Think Fast Steely Dan - At The Honda Center In Anaheim

My second Steely Dan concert experience of this Think Fast tour took me down to the former Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. The renamed Honda Center looks just like a hockey rink and comes with the inherent problems of having a concert in a place not made for one. With that said, the ride was easy, even in rush hour and we were down in the parking lot, a little after 7PM. The crowd was 50 plus and mellow and for the most part, they were enthusiastic. They seemed to know Steely Dan, so that was good.

Being we got there on time, we again got to watch the Joey Defrancesco Trio in action.
I found that I enjoyed them more this time, though it was sometimes difficult to see them, through the crowd moving to their seats.


We had the added burden that our stairs led to the place where you got onto the floor, so anyone who was seated on the floor, passed our seats on their way down.
Joey and and trio did a half hour and then the crew set the stage for the band. At around 9PM, there they were.

Steely Dan.


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Set List

Everyone's Gone to the Movies/The Fez/Keith solo/Royal Scam Intro
Donald and Walter arrive and go into The Royal Scam
I've Got The News
Showbiz Kids
Bodhisattva
Two Against Nature
Hey 19
Godwacker
Home At Last
New Frontier
Gaucho (Walter On Vocals)
Babylon Sisters
Parker's Band (Steely Women)
Third World Man
Josie
Aja
Love Is Like An Itchin' In My Heart (Band Intros)
Peg
My Old School

Encores
Don't Take Me Alive
Kid Charlemagne

The Steely Women were truly beautiful in their Supremes inspired long brown/gold dresses and afro wigs. Donald and they were in fine voice and even Walter kicked Gaucho butt and held the audiences attention for his song. Unfortunately, almost every song brought out the bathroom crowd and the many people passing us was an issue from our location, since we were at the end of a row.
A minor thing that bothered me a bit, was the fact that the lights only highlight the person doing a solo. There was no way to watch a person who was not soloing at the time. We did not have monitors for this venue and the lack of light really hurt the enjoyment of the concert. Being you could not see them well (darn, I should have brought my binoculars), I felt that there was more of a disconnect in regard to seeing how the band enjoyed our enthusiasm. I hope they knew we liked them.
We had 3 songs that switched out from our Nokia concert 2 weeks ago. We had Bodhisattva, instead of Everything You Did, Home At Last instead of Glamour Profession and My Old School instead of FM. Nice changes, especially since we saw the shows so close together.

All in all, a good night and minus the trouble we had finding an on ramp for the I-5, as we left the concert, the evening was a total success.

That's all for me this year. I hope you enjoyed.

Think Fast - Steely Dan At The Nokia Theatre

This years Steely Dan tour is called Think Fast and I didn't have to think too much, to take them up on the offer of an evening of great music. We decided to park in North Hollywood and take public transportation over to the new Nokia Theatre. Nokia is right across the street from Staples Center, in Downtown LA. The complex is still under construction, but the theatre is finished and it's fabulous. We ended up getting $49 tickets up in the Mezzanine Section, dead center. No one in front of us, so our site lines were perfect! We sat down early and then waiters came around with gourmet chocolate with the Lexus symbol on them and flutes of champagne.
I have never been treated to such luxury at a concert before! It was wild and it only seemed to be going on up in the Mezzanine. Wow!
A family of 4 turned up next to us and I ended up with a young male sitting next to me who was definitely savvy to the ways of Steely Dan, but had never seen them in concert. You should have seen his eyes shine when the concert finished and we discussed such things as Keith Carlock. Andrew, if you ever see this, thanks for sharing your concert experience with me.

Set List
Everyone's Gone to the Movies/The Fez/Keith solo/Royal Scam Intro
Donald and Walter arrive and go into The Royal Scam
I've Got The News
Showbiz Kids
Everything You Did
Two Against Nature
Hey 19
Godwacker
Glamour Profession
New Frontier
Gaucho (Walter On Vocals)
Babylon Sisters
Parker's Band (Steely Women)
Third World Man
Josie
Aja
Love Is Like An Itchin' In My Heart (Band Intros)
Peg
Kid Charlemagne

Encores
Don't Take Me Alive
FM

Wow, what to say. I have been to 7 Steely Dan Concerts since 2003 and yes, I can definitely tell there is a difference this year. Confidence, total confidence in what they do and how they execute the performance for the audience. Everything has little tweaks of rearrangements, sometimes Walter is taking a more active part in the guitar, or a new open, perhaps. Donald was even more in command of his voice and he exudes total confidence that he will not screw up. There have been some times where screw ups on Glamour Profession lyrics were the norm...not this tour, he nailed it! As a matter of fact, I only heard one missed lyric the whole night. No startled deer in the headlights looks, just cool as all get out and so Ray Charles in his look, as his head bounces around. It's a beautiful thing.
Someone said that Walter owns Gaucho and I want to state for the record that HE DOES!!!! I screamed "GO Walter!", at one point. No mass exodus to the rest room in this crowd, I was totally surprised and glad to see him get the respect he deserves!
I hope someday to see something else performed by him...Dr. Wu, perhaps? :-)

All too soon, it was over and we headed home. Unfortunately, the mass transportation system was having a bad day and delays on two lines caused us to make it back home at almost 1:30AM. Great time anyway and I can't wait until Honda Center, to get to see this again and take better notes.

It was unforgettable...oh and Catherine Russell performed for us in the babe choir. A nice treat.