Steely Dan Redux

As many of you already know, I saw Steely Dan in Chicago a couple of weekends ago. It was the Chicago Theater - smallish, intimate, the perfect venue. Suffice it to say the band was smokin'. They played the classic Aja in it's sequential entirety, and then proceeded to romp through 14 gems from the extensive back catalog. Donald Fagen is a great band leader, orchestrating the 13 strong back up band while pounding on his Fender Rhodes or strolling the stage tootling his melodica. The crowd got boisterous and the band fed off of it - I've seen the Dan 3 times now and I've never seen so much interaction between Donald, Walter Becker and the crowd. Drummer Keith Carlock is a force to be reckoned with, capable of both extreme precision and loose grooves. Some of his solos were blisteringly good, as were those of the horn section and guitarists. All round worth the big dollars. The full set list is posted below, as well as a few clips of the show that I found on YouTube, all pretty decent in quality. Listen to some Dan songs here.

(Photo by me on theiPhone)

Tomorrow tickets go on sale for their Nov. 8th show @ the Northrup Auditorium in Minneapolis. They will be playing Aja and the hits, and believe it or not I'm considering going again - for real. I like the Dan.









First Set:
1. “Black Cow”
2. “Aja”
3. “Deacon Blues”
4. “Peg”
5. “Home at Last”
6. “I Got the News”
7. “Josie”

Second Set:
8. “Black Friday”
9. “Time Out of Mind”
10. “Daddy Don't Live in that New York City No More”
11. “Bodhisattva”
12. “Babylon Sisters”
13. “Show Biz Kids”
14. “Hey Nineteen”
15. “Dirty Work”
16. “Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart”
17. “Do It Again”
18. “Don't Take Me Alive”
19. “My Old School”
20. “Kid Charlemagne”