This was written on a train, with very little sleep, so apologies in advance for any disjointedness to the narrative. Some form of this will probably get posted onto my website, with pictures and such, but for now, here are first impressions of Monday evening. Enjoy.
Donald Fagen Band 2006
Set List
Here at the Western World
Green Flower Street
The Nightfly
New Frontier
Maxine
Home At last
Black Cow
The Goodbye Look
Third World Man
Mary Shut the Garden Door
Misery &the Blues
Brite Nightgown
Black Friday
Encore
Pretzel Logic
Viva Viva Rock N’ Roll
We started our evening by meeting at my work place, which is about 3 miles from the venue. Ate a quick dinner, before heading to the Wiltern Theatre. Our plan included checking out the scene at the Opus Bar and then hooking up with my Steely Dan friend from work, for the show. Rain was just beginning to fall, which I considered a blessing because my guys made good time getting to my work place. We parked in the structure behind the Wiltern, which set us back $10 and then walked to the front. The marque had Donald Fagen Band 2006 (sold out) on it. My informal tally found that I was asked more times if I had tickets to sell, rather then having someone asking me if I wanted to buy a ticket. We went across the street and took a quick shot of the marque and then over to the Opus. There was the Rajah right out front with Pete Fogel’s wife Shari. I was told that Pete was inside and that in addition, she had her mom accompanying her this evening. Rajah told me that Gretchen was in the bar and so we headed into the Opus and there indeed was Gretchen, sitting with Still Sparkin’. He had come all the way from Hong Kong to see the show and it was a real thrill to meet him. Then Hubby mentioned that Ed Beatty was over on the other side of the bar and so I walked over to Ed and we did a quick hug between “Roseland” Wife and Husband. It was good to see him again. Pete Fogel showed up and I got in a quick hi and asked him if there had been any taping of this tour for a DVD. He told me no. I was sorry to hear that and hope that it turns out to be incorrect. In bad news for that wild hope, I did not see any cameras taping, so I do not think we were taped. Too bad, because it ended up being a great show.
We decided to try to find our friend and so we split from the bar. Walked over to the door of the Wiltern and got searched for camera and drinks. Got both in, no problem. I am getting good at this, after my horrendous Roseland experience back in ‘03. We found our seats and sat down to wait. Felice Hernandez came over to me and we talked a bit. She is one of the singers for the Pretzel Logic Band and it was nice that she remembered me. My friend Peter finally showed about 10 minutes to 8:00 and we talked a bit. Right around 8:10 the lights went out and the band entered from camera left. They immediately broke into the uptempo “Here at the Western World”. I had heard it several times (thanks, friend) and was quite used to the different feel of the song. I think that made it more enjoyable to me. Good upbeat start to the show (I can’t believe I am saying that about a depressing song like Western World, but it was).
Impressions of the show.
Carlock was just fabulous, as usual. He is mostly the timekeeper for the band, which limits him. Once in a while he breaks from his time chains and is allowed to fly. What a thrill when that happens. He is one powerful drummer and a pleasure to watch. Guitarists Wayne Krantz and Jon Herington, were a study in contrasts. Both cool, but in different ways. Jon always slightly removed from the action, mostly self imposed. Krantz on the other hand was closer in, but with a cool wild edge to him. I enjoyed watching them both. We had an upper balcony view of the evening and that actually gave us a slightly different view of Donald. We could actually see him playing the Rhodes piano. At Roseland I couldn’t see anything except him singing. I thought the bass was a bit low in the mix, or maybe it was my ears, since I remember commenting on the same thing at Roseland.
Things I remember about the songs.
Green Flower Street - One of my favorite songs from Nightfly. I always enjoy hearing it when The Steely Damned play. So it was quite a thrill to have Fagen doing his own song. One thing kind of confused me a bit. Carlock didn’t seem to do all the beats on some of the parts of the song. He did get the end right though. His choice in how to drum it, I guess.
Nightfly - Yes, Donald channels Lester and some of the lines were very funny in a concert setting. I can’t believe I am saying this but it dragged on a bit.
New Frontier - I laughed when Donald sang about “Yes we’re gonna have a Wing Ding”.
Maxine - I loved the vocal harmony on this song. I truly enjoyed it. I believe Carolyn took the “Mexico City” solo.
Home at Last - Basically as we saw it in ‘03. Carlock doing the Purdie Shuffle. I like this song and enjoyed this foray into the Steely Dan file, especially after that huge chunk of Nightfly songs.
Black Cow - Another one from the file and again, mostly as we saw it in ‘03, but the change I noticed was Jeff Young on the organ taking the Victor Feldman solo. It was great.
The Goodbye Look - What can I say. I had real high expectations for this song and every one of them came true. It was one cooking end!
Third World Man - Back to its original form, I think A great song and the guitar solo’s by both Krantz and Herington were so exquisite to watch that I had shivers running up and down my spine. An unforgettable moment.
Mary Shut the Garden Door - Finally, Finally, Finally I got to hear something off the new one and it did not disappoint. The band really looked like they just fit right into the sync locked groove and showcased their work on the album they helped Fagen create. Great song and it could have gone on forever, if I had my way.
Misery and the Blues - I had also heard this one several times, so I knew what to expect. My feeling on this song is that Fagen is paying tribute to the music of New Orleans, in his own, low key, way. I really loved Michael Leonhart’s solo and then Walt Weiskopf’s, during this almost 10 minute piece. I enjoyed the song better then I expected to and as others have said, anywhere Fagen wants to send me, I will gladly go.
Brite Nitegown - 2nd song from Morph and it went well, considering I did not think they were going to be able to carry the weird vocals. I enjoyed it, but would have preferred either Security Joan, or Mona. Just my choice.
Black Friday - Not my favorite song, as a general rule, but it was great. Herington and Krantz traded gnarly guitar work on this one and I loved it. What a wonderful end to the show.
Encore:
Pretzel Logic - A better choice couldn’t be found, in this girl’s book. One heck of a song and Jeff Young picking up the “Stepped up on the Platform” vocal, was just icing on the cake for me. Herington guitar solo, similar to the one he did on the Plush.
Viva, Viva Rock and Roll - Very short, but a rockin’ way to finish off the concert. A nod to his very 50’s Rock and Roll roots, I think. I enjoyed the energy. Donald going out in style and on his terms.
Walked out to the lobby and checked out the Donald Fagen tee shirts and finally decided to pick up 2 Morph the Cat keychains. I have a $10 Steely Dan keychain from ’03 and I saw that inflation had hit the keychain market. I paid $15 each for them, which made it tough to impulse buy a few extras for Steely Dan friends. I did get one for my sister, who is a huge cat fan and who loves the title track from the album. There was Ed Beatty and Still Sparkin’ again, standing in the lobby and we talked some more and then we got kicked out of the Wiltern, so they could close down the place. We said our goodbyes and walked out back toward the parking structure and I bought a cheapie Donald Fagen tee shirt from the “entrepreneurs” out back for $5. We will see how many washes it goes through before it totally disintegrates, but hey, I only bought it for me and I will be the only on suffering the “you get what you pay for” result of this impulse buy. Then we bumped into Felice Hernandez again, on the top level of the parking structure. She also had a cheapie tee shirt in tow and you could tell she loved the concert. She mentioned that she would love to work the back up singer position, if Donald ever needs someone. :-)
Great evening, great time, great people. Thanks all.
