Alice Cooper, The Mission and The Tubes, The SSE Hydro, Glasgow 12th November 2017

Titled as the ‘Spend The Night With Alice Cooper’ tour (ooh – check out the double-entendre..), the support bands are The Mission and The Tubes, a somewhat eclectic, incongruous and bizarre selection! It’s not really clear why these choices, but it certainly makes for an interesting evening…

It’s a crisp, cold night and the busker in the covered bridge from the low-level station is playing a downbeat version of Alice’s ‘Be My Lover’. Approaching the SSE Hydro, the venue is lit up with a (blood?) red glow, and the security man jokes “Are you ready for Marilyn Manson?”(!)…Inside a motley crew is preparing for the musical evening: There are two aging gentlemen sporting Tubes ‘Mondo Pulp’ tour t-shirts having their photo taken, a guy in a black Placebo beanie, girls with Alice style eye make-up, a couple of girls dressed (for meet and greet?) in costumes – tight black and white striped trousers, top hat, heavy eye make-up, leather jackets…but also lots of ‘anonymous’ folks in everyday clothes, plenty of ‘greys’, but plenty of younger people too…A plethora of bods in rock band and t-shirts, as you’d expect: Metallica, Kiss, Hawklords, Black Sabbath, Gun, Cheap Trick, Blue Öyster Cult and, of course Alice Cooper! There are also tattoos, black high-heeled studded boots and spandex on show…

The Tubes are first on, with the unenviable task of trying to warm up a mostly-empty arena…From San Francisco and well-known for their outrageous stage shows in their ‘prime time’, The Tubes are a long way from the metal leanings of the current music that ‘The Coop’ produces. Amazingly, four of the band members who played on their 1975 debut LP are in this line-up – Fee Waybill (vocals), Roger Steen (guitar/vocals), Rick Anderson (bass) and Charles Lempriere “Prairie” Prince (drums) – joined by David Medd (keyboards/synthesiser), who first played with the band in 1996…All of the music in tonight’s setlist was originally released over an eight year period from 1975 to 1983: They started with the poppy ‘She’s A Beauty’, the first track on their 1983 album ‘Outside Inside’, all walking on in white boiler suits, Anderson with white hat…’Talk To Ya Later’, ‘Amnesia’ and ‘Mr. Hate’ are all from ‘The Completion Backward Principle’, their first album for Capitol, released in 1981; ’TV Is King’ and ‘Love’s a Mystery (I Don’t Understand)’ (both co-written by The Tubes and Todd Rundren) along with ‘Prime Time’ are taken from fourth 1979 album ’Remote Control’; What Do You Want From Life? (as Fee Waybill says ‘the eternal question’) and the ‘must-play-because it’s the only Tubes song everyone knows’, the feisty singalong ‘White Punks On Dope’ are from eponymous first LP, released in 1975. Second and third LPs ‘Young And Rich’ and ‘Now’ are not featured, apart from in Waybill’s reference the A&M box set of their five early releases. Originally a pop/dance track with a female/male vocal duet, tonight’s version of ‘Prime Time’ is much harder and punkier, really getting the audience toes tapping…

The Tubes at The Hydro – art rock in a half-empty shell?

Waybill is the showbiz element of the performance, adding drama and costume changes to augment the songs – straw boater and red/white striped jacket for ‘She’s A Beauty’, cardboard TV over his head for ‘TV Is King’, camp TV game-show host glitter jacket for ‘What Do You Want From Life?’ and, the ‘piece de resistance’, in drag with tight gold spandex trousers, extreme high-heeled gold boots, feather boa and big-haired blonde wig for the  penultimate song ‘White Punks On Dope’, Waybill dramatically falling to the floor and kicking off the boots for the rockin’ finale ‘Talk to Ya Later’.

The Tubes playing ‘White Punks On Dope’ – Fee Waybill in drag on tottering high heels…

The Tubes setlist:
She’s a Beauty
TV Is King
Mr. Hate
Amnesia
What Do You Want From Life?
Prime Time (punk version)
Love’s a Mystery (I Don’t Understand)
White Punks On Dope
Talk to Ya Later

Wayne Hussey leading the gothic charge, since 1986…

There wasn’t a long turnaround before arch-goth rockers The Mission took the stage, heralded by the harmonica intro ands opening bars of ‘The Wizard’ by Black Sabbath, obligatory black and white graphics, gear and lighting…They opened with ‘Tower Of Strength’ from second LP ‘Children’, the backing track starting and white spotlights swirling around before Wayne Hussey walked on with his white semi-acoustic guitar (a Shechter Corsair?) to croon his distinctive dark vocals:

”You raise me up
When I’m on the floor
You see me through
When I’m lonely and scared…”

’Beyond The Pale’, the opening track from ‘Children’ follows, then an electric cover of Neil Young’s ‘Like A Hurricane’, a song Hussey did recorded an acoustic version of for the ‘Garden Of Delight’ 12” single. “You know that one, don’t you” says Hussey, “Well here’s another one that you won’t know” – all through he seems uncomfortable with the support slot, remembering that the last time The Mission were in that role in Scotland was back in 1987, supporting U2. The band is three-quarters of the original line-up: Wayne Hussey (vocals/guitar), Craig Adams (bass) and Simon Hinkler (guitar), with drummer Mike Kelly who first joined the band when they reformed for their twenty-fifth anniversary tour…Hussey tries some between-songs banter “How do you say ‘cheers’ in Scotland?” – crowd responses – “Well, in Brazil, where I live, we say ‘Salut’, so ‘Salut’ to you…” Thanks for dropping that in Wayne! (He is married to a Brazilian actress and lives in Sau Paulo). Most of the songs are from the earlier 80s and 90s albums – Wasteland and Severina from debut ‘God’s Own Medicine’ (1986), ’Butterfly On A Wheel’ and ‘Deliverance’ from third album ‘Carved In Sand’ (1990), ’Like A Child Again’ from 1992’s ‘Masque’ – but there is one recent song, ’Met-Amor-Phosis’ from their 2016 album ‘Another Fall From Grace’ (which Hussey and fans have described as a throwback to goth sound of The Sisters and the first Mission LP)…Hussey’s talk doesn’t really help in winning over the audience: “Shame about the World Cup eh?” (referring to the Scottish football team’s recent failure to qualify) and “You’re very quiet tonight Glasgow” – Yes, well, Wayne, this is an audience here to see Alice Cooper! It’s a decent set though – Hussey, Adams, Hinkler and Kelly are all right on top of it, the stage set-up, backdrop (‘The Mission – since 1986’ with logo) and lighting are tasteful, and the choice of songs is good. Wayne Hussey puts his all into their final song ‘Deliverance’, ending crouched down at the stage monitors, singing acapella:

”Give me, give me, give me, deliverance
Brother, sister, give me, give me
Deliverance, deliver me”

The Mission: “White light goin’ messin’ up my mind…”

The Mission setlist:
Tower of Strength
Beyond the Pale
Like a Hurricane (Neil Young cover)
Severina
Like a Child Again
Butterfly on a Wheel
Met-Amor-Phosis
Wasteland
Deliverance

Two backdrops at The Hydro – The eyes of Alice Cooper…intimacy not pictured…

The front of the stage is covered by a huge screen, printed with Alice’s eyes and make-up…As the house lights go down, spotlights reveal spiders in the eyes and a spooky voice plays out over the PA: “Unfortunate victims, You have been invited into this nightmare world…Don’t look him directly in the eyes, or you will be doomed to be his plaything, just another one of his broken toys forever…You have been chosen to spend the night with Alice Cooper…It’s too late now for you…Please come in…”

The screen falls down and is dragged away by ‘minions’, none too slickly, as the full on metal assault of ‘Brutal Planet’ hits and the band is revealed. Alice still struts around the stage like a young man, cane in hand…

“It’s a Brutal Planet…” Strauss, Cooper, Sobel and Henriksen rock out in Glasgow…

The REAL opener though, is ‘Under My Wheels’, the intro riff of which immediately gets the crowd going and the diehard fans to their feet. Then there’s the sing-along ‘Lost In America’ with Neanderthal, but witty, lyrics:

”I can’t get a girl
‘Cause I ain’t got a car
I can’t get a car
‘Cause I ain’t got a job
I can’t get a job
‘Cause I ain’t got a car
So I’m looking for a girl with a job and a car…”

It feels a little bit like ‘rock by numbers’, as the band run through ’Pain’, resurrected from 1980’s ‘Flush The Fashion’, catchy ‘Department Of Youth’, the weak ’The World Needs Guts’ and cheesy play-on-words ‘Woman Of Mass Distraction’… There isn’t much talking by Alice and very little audience interaction…not helped by the slightly soulless atmosphere of The Hydro…The intro to ‘Poison’ gets a great reaction though, and it’s a classy song, co-written with John McCurry and hitmaker Desmond Child, very 80s rock but driven by Alice’s snarling vocals.

The Coop, leathered and in control: “You’re poison running through my veins…”

Alice has various costumes handed to him/put on him by the female ‘jack in the box’ in the middle of the stage…jackets, blood-stained medical gowns, conductor’s suit…During the glam rocker ’Feed My Frankenstein’, ‘The Coop’ ‘turns into’ a giant Frankenstein monster after receiving electro-shocks on a rack that he lies on – total horror slapstick. ‘Cold Ethyl’, from the concept album ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’, always involves Alice singing to a doll (the dead Ethyl) and casting it aside – tonight is no different. After the rock-outs of ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Ethyl’, Alice sitting on an oil drum to sing ‘Only Women Bleed’ is a welcome mood-change, although he does simulate domestic abuse with the female dancer (another perennial)!

Strauss, Roxie (touch of the ‘Jack Sparrow’?) and Henriksen – one too many?

There are three guitarists for almost all of the songs – Nita Strauss, Ryan Roxie and multi-instrumentalist Tommy Henriksen…This muddies the sound and seems like on guitar-picker too many (the sound is clearer and better with the original band members later). The same stage moves of the three guitar players and the bass player get a bit samey after a while (likewise their get-up a bit ‘Guns’n’Roses, a bit ‘Marilyn Manson’ – ripped clothes, hats etc – clichéd LA rockers?), as does the metal riffing (more technique than feel) and the mini-pyrotechnic lighting effects blasting up from the front of the stage…

He sings the brilliant ‘The Ballad Of Dwight Fry’ in a straight jacket, having gone insane. No Alice Cooper show would be complete without him being killed, so a huge guillotine is brought on for this purpose, as the end of ‘Killer’ plays out, followed by ‘I Love The Dead’

There are some more ‘recent’ tracks:
’The World Needs Guts’ (from 1986’s ‘Constrictor’) ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ from ‘Hey Stoopid’ (1991), ‘Lost In America’ (1994’s ‘The Last Temptation’), ‘Brutal Planet’ (2000), cheesy play-on-words ‘Woman Of Mass Distraction’ (‘Dirty Diamonds’ 2005) and throwaway, forgettable ‘Paranoiac Personality’ from ‘Paranormal’, which was released in July 2017.

There are rock concert clichés in abundance, like the guitar solo by Nita Strauss, and drum solo by Glen Sobel, accompanied by bass player Chuck Garric.

Three of the original Alice Cooper band members Dennis Dunaway (bass), Michael Bruce (guitar) and Neal Smith (drums) join Alice as an ‘encore’ to perform a five song mini-set, accompanied by current band member Ryan Roxie on guitar (playing the late Glen Buxton’s role). It was a carefully-choreographed transition between the end of the main set and this part of the show, unfortunately not allowing for Alice to introduce his old band mates, a huge moment for a lot of fans…until the end of the show, when he introduces all band members…The Billion Dollar Babies ‘coin’ logo forms a formidable backdrop, initially lit in red for great effect.

Red babies can’t take care of themselves – the old guys are back…

Alice Cooper has said of the reunion: “When the original band broke up in 1975, there was no bad blood. There were no lawsuits – we had just burned out the creative process. We had gone to high school together and had recorded something like five Platinum albums in a row. We were never out of sight of each other for ten years. Everybody just went their own way. Neal, Dennis and I always stayed in touch. Mike disappeared for a while and Glen Buxton passed away in 1997, which was a big blow.”

Michael, Dennis, Neal and Alice – four decades melt away…

For ‘Schools Out’, both bands get together for a final rock-out, musical quality not that great but a big ol’ romp just the same, unfortunately incorporating (murdering?) Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)’, which Alice insists is similar to ‘Schools Out’, but there’s not much of a connection I can see…Anyhow, a predictable end to a mixed bag, but a good night overall – my advice to Alice is: Tour with Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce, Neal Smith (+ A.N. Other) playing only stuff from ‘Love It To Death’ up to ‘Muscle Of Love’…It might happen, but don’t wait too long…

Alice’s band:
Chuck Garric – bass
Ryan Roxie – guitar
Nita Strauss – guitar
Tommy Henriksen – multi-instrumentalist
Glen Sobel – drums

Alice Cooper setlist:
Brutal Planet
Under My Wheels
Lost in America
Pain
Department of Youth
The World Needs Guts
Woman of Mass Distraction
Poison (preceded by Nita Strauss guitar solo)
Halo of Flies (with Glen Sobel drum solo, accompanied by Chuck Garric on bass)
Feed My Frankenstein
Cold Ethyl
Only Women Bleed
Paranoiac Personality
Ballad of Dwight Fry
Killer (end part)
I Love the Dead

Encore:

Mini-set with original Alice Cooper band members
I’m Eighteen
Billion Dollar Babies
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Muscle of Love (with ‘Hello Hooray intro)

School’s Out (incorporating ‘Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)’, with original and current band)

 

 

 

 

Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, Bluesfest, London 2017

Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, ‘Bluesfest’ The O2 Arena, London, Sunday 29^th October 2017

Infamously named after a ‘strap-on’ dildo in William S. Burroughs cult novel ‘The Naked Lunch’, Steely Dan is the brainchild of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who created the band back in 1972. Having recorded three studio albums with a similar line-up of musicians, the duo set out to develop ‘The Dan’ as a concept, leading the writing and arranging of the songs, Fagen retaining the lead vocalist role, Becker continuing to play guitar and bass, with top session musicians employed to fulfil the Becker and Fagen creative vision.

Walter Becker sadly passed away in September 2017 and Donald Fagen released this statement about his musical partner, as posted on the Bluesfest website:

“Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.

We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.

Walter had a very rough childhood – I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.

His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band.

Donald Fagen
September 3 2017”

Becker and Fagen in happier, groovier times…

Having toured consistently over the last few years, Steely Dan were booked to play Bluesfest before Walter Becker died – Walter had been ill for some time and had only appeared with the band on stage intermittently of late. This was their only UK date, supported by US legends The Doobie Brothers.

The laid-back pre-gig Sunday night atmosphere was building up around London Bridge, transport hub for changing to the Jubilee Line, the link to the docklands and the O2 Arena (originally ‘The Millenium Dome’), holy grail tonight for Steely Dan fans young and aging, but mostly the latter, given that the band’s musical popularity peaked in the late ‘70s and early 80s. Having left North Greenwich station, the concert goers are at the mercy of corporate advertising and big business food chains – Even when through the airport-style security, the apparent choice of food and drink soon turns out to be little of no choice at all, over-priced eats and beer at £7 a pint/£6.50 a bottle, expensive even at London weighting…such is the brass-necked cynicism of corporate greed! The collapse of big business is something that Steely Dan sang about on their 2003 opus ‘Everything Must Go’, with some choice rhyming:

”It’s high time for a walk on the real side
Let’s admit the bastards beat us
Move to dissolve the corporation
In a pool of margaritas…”

Still, there was a busy craft beer stall, an oasis in a desert of globalisation and an antidote to corporate thirst-quenchers Bud, Strongbow and Stella…

The Doobie Brothers have always had a bigger following in the USA than in the UK, but did well in trying to win over what was likely to be a majority Steely Dan audience. Their fusion of American rock, soul and country, with harmony vocals and lyrics evocative of stateside landscapes, took the O2 faithful on a transatlantic travelogue. The sweet southern country of ‘Black Water’ and the funky, infectious ‘Long Train Runnin’’ really lit up the crowd, the former inducing a sing-a-long…
“Old black water, keep on rollin’, Mississippi moon, won’t you keep on shinin’ on me…”
”I’d like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama come and take me by the hand
By the hand, take me by the hand pretty mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long”
…and the latter getting the gig-goers to their dancing feet.

Simmons and Johnston winning over the O2 audience…

All the players were outstanding but Tom Johnston really is the driving force behind their live show. It was a bonus to see legend and Little Feat co-founder Bill Payne on keyboard virtuosity, having joined the band in 2010. The tall, slim Patrick Simmons, charismatic tonight with beard and long grey hair flowing out from his black hat, is the only consistent member of the Doobies, he and stockier, moustachioed Tom Johnston are the only original members from the 1970 band. John McFee also has a long history with this duo, having joined in 1979.

Tom Johnston driving The Doobies at the O2…

The Doobies had lined up some headlining shows to follow the London and Dublin gigs with Steely Dan, surely reminding UK fans how good their early albums are. Dan fans at the O2 certainly had their interest sparked, or rekindled.

The Doobie Brothers touring band 2017:
Patrick Simmons – Guitars/Vocals 
Charles Thomas ‘Tom’ Johnston – Guitars/Vocals
John McFee – Guitars, Pedal Steel, Dobro, Fiddle, Vocals
Bill Payne – Keyboards [co-founder of Little Feat with Lowell George]
Marc Russo – Saxophone [has been with band since 1998]
Ed Toth – Drums [joined in 2005 from Vertical Horizon]
John Cowan – Bass/Vocals (was lead vocalist and bass player for New Grass Revival; played with Doobies ’93-’95; Rejoined in 2010 after their regular keyboard player, Skylark, had a stroke)

The Doobie Brothers rockin’ out at the O2…

Setlist:
Jesus Is Just Alright (The Art Reynolds Singers cover) [from ‘Toulouse Street’]
Rockin’ Down the Highway  [from ‘Toulouse Street’]
Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) (Kim Weston cover) [from ‘Stampede’]
Dark Eyed Cajun Woman [from ‘The Captain And Me’]
Spirit [from ‘What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits’]
Sweet Maxine [from ‘Stampede’]
Eyes of Silver [from ‘What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits’]
Clear as the Driven Snow [from ‘The Captain And Me’]
Takin’ It to the Streets [from ‘Takin’ It To The Streets’]
The Doctor (with Eddie Schwartz) [from ‘Cycles’ – reunion album 1989 after 1982 breakup]
Black Water [from ‘What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits’]
Long Train Runnin’ [from ‘The Captain And Me’]
China Grove [from ‘The Captain And Me’]

Encore:
Without You [from ‘The Captain And Me’]
Listen to the Music [from ‘Toulouse Street’]

‘Bluesfest’ at the O2!

Steely Dan’s opener was ‘Bodhisattva’, an ‘altered blues’, as Becker and Fagen describe it in the liner notes to ‘Countdown to Ecstacy’, originally fuelled by the twin guitar assault of Denny Dias and Jeff ‘Skunk’Baxter…
”Can you show me
The shine of your Japan
The sparkle of your China…”

Then it’s into ‘Black Cow’, the opening track from ‘Aja’ – funky perfection before Donald Fagen says hello: “We’re The Steely Dan Organisation…A little different than we we were a few months ago but…dealin’ with that…”  Fagen asks the crowd “Are you ready on a Sunday night? A Sunday night? A Sunday night?!”

The Steely Dan band are a class act – The musicianship was impeccable and the sound quality excellent. The setlist was a good varied mix of tunes – with a back catalogue like theirs, some Dan fans may always be disappointed that their favourite was left out. 1977’s masterpiece ‘Aja’ features strongly – at the time, the ultimate antidote to punk rock (although there is something ‘punk’ about always doing what you want to do, as Steely Dan have done…) Donald Fagen obviously struggles now with some of the vocal delivery and, although the ‘Danettes’ do a great job keeping the songs going, future setlists may benefit from dropping some of the songs most challenging to Fagen…

”Why only ninety minutes? We would play for longer…” Fagen was up for it and looked like he was enjoying himself, breaking into hipster exclamations throughout. “We don’t get here often…”

Donald Fagen gets into the groove…

‘Hey Nineteen’ from the fabulous ‘Gaucho’ album is next, with its metronomic beat, followed by ‘New Frontier’, opener from Fagen’s first solo album ‘The Nightfly’, and we’re transported to NYC and radio WJAZ, as a young hip DJ explores his jazz heroes, taking a drag on his cigarette…

Crisp, clean funk powered by jazzy drumming, as Keith Carlock has the unenviable task of emulating/recreating the greats on the recordings – such luminaries as Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie and Rick Marotta. Carlock certainly has a challenge on the next tune ‘Aja’, having to interpret the famous drum break, a piece Becker and Fagen regarded as Steve Gadd’s finest…

Keith Carlock rises to the drumming challenge…

Then back to 1975’s ‘Katy Lied’ for the rocky groove of ‘Black Friday’, in true Steely Dan sense of humour, celebrating a big economic crash and corporate meltdown with a party atmosphere!
“When Black Friday comes, I’ll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they dive from the fourteenth floor…”

First track on the much-loved ‘Gaucho’ LP, ’Babylon Sisters’ sounds fantastic tonight, the ‘Danettes’ coping admirably with the speedy “you gotta shake it baby” vocal sections…The O2 Arena is massive, but even with a capacity of twenty thousand, it seems amazingly intimate at times…

spotlight on the O2 audience…

Sticking with ‘Gaucho’ the band launch into the upbeat ‘Time Out Of Mind’:

”Children we have it right here
It’s the light in my eyes
It’s perfection and grace
It’s the smile on my face…”

”Tonight when I chase the dragon
The water will change to cherry wine
And the silver will turn to gold
Time out of mind…”

John Herington’s lead guitar playing is brilliant throughout, invoking the spirit of former Dan guitarists, from Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter and Denny Dias to Larry Carlton…

Jon Herington – brilliant guitar playing…

Fagen reminds us that ‘Dirty Work’ was originally sung by David Palmer but rendered tonight by ‘The Danettes’…Becker and Fagen employ their sardonic wit in the liner notes to debut album ‘Can’t Buy A Thrill’:
”That’s when the Skunk called on his chum David Palmer and Dave came out from New Jersey to try for the job. Luckily the tracks for ‘Dirty Work’ and ‘Brooklyn’ were in his key, more or less…”

The set would not be complete without ‘Peg’, another classic from ‘Aja’, of course tonight without Michael McDonald’s classy backing vocals, ably recreated by ‘The Danettes’…
Given their catalogue, choosing to play a cover version seems a little bizarre, but the Joe Tex song ‘I Want To Do (Everything For You)’ fits in, another soul survivor in a series of soul covers by Fagen (check out his versions of ‘Rhymes’ by Al Green and ‘Out Of The Ghetto’ by Isaac Hayes).

the Steely Dan horn section…

Fagen introduced the Steely Dan Touring Band, 2017, a cast of luminaries:
Jim Beard [Keyboards: ’08 – ’17]
Keith Carlock [Drums: ’03- ’17]
Jon Herington [Guitar: ’00-’17]
Freddie Washington [Bass: ’06-’17]
the horn section:
Michael Leonhart [Trumpet, Keys: ’00 – ’17]
Jim Pugh [Trombone: ’00-’17]
Roger Rosenberg [Baritone Saxophone: ’06-’17]
Walt Weiskopf [Saxophone: ’03-’17]
‘The Danettes’:
La Tanya Hall [Backing Vocals: ’13 -Leg I ’15 – ’17 ]
Carolyn Leonhart [Backing Vocals: ’00-’17]
Cindy Mizelle [Backing Vocals: ’03 – ’08: ’11,’17]

Donald Fagen leads the charge…

The quirky guitar intro precedes the funk of ’Josie’, another favourite from ‘Aja’. ’My Old School’ is a singalong romp, the second track lifted from second album ‘Countdown to Ecstacy’, followed by set closer, the excellent, funky jazz of ’Kid Charlemagne’, lamentably the only song from the amazing opus ‘The Royal Scam’…

The encore was, predictably ‘Reelin’ In The Years’, a suitable song at this stage of the Dan’s existence perhaps, but one I could do without, and one that Fagen struggles to sing the lyrics to these days. Still, it goes down well. Strangely, Fagen exits the stage after this, leaving the band to play out with a cover of Nelson Riddle’s instrumental soundtrack ‘The Untouchables’…

Freddie Washington and the grand finale…

The liner notes to ‘Can’t Buy A Thrill’, attributed to a certainTristan Fabriani, describe it well:
”Thus treads heavily the titanic Steely Dan, casting a long shadow upon the contemporary rock wasteland, aspiring to spill its seed on barren ground, and at the same time, struggling to make sense out of the flotsam and jetsam of its eclectic musical heritage.”

Setlist:
Bodhisattva
Black Cow
Hey Nineteen
New Frontier (Donald Fagen song)
Aja
Black Friday
Babylon Sisters
Time Out of Mind
Dirty Work
Peg
I Want To (Do Everything for You) (Joe Tex Medley)
Josie
My Old School
Kid Charlemagne

Encore:
Reelin’ In The Years
The Untouchables (Nelson Riddle cover)

Happy Dan fans leaving the gig…

The morning after breakfast in a Greek family-run greasy-spoon café is soundtracked by laid-back jazz, reminiscent of Fagen’s background as ‘The Eminent Hipster’, haunted by the ghost of Walter Becker, smiling down as the band play on – ‘The Final Arrangement’ or just another few bars in the musical history of ‘Steely Dan’…?