Steely Dan. For me, it can't get much better, and seeing this amazing 13-piece band in concert is the treat of the summer. An absolutely outstanding evening of music offered by The Steely Dan Orchestra was experienced at The Gorge in George WA, on Saturday, August 2nd. Even the weather was cooperative: warm with enough clouds to shut out the sun during the beginning of the concert, but not enough to prevent a brilliant, red sunset by the end of the first set.
The set opened at 7:16 pm PDT, with the band playing the Ray Bryant instrumental, Cubano Chant. Our "principals", as Donald would describe Walter and himself at the start of Set Two, arrived shortly afterwards. Donald sat down, and the band began Aja.
SET ONE:
1. Cubano Chant (Ray Bryant Tune)
2. Aja (Aja)
3. Time Out Of Mind (Gaucho)
4. Godwhacker (extended "mix") (EMG - Everything Must Go)
5. Caves of Altamira (Royal Scam)
6. Blues Beach (EMG)
7. Babylon Sisters (Gaucho)
8. Slang of Ages (EMG)
9. Peg (Aja)
10. Home at Last (Aja)SET TWO:
11. The Steely Dan Show
12. Janie Runaway (2VN)
13. Hey Nineteen (Gaucho)
14. Haitian Divorce (Royal Scam)
15. The Things I Miss The Most (EMG)
16. Parker's Band (Pretzel Logic)
17. Josie (Aja)
18. Kid Charlamagne (Royal Scam)
19. Don't Take Me Alive (Royal Scam)ENCORE:
20. My Old School (Countdown to Ecstasy)
21. FM (FM Soundtrack)
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS:
SET ONE:
1. Cubano Chant: Nice, smooth opening for the band, allowing the members to flex a bit of muscle and get their chops working!
2. Aja: Outstanding, brilliant execution, with Keith Carlock channelling Steve Gadd and adding his own touches. The audience is already spellbound with this brilliant musician.
3. Time Out Of Mind: Nicely done, out of left field, not a tune I thought I'd ever hear, loved it
4. Godwhacker: Donald brings out the melodica, and the band cooks into high gear. Jon Herington provides the bed guitar track, allowing Walter to solo throughout the tune. The girls, all stunners as usual, bring their b/u vocals into high gear. The tune gets an "extended mix" to allow some of the players to solo, including Cornelius Bumpus, Jim Pugh, Michael Leonhart and Walt Weiskopf.
5. The Caves of Altamira: What a surprise! The horns opened the song, of course, and "blew" me away! (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
6. Blues Beach: The catchy number of the new album, a fun tune, great harmonies, with Carolyn Leonhart taking the solo line during the extro section
7. Babylon Sisters: I'm dying in my seat at this point. Watching and hearing Carlock count it in, I'm beside myself (no, I had'nt sees any previous set lists so didn't know it was the next tune). I SO love this song. And the girls' "you gotta shake it baby" harmony was bang on.
NOTE - By this time, the band had already received 4 or 5 semi-standing o's after the tunes.
8. Slang of Ages: Donald, who by this time was riffing with the crowd, introduces Walter, who does a great job on the tune. Afterwards, he introduces every band member to raucous applause and approval. Someone from the crowd screams, "SHOW BIZ KIDS"!, and two second later, they begin:
9. Peg: Regular crowd pleaser, well done, Herington interprets the Graydon guitar solo differently each time.
10. Home at Last: I'm beside myself again. Such a brilliant tune, Ted Baker is bang on with his intro, the band smokes, the audience is in heaven.
Article comments
1 - RW
The Dan gig at the Gorge was the best I've seen in all my years of concert going. This was a band that I never imagined seeing live, and it could have easily not lived up to the hype and anticipation.
They actually blew away my expectations and I was buzzing from the experience for days. Many of the arragenments and performances exceded the orginal recorded versions. Although no one will ever top the Skunk's work on "My Old School"
Overall the performances were much more soulful and tasty than those on the "Live in America" recordings, which tended to be a little busy for my tastes.
Carlock was on fire, Becker and Herington played off each other nicely, Fagan seemed to be truly enjoying himself and sang well, the girls were fantastic, the horn section were spot on and Tom Barney was as solid as a rock.
The musicianship, the sound and setting could not have been more perfect.
This was in no way an oldies act, but rather a complete musical experience that included inspired arrangements and some wonderful energetic improvisations from every player. Everything was completely fresh.
Some of the nostagia acts that are humping around the world these days could learn a thing or two from Fagan and Becker.
Highlights for me were - "Home at Last", "Don't Take me Alive", "Aja", "Hey 19", "Things I Miss the Most", "My Old School", "Babaylon Sisters"...Hell the whole set list was of highlight status and I could have listened to the band vamp on FM at the end of the show for hours....but, sadly, all good things come to an end...
Not sure what's going to top this experience. It will probably be the next time the Dan return to the Gorge.
They are in a league of their own.
2 - Citizen Keith
Nothing from Katy Lied??? An outrage....
Still, it sounds like a great show!
3 - Ray
My buddy and I went to see that at Jones Beach, NY and were especially lucky that they invited Bill Charlap to sit in on piano for Godwhacker. It was terrific. We also went to see them in Manhattan at Roseland and they played Lunch with Gina instead of Things I miss the most. Both concerts were truly great but at Jones Beach they had Bill Charlap to really spark the band in Godwhacker and overall the band seemd to be more motivated in this outdoors band shell.
Love those guys!
4 - h.w. sierra
greetings dan afficionados ...
i saw steely dan's EMG tour stops in detroit and atlanta this summer ... i have reviews and more at:
http://damon.typepad.com/wu/
i welcome your comments and blog linking. i've also met carolyn leonhart in new york and connected with the swiss percussion group lyn leon she sings with ... included a review of their glass lounge cd and links to their site ...
thx!
5 - jack of speed
The song list for that show rules: they pulled out da klassixx:
Home at Last being one of the greatest tune ever...as well as CAves of Altamira and the Royal Scam stuff (i can hear the solo at the end right now)
Carlock does rock but I am not totally convinced that 2AN and EMG are THAT great...there are moments...Lunch with Gina is a major groove, Godwhacker, Last Mall are good, but compared to say Caves of Altamira and Home at Last???
Green Room I dig but it is weird --spooky ...Pixeleen sort of cool and buzzy but a bit sweet....though I enjoy the cyber-punk vibe
EMG--8--8.5 out of 10
6 - randy
I agree about Green Room - spooky is a good word to describe it. Another tune with lyrics that confuse and confound, but with great musical hooks. Also agree about Pixeleen - the cyberpunk vibe is there in spades, brilliant lyrics.