Saturday, September 24, 2011

Steely Dan : Shuffle Diplomacy Tour


So last night I saw a concert, a band I’ve always wanted to see: Steely Dan.  It was the last night of their Shuffle Diplomacy Tour in NYC.  It was a Friday night and the crowd was excited.  Did I mention the average age of the crowd was comprised of adults 50’s and up?  Well yeah, (jude shrugs).

Forget the fact that most of the horn section looked like an audition for Larry David stunt doubles.  Forget that Donald Fagen’s voice was so hoarse it sounded like he was channeling Joe Cocker.  Forget that rather than seeing these musicians and having them look more like they were going to do my taxes than play legendary hits. The started the night with “Kid Charlemagne” and the crowd was lit.  Literally.  Sitting in the upper section which gave us a great view also, lent some discretion which other people took advantage of.  Every few minutes people were lighting up.  I was pretty surprised at this. 

After about 30 minutes of songs melding into one another, many sounding the same, which is par for the course where Steely Dan was concerned.

The finale had some of my favorites, “Peg” “Josie” “Reeling in the Years” which was the first Steely Dan song I heard back in 1974 living Park Slope, Brooklyn.  

 I was glad I was there, always wanted to see them and thanks to my man, I finally have.

2 comments:

  1. Was Larry Carlton there? He was supposed to be playing guitar on this tour! He did the original guitar work and solo's on "Kid Charlemagne".

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  2. Yes he was, and he did.

    ReplyDelete