Steely Dan 2011 Tour

[FreddieFerric]

Just scored two sweet seats for the Steely Dan 2011 tour. My venue is at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama on August 21st. Booked a condo for what will be a wonderful 4 day weekend. I am so stoked for this. SD remains one of the last great groups of my generation that I have never seen.

[wilky61]

One of my friends caught them about a year ago and said he hardly recognized a song they played. Steely Dan is one of my all-time favorite bands, but honestly I'd be a little skeptical about their ability to reproduce their songs on stage and the selections they'd choose out of their vast discography. I suppose they will have a decent entourage of stage musicians, eh? I hope you indeed have a great time and that they live up to expectations.

[StuntmanMike]

Originally Posted by wilky61

One of my friends caught them about a year ago and said he hardly recognized a song they played. Steely Dan is one of my all-time favorite bands, but honestly I'd be a little skeptical about their ability to reproduce their songs on stage and the selections they'd choose out of their vast discography. I suppose they will have a decent entourage of stage musicians, eh? I hope you indeed have a great time and that they live up to expectations.

Wow. I had to pick my jaw off the floor when I read this.

Your friend either ingested large amounts of mind altering substances before the show, or he doesn't know anything about Steely Dan.

I can't think of a group that plays their songs more close to the album than the Dan does. In fact, some people would complain the opposite, that they sound TOO much like the album, so why bother to see them live. For the most part, Steely Dan reproduces their album sound almost note for note. With fantastic pristine sound. So your friend is way off. Having said that, the Dan IS at its heart a JAZZ band, not a pop rock band. Becker and Fagan do allow themselves to indulge a little with some changes of pace, some soloing etc. They never let it get too out of control, and sometimes the changes are subtle, but they are a jazz band in the truest sense and that is the way the concerts are played. They have altered the tempo of a song like Reelin in the Years just to make it fresh and different on occasion. Nothing wrong with that. If your buddy wanted a jukebox, he should have stayed home and put his quarters in the machine.

I have seen SD about 6-8 times now and they never disappoint. Always fantastic sound, always a great backing band complete with the signature saxes, and the good looking gals singing background. Last year they did the Royal Scam, Gaucho and Aja albums start to finish at various shows. Awesome. I am seeing them do Aja again start to finish this summer. These guys are a national treasure, and for someone to say they didn't recognize any songs is simply missing the boat, bigtime.

[wilky61]

Originally Posted by StuntmanMike

Wow. I had to pick my jaw off the floor when I read this.

Your friend either ingested large amounts of mind altering substances before the show, or he doesn't know anything about Steely Dan.

I can't think of a group that plays their songs more close to the album than the Dan does. In fact, some people would complain the opposite, that they sound TOO much like the album, so why bother to see them live. For the most part, Steely Dan reproduces their album sound almost note for note. With fantastic pristine sound. So your friend is way off. Having said that, the Dan IS at its heart a JAZZ band, not a pop rock band. Becker and Fagan do allow themselves to indulge a little with some changes of pace, some soloing etc. They never let it get too out of control, and sometimes the changes are subtle, but they are a jazz band in the truest sense and that is the way the concerts are played. They have altered the tempo of a song like Reelin in the Years just to make it fresh and different on occasion. Nothing wrong with that. If your buddy wanted a jukebox, he should have stayed home and put his quarters in the machine.

I have seen SD about 6-8 times now and they never disappoint. Always fantastic sound, always a great backing band complete with the signature saxes, and the good looking gals singing background. Last year they did the Royal Scam, Gaucho and Aja albums start to finish at various shows. Awesome. I am seeing them do Aja again start to finish this summer. These guys are a national treasure, and for someone to say they didn't recognize any songs is simply missing the boat, bigtime.

Hmm, what you say makes sense. If I weren't already going to a concert in August and if the weekend were more convenient for me, I'd probably but a ticket to see them on this tour. I'm not so crazy about their more pop-oriented albums like Pretzel Logic, but if they featured the three albums you mentioned or some of the juicier tunes off their first two albums, I'd be in ecstasy.

The thing that I always appreciated most about Steely Dan was their ability to segue so smoothly from one instrumental solo to another that you barely even noticed (Your Gold Teeth being my favorite example).

[StuntmanMike]

Originally Posted by wilky61

Hmm, what you say makes sense. If I weren't already going to a concert in August and if the weekend were more convenient for me, I'd probably but a ticket to see them on this tour. I'm not so crazy about their more pop-oriented albums like Pretzel Logic, but if they featured the three albums you mentioned or some of the juicier tunes off their first two albums, I'd be in ecstasy.

The thing that I always appreciated most about Steely Dan was their ability to segue so smoothly from one instrumental solo to another that you barely even noticed (Your Gold Teeth being my favorite example).

If you can swing it and have never seen them live, you should make every effort to see them. They do a "Hits" general show where they play stuff from just about every album, or they do album specific shows like Aja. Just hearing the song Aja is worth the price of admission itself. I have seen them enough now that I can do without the songs they always do, like Peg or Black Friday. What I crave are the rarities they will pull out every tour. One year I saw them, they opened up with The Boston Rag. Stuff like that. Last year if memory serves they pulled out Any Major Dude once in a while. I can't imagine being a Dan fan and being disappointed in how they sound. And the cool thing is that a Steely Dan audience gets it. These are true music fans. These are jazz fans. These tend to be smart, well educated people who appreciate somewhat sophisticated music. The crowds are attentive and appreciative. They understand music. There aren't a bunch of yahoos texting and talking on cell phones during the concert. SD crowds get it. Its a unique atmosphere. One thing I noticed----you want to know where good looking sharply dressed gorgeous 30ish and 40ish women go on a Saturday night? They are at the Steely Dan concert.

[wilky61]

Originally Posted by StuntmanMike

If you can swing it and have never seen them live, you should make every effort to see them. They do a "Hits" general show where they play stuff from just about every album, or they do album specific shows like Aja. Just hearing the song Aja is worth the price of admission itself. I have seen them enough now that I can do without the songs they always do, like Peg or Black Friday. What I crave are the rarities they will pull out every tour. One year I saw them, they opened up with The Boston Rag. Stuff like that. Last year if memory serves they pulled out Any Major Dude once in a while. I can't imagine being a Dan fan and being disappointed in how they sound. And the cool thing is that a Steely Dan audience gets it. These are true music fans. These are jazz fans. These tend to be smart, well educated people who appreciate somewhat sophisticated music. The crowds are attentive and appreciative. They understand music. There aren't a bunch of yahoos texting and talking on cell phones during the concert. SD crowds get it. Its a unique atmosphere. One thing I noticed----you want to know where good looking sharply dressed gorgeous 30ish and 40ish women go on a Saturday night? They are at the Steely Dan concert.

That sounds amazing. And then I'd be the random 23-year-old in the crowd who knows what's good.

They are playing two shows in Atlanta on Aug 6/7 but the problematic thing is that I am moving to a suburb a good ways out the weekend before, and I don't have a car. I'll talk to a friend and see if he's interested; if he wanted to go and if he's driving from where he lives in Athens, then I'd be on his way...

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by wilky61

That sounds amazing. And then I'd be the random 23-year-old in the crowd who knows what's good.

They are playing two shows in Atlanta on Aug 6/7 but the problematic thing is that I am moving to a suburb a good ways out the weekend before, and I don't have a car. I'll talk to a friend and see if he's interested; if he wanted to go and if he's driving from where he lives in Athens, then I'd be on his way...

I saw that they had two dates in Atlanta and would have given very strong consideration to driving the 9 hours from New Orleans. But Orange Beach is way closer, plus we get the condo/getaway thing as a bonus. If your friend is any kind of friend he'll realize this one of those things that friends just do for one another. Who knows, you might score a hot corporate exec type to boot!