Think Fast, Steely Dan

Think Fast, Steely Dan
Fox Theater
St. Louis, MO
Monday, August 18, 2008
Section: Mezzanine 03, Row EE, Seat 11
$85

I've always liked Steely Dan. They have a distinctive sound - sophisticated jazz-rock punctuated with unique sounding chords and good lyrics. I had one of their compilation CDs, A Decade of Steely Dan. Roy has some of their LPs, and I gave them all a few listens. I never had a chance to see them live though. I think they came to St. Louis a couple years ago, but it was at Riverport, a venue a I don't like too much, and I think they were playing a double bill with a band I didn't want to see and it was the day we were flying home from some trip. Not doable for many reasons. This time, they were playing at the much nicer Fox Theater and it seemed like a good time to go. We got seats in the 5th row of the balcony, so it offered a pretty good view.

We went out to dinner before the show. I always want to leave enough time to deal with crowds to buy something to drink and get to our seats. The show was sold out, but the lines weren't bad. We got to our seats early and chatted with a guy a few seats over in our row. I was wearing a Yes tshirt and he commented on it. We all liked the same bands - Yes, King Crimson, Renaissance, Return to Forever. I felt a little awkward because there was a woman sitting with him who wasn't joining our conversation and looked bored. I didn't want to leave her out, but the guy had recently moved to St. Louis and looked so enthusiastic to meet other progressive rock fans. Now, I know I go to a lot of concerts and I try not to sound braggy or show-offy about it. But he mentioned seeing Genesis last year and was just assuming we didn't go, since they didn't play St. Louis. We said we had. He asked if we saw them in Chicago, and I almost felt like we had to apologize "No, we saw them in Montreal, but we were there for other things and it was our big vacation for the year". The guy was friendly enough.

The opening act was a jazz quartet that really did nothing for me. It was a Hammond B-3 player, drummer, and two guys on horns that also played with Steely Dan. They played four pieces. It was well-performed and didn't sound bad at all, but it didn't hold my attention and I got bored sitting there waiting for it to end.

Maybe I should have gotten up to take a walk in the lobby during that time. I dislike leaving my seat during intermission. I'm always afraid the lines will keep me from getting back to my seat in time, and I'll miss part of the show and have to get to my seat when it's dark and crowded. This happened to Roy. He went out to get some drinks, and missed the beginning of Steely Dan's set.

The backing band came on first - a four-piece horn section, guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboard player. Eight people is already a pretty large band. I was wondering exactly what Walter Becker and Donald Fagen would need to do with all these other people on stage. The backing band played an instrumental version of "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" and another song I didn't recognize. Roy got back to our seats just as Fagen, Becker and three female backing vocalists came on stage. I'm glad he didn't miss any of the "real" Steely Dan.

The first song the whole band did together was The Royal Scam. It's here where my knowledge of Steely Dan is limited. I had previously heard most of the songs in their set, but I didn't know them well. There were a bunch of songs where I only knew the refrain. That was true with the first three numbers, The Royal Scam, Two Against Nature, and Show Biz Kids. I thought Show Biz Kids stood out because of the backing vocalists, but otherwise it was a slow start to the evening.

I was wondering what kind of frontman Donald Fagen would be. The only time I've ever heard him speak was when Steely Dan won a Grammy for Two Against Nature some years back. He looked annoyed at talking and like he didn't want to be there, but I don't know if he was being serious or not. Here, he spoke to the audience after Show Biz Kids. He said "Hey kids, welcome to the Think Fast Steely Dan Orchestra 08" and mentioned that they'd be doing songs from throughout their magnificent career. The presentation was sarcastic, but friendly too.

The show picked up for me after that. The next song was Bodhisattva, which was uptempo. I needed that change of pace. I don't remember the order of the rest of the songs, but we heard Peg, Hey Nineteen, Babylon Sisters, Black Friday, Gaucho, Josie. There was no need to worry about where the two main guys would fit in - Donald Fagen played a Fender Rhodes electric piano throughout the show. Becker played guitar, sharing about half the leads with the other guitarist, and sang on one song. He also did a weird spoken word thing in the middle of Hey Nineteen, leading up to the "the cuervo gold, the fine Colombian" part of the song.

Given that there were 13 people on stage playing and singing, I thought the sound was good. I needed to wear my earplugs, but it was never muddy or distorted. Roy told me later that he noticed the band would get into a groove and stay in that same groove for large sections of a song. I guess we're used to listening to Yes, because he felt like the groove kept happening over and over again and he'd prefer more variety. The stage set was interesting; there was an odd-shaped screen (I don't know if it was abstract or some symbol I didn't recognize) where they showed images or just colors. Also nice use of lighting. I don't know if it's because I saw King Crimson so recently, and they didn't use any lighting effects at all, but I really noticed the effects of the colors.

Aja was another song that I had heard a few times and kind of knew, but not well enough to know every part of the song. Maybe that made it a bigger surprise, because it was beautiful. The highlight of the show for me. The next day, I pulled the album out and listened to the song again. I liked it better live. It was played with more intensity live and really became this grand effort. Roy gave it a standing ovation.

The last song of the main set was My Old School. This was a fun one, with most of the audience singing along. It looked like everyone on the floor was standing up and dancing to it. In the balcony, we had one enthusiastic fan up and getting into it. I sang along and watched him. It's like seeing myself at Yes concerts, getting so excited about the music. I always think of the college I went to for my freshman year before I transferred to Penn. California tumbles in to the sea. That'll be the day I go back to Collegeville.

Roy and I were trying to decide what the encore would be. I hoped to hear Reeling in the Years and Roy thought it might be Rikki Don't Lose That Number. The band came back out and played Kid Charlemagne. I think I had heard enough of their "distinctive sound" by then, because I couldn't place the song at first and wondered if it were something they already played! Afterwards, Fagen, Becker, and the backing singers left the stage. The lights came on, but the backing band was still playing. Exit music! It mirrored the overture we got at the beginning of the show and it was a nice touch. We stayed to watch them and wait for the crowds to thin a bit before walking downstairs to the theater exit.

I liked a lot of the songs, and I was happy with the production quality of the show - the setlist, musicianship, sound, lights, and the comfort of the Fox Theater. All in all, it was a pleasant evening and I'm glad I got the chance to see Steely Dan.