Most casual music listeners have encountered Steely Dan before, certain SD songs are a staple of FM Classic Rock radio formats across America today.   If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Reelin’ in the Years and My old School are probably the most played Steely Dan tracks on radio today.  But the band shouldn’t be pigeon holed into a couple of classic rock chestnuts so easily. 

Fans of the band love the nuanced, sophisticated body of work Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have assembled over the years; often with the assistance of some of music’s most talented session players and vocalists.   Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers), Larry Carlton (Jazz icon), Wayne Shorter, Steve Gadd, Cornelius Bumpus and Bernard Purdie all appeared on various jazz inflected tracks throughout the years, often times contributing herculean efforts and multiple takes to appease the legendary  perfectionism of Fagen and Becker. 

Fagen and Becker are literary rockers in the true sense of the word and aficionados of Jazz.  Famously, they met while attending Bard College in Annandale,  New York and struck up a friendship and began writing music together.  After college they both plied their wares for a time at the  mid Manhattan ‘Church of Pop’ Brill Building.   The rest is history, as they say.   The two made their way to Los Angeles and eventually struck gold on their very first formal release, Can’t Buy a Thrill.  Notoriously, the Steely Dan name was pulled from a passage in William Burrough’s Naked Lunch: The Restored Text. 

I’ve seen the band twice now, most recently this past August in New York and in 2000 during their ‘Two Against Nature Tour 2K European leg in Dusseldorf, Germany.  The performance in Dusseldorf was a slick production, most of the songs performed greatly resembled their pristine album versions and we also had at least three new tracks from the comeback album released earlier that year.  I was happy to finally see these guys and the band they had assembled was top notch.

The Beacon Theatre show was billed as ‘Internet Request Night’, the band would be compiling the most widely requested songs throughout their career and play them during the concert.   Special guest was Larry Carlton, on hand to play lead and rhythm guitar alongside Jon Herrington and Walter.   The Beacon is an incredible venue, it recently was refurbished to it’s original grandeur and it now ranks as my favorite venue to see a show.   The acoustics and sight lines were simply amazing. 

In recent years Steely Dan have staged ‘residencies’ at the Beacon; this year’s ‘Rent Party ‘09′ tour included several July and August nights dedicated to classic SD albums including Aja, The Royal Scam and Gaucho.  Residencies were also set up in LA, Boston and Chicago.  The Saturday night concert I attended featured both Aja in its entirety as well as plenty of Internet Requests, an unexpected bonus to see Aja, one of SD’s most revered albums. 

If the gentleman who emailed me the extra 15th row ticket just days before the show happens to read this….thank you again so very much.  News of new fall dates have just been released so it’s great to hear this tour has been expanded. 

The NYC show was special; Fagen and Becker are old school New Yorkers and the home town crowd absolutely reveled in the stellar performances and soulful sty-lings of everyone, particularly Donald Fagen’s organ work and demeanor which seemed to channel a funked up Ray Charles.   Bravo.

The Set List:
Black Cow
Aja
Deacon Blues
Peg
Home at Last
I Got the News
Josie

Then:

Kid Charlemagne
Hey Nineteen
Dirty Work
Rikki Don’t Lost That Number
Black Friday
Daddy Don’t Live in that New York City No More
Babylon Sisters
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
FM
Love is Like an Itching in My Heart (Supremes cover)
Doctor Wu
Don’t Take Me Alive
Reelin’ in the Years (‘72 Version)

Encore:
My Old School