Steve Miller: Live In Chicago

Introduction

Steve Miller is one of those grandfathers of rock, not quite known in the UK in the league as the like of Eric Clapton but well respected and with a huge fan base nonetheless. Miller and his band have been incredibly prolific, notching up some 24 albums since 1968.

This live set was filmed at the renowned Chicago concert venue Ravinia in front of 35,000 people during the summer of 2007. Filming was done in HD with 32 cameras (17 for each of the two nights of filming) in use overall, under direction from Daniel E. Catullo III.

The concert itself is a 20 track affair lasting some 110 minutes, mix of Miller material and also some old Blues tracks.

This set also includes footage of the Gangster of Love in a taxi being interviewed by US radio disc jockey Joel Selvin whilst visiting the sites of some of the early venues played by the Space Cowboy himself or where he watched his blues contemporaries play.

Lastly, a CD live set with 12 of the original 20 tracks is included as an audio backup.

Visual

There's a richness of warm colour in the transfer that makes this performance seem very intimate. The picture is sharp and clear (as it should be as it was filmed in High Definition), I could actually see the veins move in Miller's arm during a close-up of a guitar solo, and there is a nice selection of shots that have been well edited.

My review copy is a Region 1 NTSC disc though (which is why there's a distinct lack of screenshots), but Amazon lists an R0 release as being available on 27th May 2008.

Audio

Good choice of soundtrack from DTS, SRS and plain old 2.0 Stereo. I stuck with the DTS one and it sounds fantastic, the mix is well designed with the overall sound being extremely clear and warm at the same time.

Extras

CD - a live cut that knocks the set down to 13 tracks from the original 20, which can only be down to timing limitations, and also messes with the original track order. Not sure if that's a preferential order set list for audio or if it was recorded on a different night.

Documentary & Radio Programme - 2 separate extras but lots of repetition as the interview in the documentary is the main feature of the documentary and is interspersed with clips from the concert and vox pops with the audience. The interview covers Steve Miller's roots in the Chicago Blues scene.

Photo Gallery - played as a slideshow movie with musical backing from Miller and his band.

Overall

I thought I only knew Steve Miller from two tracks. In 1982, I bopped along at my local youth club to Abra, Abra, Cadabra (I'm gonna reach out and grab yer). Then much, much later I was exposed to the sublime The Joker via the fine tradition of adverts picking out decent tracks for wider exposure in the vain hope it might persuade me to buy a particular product. What I actually found here was that I knew a little more than I thought.

The concert here is a mix of Miller originals and him paying homage to his blues roots and the result is a quite impressive set list, well edited and sounding superb.

It's a good package overall with a free live set on CD thrown in for free, although DVD disc 2 is a bit superfluous really. Still, I doubt Miller fans will be too fussed about that.