Internet Request Night At The Gibson

Final night of my 4 show Steely Dan Marathon brought me Internet Request Night AKA "Taking It To The Seats".
We had heard that the big adds for this show would be the long asked for song, Dr. Wu, from Katy Lied.
For me, it has meaning not just as a song, but as a nod to my real name. :-)

I owned this album as a young teen. (My sister kept it when I moved west, but that's life and another story altogether.) I loved the sax solo that was masterfully done by Phil Woods and the Bosendorfer Piano played flawlessly by Michael Omartian. Donald's voice, almost crying, when he sings the line "Katy Lies, you can see it in her eyes".
It's an unforgettable experience, when you listen to this song. Unfortunately, it is not a favorite song, of Donald Fagen's. They had sound checked the song for a concert at Soboba (near Palm Springs), back in 2006 and Donald nixed it, when its turn came on the set list. This elevated the song even more, because Donald then commented that it felt "not complete" and he did not want to sing it. I was sure I would never get to see this song played live.
Boston Internet Request Night comes along and amazingly, there it was, along with Rikki and Any Major Dude. Blasts from the past and hints that my night would also have these songs performed. In NY, they played Wu just after Rikki. When Rikki was followed by Home at Last, my heart almost stopped, because I thought that Donald had done it again, getting me so close to the song and then nixing it.
We had the final victory, because then the opening piano began and Dr. Wu was mine. I recorded it, just for me, because I figure I will never see this song live again, so my most vivid memory is of trying not to breathe as I sat there mesmerized by the song. Yes, The Donald has some problems singing the song, due to his not being able to hit all the notes, but the band just cooked and the end is masterful. Even the sax wasn't bad. Walt Weiskopf did a good job on it, which made me happy.

Rikki, by the way was note for note perfect. They really should do this one once in a while. 13 years between live renditions, is just a little long for their first big hit. :-)

Any Major Dude was lovely and so nice to hear.

Carlton was HOT and since his 2 big songs ended up back in their rightful concert location at the end, he was showcased well.

My rating of the four shows. A big surprise to me was that Gaucho turned out to be the best. It JUST beat Aja. Both were huge audience reaction shows. By the time Royal Scam and Internet Request came around, the audience was much more subdued.
Number 3 on my list was Internet Request Night, due to Carlton, Wu and Rikki. My absolute favorite album, Royal Scam, ended up dead last and that is mostly because of having the 2 biggest songs on the album turn up so early in the set. It gave the end of the set, a bit of a let down. Carlton was not as good as he was on Internet Request Night, due to learning to work with the band and finding his place amidst 3 guitars. Big props though, cause he did a masterful solo on Third World Man.

I am glad I went to all 4 of the shows, because each one was unique and worthy of seeing. Tracks that I will probably never see again, were performed and that just made my day.

I will never forget this.



Intro: Teenie's Blues

Black Friday
Aja
Hey Nineteen
Peg
Dirty Work (Ladies on Vocals)
Bodhisattva
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Home At Last
Dr. Wu
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Do It Again
Love Is Like An Itchin' In My Heart/Band Intros
Babylon Sisters
Daddy Don't Live... (WB Vocals)
Black Cow
Josie
Don't Take Me Alive
Kid Charlemagne

Encore: Reelin' In The Years, Original Version
Outro: Last Tango

I Crossed My Old Man Back In Oregon - Don't Take Me Alive

Royal Scam: Wow, an uneven experience. This is the first time in my life I have seen so many shows one after the other and so I am hearing those nuances of difference as they do the same songs, night after night.

Might as well start with what I didn't like.

Having Kid C start the show. These two people placed themselves in the handicapped area right in front of my section and danced their hearts out, totally blocking our view. Here we are wanting to see Larry at work and we saw squat. Thank goodness for the guy in the first row who went over to them (twice) and finally got them out of there.

Having Don't Take Me Alive as the third song. Again, this album is plum in my book, but I found that I really like those songs in the "Kick it into overdrive" section of the concert. I really missed that. As someone mentioned before in the NY review, Larry is a bit low in the mix and that hurt these two songs. Especially with everything else that was distracting me, people still being seated, the drama in front of me and even the band getting used to having Larry there.

Things I loved!

Sign In Stranger. Who knew I would be so enthralled with this song. I have it on Alive in America, but it truly was a special moment for me. Great work by everyone.
Haitian Divorce with The Donald on lyrics. Again, have heard this many times with Walter, but The Donald is just so special. :-)

Third World Man: Saw it the other day, but this one kicked major butt! Thanks Larry.

Walter did one heck of a good Hey 19 talk. After none the past 2 times, it was a good change. If I am not mistaken, he got a standing O for Daddy Don't Live. If it wasn't a true standing O it might have been that he got VERY appreciative applause from the crowd and that might be the first time seeing that.

The Gibson rocked again. The crowd are fabulous and make the experience worth it. One lady behind me kept yelling "I Love You Keith". I so agree. :-)

I do want to say that getting the entire album played has been a huge success, at least for this fan. Each night was different and special in its own way. Let's see what Taking It To The Seats does for me, Tuesday night.

My absolute final comment on the evening.
Jon Herington, you are a GOD! (There, I said it)


Set List

Intro: Teenie's Blues

Royal Scam (Album)
Hey Nineteen
Daddy Don't Live... (WB vocals)
Aja
Black Friday
Home At Last
Parker's Band (Ladies on vocals)
Love Is Like An Itchin' In My Heart/Band Intros
Third World Man
Peg
Josie
My Old School

Encore: Reelin' In The Years (Original Version)
Outro: Last Tango

Gaucho Night At The Gibson

Gaucho night and there we were, Hubby and I and a bunch of people we had seen the previous night. Obviously, the buy all 4 nights, was doing well for Steely Dan. :-)

Sitting waiting for the back up band, Sam Yahel (with sit in's from the Steely Dan '09 Band - Michael Leonhart and Walt Weiskopf), we were asked by the people behind us, what we thought of last night's show. Next thing you know, others got into the conversation and we found out that all of them had seats for all nights. The consensus from all in our area of the venue, is that the seats were excellent and the band was HOT SO. :-)

Steely Dan came out and this time we saw Carolyn put down the needle for the first side of Gaucho. Babylon Sisters starts up and we are on our way. The crowd is again a happy cheering crowd, but a bit more subdued then the night before. Not a bad crowd, but really, could we keep up the energy that Aja brings?

Highlights for me. Donald singing Gaucho, the title track and just going totally into Steely Dan mode of sneering as he sings. The song was written that way and he just nailed it.

My Rival. If not for this type concert, I would have NEVER have heard this song live. What a treat to hear such lyrics as "The smell of Prickly Pear" "The milk truck eased into my space" and "Yes, I will match him whim for whim now". It's a song about a baby who arrives into the life of this man and though he loves the child, you can see a bit of adjustment will need to happen.

I can't resist, the lyrics follow...

The wind was driving in my face
The smell of prickly pear
[My rival - show me my rival]
The milk truck eased into my space
Somebody screamed somewhere
I struck a match against the door
Of Anthony's Bar and Grill
I was the whining stranger
A fool in love
With time to kill

I've got detectives on his case
They filmed the whole charade
[My rival - show me my rival]
He's got a scar across his face
He wears a hearing aid

Sure he's a jolly roger
Until he answers for his crime
Yes I'll match him whim for whim now

I still recall when I first held
Your tiny hand in mine
[My rival - show me my rival]
I loved you more than I can tell
But now it's stomping time

Sure he's a jolly roger
Until he answers for his crime
Yes I'll match him whim for whim now

Moving on.
It was good to see Glamour Profession and Third World Man again. Both I have seen in concert, but not often.

The rest of the night was as expected, except they put in Godwacker for Do it Again and Dirty Work instead of Parker's Band. Songs from Aja were added to the greatest hits section and the ones that they had played the night before from Gaucho were deleted. Reelin' 72 Version closed again.

Nice!

Set List:

Intro: Teenie's Blues

Gaucho Album

Godwacker
Daddy Don't Live (WB vocals)
Black Cow
Bodhisattva
Showbiz Kids
Black Friday
Dirty Work (Ladies on vocals)
Love is Like an Itchin' in My Heart/Band Intros
Peg
Josie
Don't Take Me Alive
My Old School
Kid Charlemagne

Encore: Reelin' in the Years, Original Version
Outro: Last Tango

Aja Night At The Gibson

This is the first mini review of 4 Steely Dan Concerts in the LA Area.
Gibson (formally Universal) Amphitheatre.


I wasn't really into the idea of an Aja night. Hubby was, but I wasn't.
OMG! They made me a believer.

It was just spectacular!

The LA crowd was on their feet multiple times. At the start of Aja, at the end of the cut Aja, at the end of the album. After a while of that, Donald said something like "We are now going to do some of our hits. Everyone just sit down and we will do the rest".
The crowd obviously considered Deacon Blues their song and gave it a standing O, too. At one point I was so happy with how this LA crowd was behaving (many wanted to dance but they would be good to their neighbors and sit) come the end, they would be up again showing their love at the break between songs that I shouted something like, "This is LA!" just so Donald and Walter KNEW that we love them here in this town. It was truly a spine tingling evening. The band feeding off the crowd type thing.
At one point Donald said something like he felt like Kermit the Frog tonight. Not sure why. His voice was good, but not perfect. In a concert setting, that is to be expected. I didn't hear any flubbed lines, but sometimes he got low, so that might be where he may have got lost for a second or two. No biggie to me, because I lose track of lyrics all the time. lol

All in all, it was just great. Lighting, sound and band.

They closed with Reelin' 72 which I have never heard performed and it was everything I would have wanted...and more! What a closer!!!!!

Gaucho tonight. :-)





This is what it looked like when they lit the crowd, to let the band see what they had done. I cropped the photo, so it's a bit hard to see, but these people are all standing. :-)







Set List that I wrote down:

Teenie's Blues

Aja (the Album)

Time Out Of Mind
Daddy Don't Live in NYC (Walter Vocals)
Bodhisattva
Babylon Sisters (Definitely an LA song)
Showbiz Kids (Lots of screams and claps for the F bomb)
Parker's Band
Hey 19
Love is Like an Itchin' In My Heart (Band Intros)
Black Friday
Do It Again
Don't Take Me Alive
My Old School
Kid Charlemagne

Encore
Reelin' In The Years (72 Version)

Last Tango Outro