I caught the Steely Dan show at Constitution Hall in DC with a friend, and it reminded me that I haven’t done a Stubs entry in a while. But since we did the “print your tickets” option for Sunday’s show, I don’t have stub! I guess ticket stubs are fast becoming part of a bygone era…I guess I’m getting old!
This was my 3rd time seeing Dan and I think it was the best, though it’s hard to say for sure for a couple of reasons: One, the first 2 times I had lawn seats, this time I was 16 rows from the stage. And two, memories from 9 & 15 years ago aren’t exactly sharp. 
Regardless, it was a phenomenal show. This was the Aja show (my fav album of all time), which means they played the entire Aja album first (including a pause between sides to flip the vinyl record on the turntable by the edge of the stage). After that, Donald Fagen looks at the audience and says, “Well now what?” They followed with a baker’s dozen tunes (setlist below).
Donald Fagen & Walter Becker sounded at the top of their game! I was impressed with Donald’s voice, as he seemed to have little trouble covering all those Dan favorites. And Walter’s strat runs seemed effortless and spirited. These guys always tour with top notch musicians, and this show was no exception. It’s tough to pick standouts when all the musicians were excellent, but drummer Keith Carlock excelled at playing deep in the pocket, which is essential on so many of their tunes (Babylon Sisters was one that really grooved).
Jon Herington, the guitarist, was fantastic. To me, Steely Dan’s strength is that their music consistently & successfully weaves together elements of rock, motown and jazz. Jon’s fluid jazzy solos complimented the band’s groove and Becker’s bluesy fills perfectly. Dude can play. Jon is a versatile soloist with a range of abilities. He seemed just as comfortable with the rock leads on Reelin In The Years as he was on Aja.
All in all, a fantastic performance. I am still amazed they played for over 2 hours! They must still love it after all these years. Of course, maybe they’re making up for lost time since they didn’t tour for 20 years!
The opening act was excellent. The Deep Blue Organ Trio, a Chicago jazz trio consisting of: Chris Foreman on B3 (complete with bass pedals & TWO Leslie cabs, YEAH BABY!), Bobby Broom on guitar, & Greg Rockingham on drums. They were solid, and obviously having alot of fun!
I’ve heard mixed reviews about Constitution Hall as a concert venue, but I have to say that I think it was well-suited to Steely Dan’s style of music. The sound was excellent. Even with all the instruments on stage, the volume never got uncomfortable. That’s really key in a place like Constitution Hall, which is acoustically very live. A hard rock band would likely be another story. I’ve had the opportunity to play there a few times and you don’t have to turn up very much to cover the whole 3500-seat hall.
Steely Dan Setlist for 11/22/2009:
Teenies (Cool jazz playon)
Aja album (Black Cow, Aja, Deacon Blues, Peg, Home at Last, I Got the News, Josie)
Bodhisattva
Hey 19
Godwhacker
Babylon Sisters
Black Friday
Daddy Don’t Live in NYC (Walter vocals)
Show Biz Kids
Dirty Work
Love is Like an Itchin’ in my Heart (with band intros)
Don’t Take Me Alive
My Old School
Kid Charlemagne
Reelin’ in the Years (encore)
Last Tango in Paris (playout)
A tip of the hat to my friend Tom, who got us the tix and emailed a pretty detailed review of the show which I referred to a few times while writing this. Tom, the check’s in the mail.
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