Concert #41 - Steve Winwood at the Universal Amphitheater (July 26, 1988)

1988 may have been the peak of Steve Winwood's return to the high life, to paraphrase his own lyrics. "Roll With It" was on a roll, so it was a good time to catch him live again. I sat fairly close to the stage, a bit to the left.

Opening for Steve was Johnny Clegg and Savuka from South Africa, a multi-racial group that was much better than expected. I could not believe how well Johnny could still sing after a few minutes of high energy dance moves. Two of his songs I still play occasionally: "Take My Heart Away" and "Asimbonanga".

Steve played songs from the current album ("Put On Your Dancing Shoes", "Don't You Know What the Night Can Do" and "Roll With It"), plus some gems from the past ("Low Spark of High Heeled Boys", "Spark", "I'm A Man" and the more recent "Higher Love").

All-in-all, a great show with someone I'd been idolizing since 1966.