly to the group's biggest hits, with the exception of a short stretch early on where Miller pays homage to his Chicago blues roots with a run of covers, including Jimmie Vaughan's "Boom Bapa Boom," KC Douglas' "Mercury Blues," and the legendary "Crossroads," by Robert Johnson, with some of Miller's bluesiest work, like "The Stake," mixed in. Getting through that, it's all hits right to the end, before yet another unnecessary encore break, followed by a trio of big songs.
Despite some voice issues, the performance is a good one for the band's fans, but the presentation is a bit too manic for its own good. Even a chill song like "Winter Time" was shot like a John Woo film. It's hard to guess just how many cameras were used to capture the show, because every five seconds, there's another swooping crane shot, another zoom in from behind the band or a close-up of an instrument. Being in the audience must have been a trip, watching the cameras constantly flying over your head, while listening to a blues-guitar wizard at work.