All this current talk of the 2003 tour and Detroit, brings back memories of my trip to Detroit last year, to enjoy a show with my internet friend these past 6 years, Snakehips.
Into Steely Dan or Michael McDonald? Read further.
Dateline Detroit: 9/2/06
Arrived early in the morning at 5:15A and got to my hotel by 8:30A. A nice new La Quinta. I had set up an early check in and managed to augment my 4 hours of sleep with 3 more. A better condition then I normally have to deal with, flying east. Met up at noon with Snakehips and she and I went to lunch at in the Rugby Grille in The Towsend Hotel. It was a beautiful hotel, harkening back to a kinder gentler time. We both had chicken salads and as a surprise for the out of towner, the waiter gave me a sample of Sanders Ice Cream and hot fudge. The fudge looked more like caramel sauce, then fudge, but it was excellent!
Spent a bit of time at Snakie's lovely home and then over to the concert.
The DTE Energy Music Theatre is way out to the north and west of Detroit, in the Auburn Hills area. Snakie's Hubby drove us to the venue and we had a pleasant conversation pre concert, with the album Gaucho playing on the CD player. As we walked through the outer area of the venue, there was a waterfall and behind the theatre was a ski slope with a chair lift. I was informed that Pine Knob is a ski area that just happens to have a Music Theatre built in front of it.
Dinner consisted of hot dogs, nachos and a beer from one of the concession stands. The food was good, but expensive. The normal for these kind of events. While out in the concession area, I finally bought my Steely Dan t-shirt. It is the gray one with the circle surrounding the Countdown to Ecstasy era Steely Dan logo. A fitting purchase for an evening with Michael McDonald and Steely Dan. We then went to find Snakehip's seats. We got past the Nazi ticket takers and I found a nearby seat and almost immediately, Michael McDonald took the stage. He said how much he really loved Detroit and the crowd was quite pleased. As many have mentioned before, I ended up being quite impressed with Michael's set list. Old songs, Doobie songs "New" song (Heard it through the Grapevine) Motown songs, everything was done well by a real nice band.
The drummer was great, as was the sax player. The sax man also played flute for one of the numbers, which impressed this Moody Blues fan.
Songs I remember are Minute by Minute, Keep Forgettin', What a Fool Believes, Ain't No Mountain, and the finale, Takin' it to the Streets. About 2/3's of the way through his set, Michael brought out a Detroit Choir to back the band up. They were excellent and quite a nice addition to the evening. In bad news for me, somewhere along the way during his set, the Nazi ticket taker figured out I didn't belong and sent me off to my real seat. I said goodbye to Snakie and moved over to the Donald side of the stage. A quick set change and there came the rhythm section, breaking into Turtle Song. Donald, Walter and the girls come out and off we go again.
Set List
Turtle Song
Bodihissatva
Time out of Mind
Aja
Hey 19
I've Got the News
Home at Last
Black Friday
Chain Lightening
Green Earrings
Dirty Work
Funky Band Intros that go into Showbiz Kids (With Michael McDonald)
Do it Again
Peg
Don't Take Me Alive
Kid Charlemagne
Encore
FM
My Old School
Some disjointed thoughts of the evening.
There have been many comments about how much Walter has been taking the lead on guitar this tour and some of the songs that I noticed Walter taking long nice solo's on were "I've Got the News", "Home at Last" and "Black Friday". He seemed in good spirits and did a great band Intro. Donald did nice work on the between song banter and was in fine voice this evening. He was not so tight on lyrics when I saw them last month in San Diego, so I was very happy to see him perform flawlessly. Michael McDonald was also in very fine voice and did a great job on the chorus of Peg. Many have commented that they could not hear him, but tonight he was clear and definitely did Peg justice. I also noticed that I heard the bass much more then at any other concert I have seen from 2003 and 2006. Freddy Washington did a great job, especially on the funky band intros. Keith Carlock was again in fine form. He is just such a joy to see live with his boundless energy. Jon Herrington was off on the side, as usual but just smoking on his solos. I particularly love the back and forth between Walter and Jon during "Bodhissatva". The girls were doing just fine this evening and due to the cold, they were dressed in pants and long sleeve blouses, Carolyn with a sweater tied around her waist. The brass was hot and Jeff Young did some real nice work on his Hammond B7. He did backing vocals, especially noticeable on Dirty Work.
My favorite moment was after the band finished Showbiz kids and Donald says something like: "Back in the 70's I was talking to Jeff Porcaro about the fact that we really needed another vocalist to help me with the tour we were planning. Jeff said that he knew someone and would ask him to come by the studio. So he did and one day in walks Michael McDonald with his keyboard in hand. We hired him to join us on tour and we did this next song, exactly like this." They then broke into "Do It Again". I was thrilled!
Somewhere along the evening, they called their guitar tech, Skip Gildersleeve, out and gave him a banjo. He seemed quite pleased with the gift.
Show lasted til around 11PM and Snakie and I hooked up again and drove back to my hotel, where they dropped me off. Snakehips and I said our goodbyes, promising to try to see each other again. It was a great day and evening and I was so sorry to see it end. My only regret is that it turned out that it was not the final night of the tour. That distinction goes to St. Louis.
Crashed at the hotel and checked out in the morning with just enough time to make a quick trip over the Canadian Border to Windsor.
I wanted to take pictures of Detroit from the other side of the Detroit River. There are 2 ways to accomplish this. One is a bridge and the other is a tunnel from Downtown Detroit to Windsor. I elected to try the tunnel first and then take the bridge going back to the US. As I drove through the tunnel, I could see a long line of cars waiting to go through US immigration. That made me definitely decide to take the bridge back home.
The Canadian side had a beautiful park and I took many pictures. I wish I had more time to visit, because it definitely had a French feel, especially the buildings and citizens. But that must wait for another occasion. Then I recrossed the river, declared my US Citizenship and was back on the road to the airport. A great but short trip to Detroit. I hope someday to return.
My thanks again to Donald and Walter, for putting up with us fans.
