Joe Cocker/Steve Miller Band

Headed up to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Saturday to see Joe Cocker and the Steve Miller Band perform. Wasn't exactly sure what to expect considering both performers are 64-years old and Joe Cocker hasn't had a hit since 1989 with "When the Night Comes" and Steve Miller's last hit was "Abracadabra" in 1982. Let me just say they certainly didn't disapoint though...

Joe Cocker played fora solid 70-minutes and sounded really good. His body contortions are nearly as dramatic as they were 30-years ago but he still makes some interesting gestures while he sings. And he ends nearly every song with a jump...which was interesting. The crowd went crazy when he did the grunt? in the middle of "With a Little Help From My Friends," which was the last song of his set. He came out and did a couple encore numbers. The band was pretty good and his backup singers/dancers were definitely up to par. He also had a very good saxophone player. It was a great show and I wasn't sure Steve Miller would be able to live up to it...

Steve Miller Band took the stage with "Swingtown," which was the theme for their entire set. They played all the classics Steve Miller songs like you would expect but they threw in three blues numbers, which were pretty awesome. The band just added Sonny Charles, formerly of the Checkmates, Ltd., who sang the blues songs, which included a Bo Diddley number. When Charles wasn't singing, he was an amazing dancer...

Steve Miller can still tear up a guitar, switching several times throughout the concert. The whole group sounded pretty awesome and they played for about 2-hours. They saved the best for the end when they played a 4-song encore set that included "Take the Money and Run" and "Jungle Love."

Overall, I thought it was pretty darn good. I think that was pretty much the concensus of all the people around us too. Steve Miller is putting the finishing touches on his blues album and hopes to have it released by the end of the year. Judging from what I heard on the stage, it might be worth a listen if you like that kind of thing. If not, you can still listen to the classic Miller and Cocker and enjoy it because it's still better than 98% of everything being released today. No doubt.