The show was billed “Classic Rock Meets Classic Country.” Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena, a small but mighty crowd got to see two dynamic shows for the price of one.
Country legend Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives teamed with the Steve Miller Band for a different kind of mixtape tour to play Des Moines than the one that stopped by on Sunday night. There’s no telling why Stuart and Miller decided to kick off their summer dual-headlining tour in Des Moines, but it certainly made for a fun start to the tour.
Who hasn’t Marty Stuart played with, you ask? It’s a short list. He knows the whos-who in country music and has played with some of the greatest names in music. Stuart even shared how Des Moines holds a special place in his heart, as it was the town where he first joined Johnny Cash on tour after The Man in Black recruited him via a hotel room phone call in Cedar Rapids.
Stuart has a bevy of well-known songs and he could certainly have loaded his setlist with favorites, but he made sure to give his “Fabulous Superlatives” a chance to also share the spotlight. Each of the three men who backed him up got a chance to sing their own country classic for the crowd and it demonstrated just how diverse and loaded with talent that stage really was. But it was Stuart who has the real pedigree. After each of his band members had their turns, Stuart took the stage for himself, armed with only a mandolin for the Johnny Cash tune, “Orange Blossom Special.”
Stuart is the best of country music. He appreciates the roots, he continues to learn, and best yet, he educates the newer generations about the music that makes up the backbone of country music.
Steve Miller, on the other hand, continues to be a student and steward of rock n’ roll. Miller brought his four-piece band armed with one of the greatest packages of hits in music. Seriously, his “Greatest Hits 1974 – 1978” is one of the best selling albums of all time for a reason. When you hit the stage and proclaim that you’re “gonna make a little magic,” there’s no additional explanation needed that “Abracadabra” is coming.
Many forget that Steve Miller is one heck of a guitar player. He has a satchel full of hit records, but until you see him live and see just how these songs you’ve heard over and over are constructed, you can never truly appreciate them.
There’s no real flash in a Steve Miller Band show. You’re coming to see fantastic musicians perform the songs you love. The set is minimal, the lighting is unobtrusive, and the focus is solely on the musicians on stage. In this age of ultra-stimulation at concerts, it was downright refreshing to have a show that was just a bunch of great musicians playing at a volume that didn’t ring in your ears the entire next day.
One of the evening’s highlights came during Miller’s set when he invited Marty Stuart and band back on stage to do some bluegrass and even a Texas two-step. This was the super-group anyone at the show would have been hoping for before even coming through the doors.
Miller also tells a great story about visiting a New York guitar store in the 1960s where he purchased a sitar/guitar hybrid that he still uses today. He showed off his prowess with the hybrid on “Wild Mountain Honey”
Bluegrass and sitars aside, there was also plenty of hits with which the crowd could sing along. “Take the Money and Run,” “The Joker,” and “Fly Like an Eagle” all received loud ovations and even louder singalongs.
As the crowd “whoa-ooed” along with “Swingtown” (sung with added phrases in Madison, Wisconsin should you ever see it played there), the Steve Miller Band finally gave the crowd what it really wanted and came to see – the mega-hits they’ve come to love and haven’t tired of to this day. Even though the crowd was a bit over 4,700 for the evening, each of those people were given a great performance worth every penny spent.
