Stubs
Stubs: Steely Dan (1994, 2000, 2009)
by frets on Dec.07, 2009, under Stubs
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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Stubs: Stevie Ray Vaughan & Jeff Beck (1989)
by frets on Jul.05, 2009, under Stubs
This might just be the best concert I’ve ever seen. As a guitar player who idolized both of these guys growing up, how could it not be? Hindsight only adds to the case: after this tour Jeff Beck took a(nother) hiatus of several years, and within a year would come the tragic helicopter crash that took Stevie Ray Vaughan’s life (August 27, 1990).
Jeff was touring off the Guitar Shop album, with Terry Bozzio on drums and Tony Hymas on keys. (continue reading…)
Stubs: Yes 2004 (with Dream Theater)
by frets on Jun.13, 2009, under Stubs
Jon Anderson’s return to the stage recently reminded me of my only Yes concert: at the Allentown Fairgrounds in 2004.
My friend Chris, who is an avid Yes fan, got us tickets and we trekked up to PA in my new RX-8 (yes we broke a few laws getting there) for this concert. Though I’m not quite the Yes fan he is, I love their music, and was thrilled to see them live.
Dream Theater opened. Their mix was terrible, unfortunately. But that did not keep them from putting on a good performance. I’m not a big fan of their music, but I was glad to see these guys live finally.
The lineup for Yes was Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White. Their mix also did not start out great, but improved during the first couple of songs. I was impressed how much these guys can still rock! The setlist was:
Firebird Suite
Going For The One
Sweet Dreams
I’ve Seen All Good People
America
South Side Of The Sky
Don’t Kill The Whale
Yours Is No Disgrace
And You And I
Awaken
Starship Trooper
Roundabout
Steve and Rick are just beasts! At the end of South Side of the Sky, they traded solos back and forth, which was a highlight moment that I remember. I found the song on YouTube (from the Prince’s Trust concert that same year):
It is hard to list other highlights because the whole show rocked. The band seemed to be in top form, which I found amazing. That was 5 years ago, and they’re still at it!
But the biggest highlight came the next morning when Chris and I came down for breakfast in our hotel to find Jon and Steve eating there. Jon was very warm and kind to us and we talked for a moment or two. Steve, on the other hand, saw us approaching and barked, “I’m not a rock star until after breakfast, OK?!” That’s OK, I don’t begrudge the man his privacy. And my respect for him as a player is as strong as ever.
Stubs: Bryan Adams 1985
by frets on Apr.12, 2009, under Stubs
I’ve been to a lot of concerts, and I saved most of my ticket stubs. If you’re thinking that I missed out on some serious deals at Hardee’s and Wendy’s by hanging on to these things, you’d be right. For this stub alone I could’ve had a Hamburger , Reg. Fries and a Coke for only $1.99 (after 8 pm) at Wendy’s. Who knew?
Anyway, this is the first stub I still have. As you can see, it is in pretty bad shape…but not too bad considering it is 24 years later!
This stub is from Bryan’s September 12, 1985 show at the good ol’ Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland on his Reckless tour. Reckless was tremendously successful — hitting number one and spawning 6 top 20 hits: Run to You, Somebody, Heaven, Summer of ‘69, One Night Love Affair, and It’s Only Love. It also earned him 2 Grammy nominations. Man, I STILL enjoy these songs! Well, except Heaven. My college band used to have a parody of that one called Cleveland (“I’m finding it hard to believe, we’re in Cleveland”).
So, in 1985 I was a wee teenager, and this was my second concert. I don’t remember much about this show, except that Bryan came out for 4 encores! He kept thanking us because DC was one of the first markets where his single Cuts Like A Knife took off. At the last encore, they literally had run out of material to play! He and the band huddled for a bit and then launched into Hound Dog. It was a fantastic show.
1985 was the year that music really became a pursuit for me. Looking back, I think Live Aid (the Bob Geldof mega relief concert from earlier that year) was a major catalyst. I videotaped it and watched it over and over again. Bryan opened the Philadelphia Live Aid show. Check out the Live Aid DVD for a trip down memory lane (but Led Zeppelin’s performance is conspicuously absent, and that’s probably not a bad thing — their performance was pretty sloppy).
Bryan was recently in town playing a solo show at the Warner Theatre.
One more note: Take a look at that price! $14.50 for FLOOR SEATS!?!? Ah, the good ol’ days.
