Concert Review: Steely Dan and Michael McDonald at Jones Beach, 17 August 2006

On Thursday, 17 August 2006, I went with friends to the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater to see the Michael McDonald/Steely Dan show, aka the Steelyard "Sugartooth" McDan - The Man ... The Legend ... The Tour. The concert was amazing — the Jones Beach Theater is an outdoor amphitheatre on the beach in Wantaugh, New York, on the south shore of Long Island. It was a clear night, the temperature was warm, the music outstanding.

Michael McDonald opened the show with a full band, and played an assortment of his solo tunes, a couple from his recent Motown songbook, and his killer Doobie Brothers songs, including "It Keeps You Running", "You Belong to Me", "What A Fool Believes", "Minute by Minute", and "Takin' It To The Streets". The intro to "Takin' It To The Streets" featured a long piano/organ shuffle between McDonald and his keyboardist, John Deaderick. After some brilliant pianistics, McDonald began the opening chords to "Takin'" and the crowd roared its approval.

After a short break, the lights dropped out and the Steely Dan band appeared on stage, and began a jazz instrumental tune called Turtle Talk. A few minutes into the song, the band was joined by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. They quickly moved into "Bodhisattva", an indication that Don and Walt had plans to revisit a number of older tunes they had not performed for some time.

After the song, Fagen welcomed the audience with, "Hello, kids", and the band continued to weave magic with the following tunes, post-"Bodhisattva":

• "Time Out Of Mind"
• "Aja" featuring Keith Carlock's solid interpretations of the Steve Gadd solo pieces
• "I Got The News"
• "Hey Nineteen" during which the band breaks from the main song, and Donald notes that trumpeter Michael Leonhart and trombonist Jim Pugh were arguing backstage earlier, and invites them to the front of the stage to discuss the issue. Leonhart (brother to singer Carolyn) and Pugh, each using a mute, proceed to perform a little "talking jazz", trading licks back and forth until Donald yells, "Okay, enough, back to your places," or something similar. The music still chugging, he asks the girls about that certain drink of a certain kind, he can't remember the name, what was it again, to which the girls begin singing the chorus, "The Cuervo Gold, the fine Columbian..."
• "Josie"
• "Green Earrings"
• "Deacon Blues"
• "Black Friday"
• "Dirty Work" (sung by Carolyn and Cynthia)

Donald began speaking to the audience about the need to feel a groove, and this was the segue to the portion of the show where the band members showcase themselves individually. Walter then introduced each of the band members, and concluded by welcoming Michael McDonald back to the stage to join in with them. While the band continued to play a low-keyed funk groove, McDonald sat down in the middle of the stage, between Becker and Fagen, settled in at his keyboard and started singing "Show Biz Kids", one of my all-time favorite SD tunes, from Countdown to Ecstasy.

Article Author: Randy Reichardt

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