Steve Miller Band Rocks Out Mountain Laurel Center
on Saturday, July 7, at 8 p.m.
Classic American Rock is on Tap as the Band Performs Its Enduring Hits: “Abracadabra,” “Livin’ in the USA,” “Fly Like an Eagle” and More
Click here for downloadable photographs of Steve Miller Band.
BUSHKILL, PA – The Steve Miller Band – whose hits have “virtually defined good old American AOR rock,” according to Rolling Stone – comes to Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, July 7 at 8 p.m. for one performance only. Tickets, ranging from $45 to $65 for the pavilion, and only $25 for lawn seating, are on sale now via Ticketmaster at 570.693.4100, through Ticketmaster outlets, online at mountainlaurelcenter.com, or by visiting MLCPA’s on-site box office.
Steve Miller grew up in Texas and formed his first band while still a schoolboy, teaching his classmate Royce Skaggs some guitar chords so he could be part of the band (Royce would later become better-known by his nickname, Boz). Only 16 when he entered college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Miller dropped out of school just shy of a literature degree, encouraged by none other than guitar legend Les Paul to pursue a career as a performer. He formed the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band in 1965, with blues keyboardist Barry Goldberg, and founded the Steve Miller Band in 1967.
In that era of hippies, psychedelia and free love, the Steve Miller Band – with its psychedelic-blues style and Steve on lead vocals and lead guitar – fit in solidly with the San Francisco music scene. Miller based his band in the Bay Area, performed at the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and played regularly at such California venues as the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore West. The band’s albums from that time – Children of the Future, Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace – had marginal chart success but yielded no Top 40 hits.
The Steve Miller Band’s real hits started coming with 1973’s album The Joker, which featured a less hard-rock-oriented, more melodic style for the band. The album’s title track, “The Joker,” hit Number One in the U.S., along with several other popular tunes. (Remarkably, “The Joker” would chart Number One in the U.K. nearly two decades later, after it was used in a TV commercial there.)
Following the huge success of The Joker, Miller sequestered himself in his home in Marin County to work on his next album – an endeavor which would become an instant and all-time American rock classic, Fly Like an Eagle. The album, released in 1976, included the smash-hit title track as well as such enduring favorites as “Take the Money and Run,” “Rock’n Me,” “Jet Airliner” and “Jungle Love.” The Steve Miller Band hit the road again, co-headlining a major tour with The Eagles in 1977 that played to sold-out stadiums and arenas across the nation. The album is listed as one of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
Miller then took a long hiatus from recording and performing, emerging with 1981’s Circle of Love, and then, in 1982, another major hit, Abracadabra. His Greatest Hits 1974-1978 compendium album has sold more than 14 million copies, racking up 13-times platinum status, and continues to sell prodigious numbers of copies today. Many Miller Band songs became the backbone of classic rock radio when that format was introduced in the late 1980s, keeping his songs fresh and alive for successive generations of new audiences.
In 2006 the 30th-anniversary edition CD of Fly Like an Eagle was released, digitally remastered, with three bonus tracks, including a bonus live-concert DVD, interviews and archival footage. More than three decades after Fly Like an Eagle, Miller remains a master musician at the peak of his powers, with a virtuoso band and a body of songs that seem to keep just getting better as they get older.
MOUNTAIN LAUREL CENTER 2007 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
All events will be presented in the Tom Ridge Pavilion.
SATURDAY, JULY 7, 8 p.m.
STEVE MILLER BAND
Inside reserved seating: $45-$65. Lawn seating: $25.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 7:30 p.m.
THE GOO GOO DOLLS
Plus special guests LIFEHOUSE
Inside reserved seating: $37-$47. Lawn seating: $22.
TUESDAY, JULY 24, 7:30 p.m.
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Plus special guest Charlie Louvin
Inside reserved seating: $25-$45. Lawn seating: $20.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 8 p.m.
LINDA RONSTADT
Inside reserved seating: $32-$52. Lawn seating: $22.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 11 a.m.
THE LAURIE BERKNER BAND with Susie Lampert & Adam Bernstein
Inside reserved seating: $25-$35.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 7:30 p.m.
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND
BOB WEIR AND RATDOG
Inside reserved seating: $45-$65. Lawn seating: $25.
MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 8 p.m.
BOSTON POPS ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA
Keith Lockhart, Conductor
Inside reserved seating: $45-$65. Lawn seating: $25.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 8 p.m.
Neil Berg’s 100 YEARS OF BROADWAY
Inside reserved seating: $25-$45. Lawn seating: $20.
Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts is a nonprofit performing arts center serving the Pocono Mountains and beyond. Its principal venue, the Tom Ridge Pavilion, offers 2,500 covered seats and room under the stars for thousands more on its comfortable lawn. MLCPA is dedicated to serving the region by providing world-class artists and entertainers through an ongoing series of performances and educational programming. For additional information about the Mountain Laurel Center, please call 570-426-2080 or visit mountainlaurelcenter.com.
For ticket prices, ordering, Harry’s Club membership and general information, the public can visit www.mountainlaurelcenter.com or call 570.426.2080.
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Contact:
CJ McKenna
Development Manager
Direct: 570.426.2080 x5007
Email: cmckenna@mlcpa.org
Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts
Bushkill Falls Road P.O. Box 1233
Bushkill, PA 18324
Administration: 570.426.2080
Fax: 570.588.5211
