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June 26, 2008
Steely Dan at Chevrolet Theatre
Did you ever leave a concert and feel like you’re not quite sure whether you enjoyed it or not?
That’s kind of how felt after Steely Dan’s concert Wednesday night at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford. There were enough hits mixed into the set list to keep me happy, but there also were just enough lesser-known songs to keep it from registering as a “great” concert in my mind.
Admittedly, I’m a casual fan of Steely Dan. I have the group’s albums, but usually only reach for a greatest-hits collection when I’m in the mood to listen to the band.
That being said, I respect the fact that Steely Dan doesn’t just rehash the same old classics to make a buck on the concert circuit. On the other hand, I wasn’t familiar with a quite a few of the songs played Wednesday and that somewhat dampened my enjoyment.
The Steely Dan zealots in the crowd must have been thrilled to hear tunes such as the opening “The Royal Scam” and “I Got the News,” but the concert didn’t get going for me until the third song, “Show Biz Kids.”
Two more non-hits followed before I perked up again at “Hey Nineteen,” even though a mid-song spoken-word break by Walter Becker was uninteresting and unnecessary.
Keyboardist Donald Fagen sounded fine throughout the concert as the band’s primary vocalist and even dipped into his solo career for the song “New Frontier.”
Becker’s lone turn at the microphone was on “Gaucho,” which was OK. The only other time Fagen gave up the microphone was on “Parker’s Band,” which put backup singers Tawatha Agee and Cindy Mizelle in the spotlight.
There are definitely no complaints about the last half-hour of the concert, which closed with four classic-rock-radio staples — “Josie,” “Black Friday,” “Peg” and “FM” — and “Kid Charlemagne” for an encore.
That more than made up for any perceived lulls in the previous 90 minutes of the show.
The opening act Wednesday night was jazz organist Sam Yahel, who was joined by two members of Steely Dan’s touring band — Michael Leonhart (trumpet) and Walt Weiskopf (sax) — for his 30-minute set.
Handling the drums for Yahel was Joe Strasser, who, according to Yahel’s on-stage introduction, is from Danbury. Not a bad homestate showcase for the drummer, opening for Steely Dan.
The set list
The Royal Scam/I Got the News/Show Biz Kids/Everything You Did/Two Against Nature/Hey Nineteen/Godwhacker/Babylon Sisters/New Frontier/Gaucho/Home at Last/Parker’s Band/Josie/Black Friday/Peg/FM
Encore: Kid Charlemagne
Posted by Sean on June 26, 2008 5:13 PM
