has steely dan ever tour

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Steely Dan  

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Steely Dan is a Jazz fusion band led by founding members Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. They were one of the most prominent music acts of their time and despite the extreme saturation and trending of rock music, Steely Dan’s jazz inspired sound managed to breakthrough into the mainstream.

Though Steely Dan was not fully realized until 1972, the roots of the band trace back to 1968 when the core members, Fagan and Becker, first met at Bard College in New York. Fagan overheard Becker playing the electric guitar in a nearby cafe. Immediately impressed by his performance Fagan introduced himself and asked if he wanted to be in a band. The two shared similar tastes in music and ideas for strong constructions. They formed several bands in college one, which included Chevy Chase as the drummer.

The band played blues and rock cover songs by artists ranging from Willie Dixon to Moby Grape; however, they would focus more on their original compositions with their move to Brooklyn, New York in 1969. Fagan and Becker assumed various roles in the music industry contributing to the soundtrack of the Richard Pryor film “You’ve Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You’ll Loose that Beat” and acting as touring members of the group Jay and the Americans.

Fagan and Becker eventually formed their own band and recruited the help of drummer Jim Hodder, singer David Palmer, and guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. Considering Fagan and Becker were advent enthusiasts of the Beat Generation movement, they named their newly formed group after a reference to William S. Burroughs’ novel “Naked Lunch”.

Steely Dan initially struggled to find their footing in the recording studios, releasing the poorly received single “Dallas”; however that reputation quickly dissipated with the release of their 1972 debut album “Can’t Buy a Thrill”. This album housed the classic rock standards “Reelin’ in the Years”, which reached #11 on the Billboard singles charts and “Do It Again” which peaked at #6. The band followed this release with the critically acclaimed, but commercially unsuccessful, “Countdown to Ecstasy”. This was the band’s first album without Palmer as lead vocalist. In addition to Fagan replacing Palmer as vocalist, Steely Dan also added future Doobie Brothers keyboardist Michael McDonald to the line up. The band put out another critical and commercial success with “Pretzel Logic” and made it to the #4 spot on the Billboard Charts with their hit single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”.

After the release of “Pretzel Logic” Steely Dan abandoned touring and committed themselves completely to the studios. Fagan and Becker were utter perfectionist in recording sessions and would sometimes make their studio musicians play a total of 40 takes per track. As Fagan and Becker continued hiring incredibly talented studio musicians, the significance of the roles of the other members began to diminish and they would subsequently leave the band. Equipped with a diverse and highly competent set of studio musicians Steely Dan went on to record the most texturally elaborate and polished sounding albums of their career. 1977’s “Aja” was a landmark album for the band and a groundbreaking record for its time. This album raked in a number of accolades including two Grammys for Best Engineered Recording and Non-Classical album. The album was also immensely popular with the general public, reaching #5 on the US Charts and becoming one of the first American albums to be certified platinum. The album showcased the bands craft as innovative and complex songwriters and added validity to their reputation as masterminds in the studio. Aja also featured a long list of jazz aficionados such as saxophonists Wayne Shorter, Pete Christlieb and Tom Scott, guitarists Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour, and bassist Chuck Rainey (to name a few).

Steely Dan released their follow up to “Aja”, “Gaucho” 3 years later. Though the band endured personal, technical, and legal trouble during the album’s production, it ended up being another major success. Steely Dan’s next studio album would not be released until 20 years after “Gaucho”. Their long awaited comeback album, “Two Against Nature” dominated at the Grammy Awards, taking home Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal, and Album of the year. Steely Dan recorded yet another album entitled “Everything Must Go” and supported it with an extensive tour. The band’s “Two Against Nature” tour would be the band’s first time on the road since the ‘70s. Steely Dan continued touring well through out the 2000s and even did a tour in 2013 where they played “Aja” in its entirety.

Live reviews

Steely Dan’s music was definitely a new sound to people when the band started playing in the early seventies and their musical style still holds its defining characteristics that make them so unique. They have the ability to mix the diverse elements of jazz, funk, and rock into one musical style and make it sound cool and smooth.

When performing live Steely Dan does an excellent job presenting their signature style of laid-back music that allows the audience to sit back, relax, and take in the smooth breeze of their music. Donald Fagen is highly responsible for delivering the chilled vibe that we all love so much about Steely Dan’s music. Fagen is the driving force behind the catchy chord progressions ,which he smoothly plays on the Fender Rhodes Electric Piano and the Wurlitzer Electric Piano. Fagen also has a polished, pristine voice that he delivers with much clarity over the jazz-funk rhythms of the music. Walter Becker also adds much of the edge to the sound with the jazz like scales he plays on his guitar. Steely Dan’s sound has a loose feel to it and while at one of their concerts you can see them present this style in a free-form kind of way. Steely Dan is also able to get a full sound by having a backing band consisting of saxophone players that add to the smooth jazz element of the music, as well as having background vocalists that harmonize with each other to create a great depth to the performance. Steely Dan always looks cool and suave when they are on stage. The members wear sport jackets and ties, and sport dapper sunglasses. Their sound has garnered them much praise for their innovated style having already been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and having sold over 40 million albums.

You will always be thrown for a surprise when you see Steely Dan. Their rhythmic and melodic shifts are always changing in ways that captivate the audience and keep their toes tapping to the floor.

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What a show! Steely Dan, known most for their studio albums was in rare form last night. I closed my eyes a couple of times (on purpose) and could not tell if I was listening to a CD or a live show. They were in top form, and the young ladies they chose to accompany them on stage could not have been better. They went through most of their most popular songs, but, intentionally or not, did none of their songs that had to do with Las Vegas. I tend to believe it was the former not the latter. But that's okay, considering the massive catalog they had to choose from. Now, on to the audience. What a bunch of dead heads! and I don't mean a Grateful Dead reference here. The show was not sold out, which surprised the hell out of me. There was rarely (if at all) a standing ovation given to a band that clearly deserved a few. But, all in all, I had a great night and would go to see them again in a heartbeat!By the way, I'm 64 and grew up listening to them. Just a point of reference for you all.

Occasionally I am quite proud that I am not so young anymore as it means I can say I have seen some bands that others might regard as legends. Steely Dan fits the bill here. It is difficult to remember a lot about the concert as I saw them back in the 1970s at Leeds University (a great place for gigs in those days and probably still is). I also saw the Doobie Brothers in the same year. I tend to group Steely Dan, Doobies and Eagles together (Eagles I didn't see until many years later). What I remember is a great gig, all the hits like "Do it Again," "Reeling in the Years," "Haitian Divorce."

Sorry I cn't recall much more, but what I do suggest is you check out their music as it is far from old-fashioned.

I am unsure if they are still around, but I am certain there is at least one tribute band! They are American rock with a jazz feel and in my opinion one of the best of that genre.

Okay, this review comes in two parts - a review of the band and a review of the SSE Wembley Arena.

The band. Brilliant musicians and they played magnificently. They go on a bit, though! And any Steely Dan set that omits Do It Again, Haitian Divorce, and Rikki Don't Lose that Number, is below par. Perhaps if they'd spent less time showing off (a drum solo for Chrissakes - who cares?!), they might have squeezed in another tune or two.

The Arena. I haven't been to Wembley Arena for many a year and was surprised to see how little has changed. I spent £95 each for two 'good' seats on the floor of the arena - easily the most expensive non-festival tickets I've ever bought - and they were dreadful. Almost impossible to see the whole stage with someone sitting in front. I would not return to Wembley unless it was a reincarnated David Bowie, supported by XTC and Kate Bush!

This concert began with fine, vintage music from the DOOBIE BROTHERS singing all of their hits from the '70s & '80s ... naturally, this stirred up good memories for those of us at JIFFY LUBE LIVE who are in our 50's & 60's! After the intermission, STEELY DAN (Donald Fagen and company) arrived on stage and began playing what I considered to be contemporary jazz tunes that did not cross over to the pop charts/American Top 40 ... . It is quite clear that Donald Fagen has not lost his supreme talent for music and for the selection of excellent, new band members; however, he seems to have forgotten his "old" fans in that he did not perform his top hits-"PEG" and "DO IT AGAIN" ... this sadden Me. Maybe, his band member, "Lord" Harrington, should tell him how many of Us love these vintage tunes ... .;)

I loved the Steely Dan concert I saw last Thursday! Donald Fagin was in fine form. he seemed looser than the last concert I saw him in at the Sony Centre in Toronto in 2015. He really seemed to be enjoying himself. The Rama Theatre Centre looked to be sold out and everyone there was adoring, especially me. His music resonates somewhere deep in my chest. Is that my soul?

I hadn't expected to find the concert so flawless considering half of the original team was missing with Walter Becker's death, but John Harrington proved to be a master guitarist!I did miss Walter Becker's vocals though. And didn't there used to be four Danettes?

I'm thrilled that Donald Fagan is still touring and I'll sign up to see the next one.

Gratefully I remain,

GailKendall

I should start by saying I have weird obsession with Steely Dan. They're the greatest band ever. "America greatest maybe rock non-band" in their own words. I really enjoyed the concert at the overture center in Madison. Their band for the Jamalot Ever After tour is really solid, and the sound quality was great. I've seen them a few times, and they're really starting to get over themselves and play what the people want to hear: the hits! There was a time when they wouldn't play Reelin in the Years live. They played it! They played almost all of my favorite songs. I would've liked it if they got into their deep cuts more, but you can't say no to one great tune after another.

First...I have never missed a Steely Dan concert!!

I was fortunate enough to win a trip to meet and see them in concert in London,England back in September 2000.

When I met Walter Becker and Donald Fagan at the Apollo Hammersmith in London back in 2000..It was a dream come true..meeting my all time favorite band. Talking with Walter..he was a cordial .great guy to talk to...like he was your next door neighbor..in fact If you had asked Walter to come over and mow your lawn..he was THAT nice and would probably do that. That trip of a lifetime I will ALWAYS remember..and meeting the two who formed Steely Dan! RIP Walter....

Saw Steely Dan with Doobie Brothers in Charlotte PNC pavilion. Had a good sized crowd there of people 4O to 80. The musicianship was excellent. I would have preferred some deep cuts from Steely Dan such as Doctor Woo, Pearl of the Quarter, or Razor Boy, but you can't have it all. I got in and out of the show in about 15 minutes. Beer is around 15 dollars, so I saw the show completely sober. I particularly liked the dance groove Green Flower Street and Natural Thing.

Oddly, the first time I knowingly heard Steely Dan (Reeling In The Years) I didn't like them. It wasn't until a few years later that I heard "Deacon Blues" on the radio and asked who that band was. When I learned it was Steely Dan I did an about face and began listening to their earlier works. After that I was hooked and they are now the only group that I have in their entirety on my iPhone songlist. By the way, I still don't like "Reeling In The Years".

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‘Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live!’ and a live edition of Donald Fagen’s ‘The Nightfly Live’ will also be released through UMe on September 24.

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Steely Dan set the ‘Absolutely Normal Tour ’21,’ which kicks off with a four-night stand in Miami, Florida from Tuesday, October 5, through Saturday, October 9. The U.S. tour will hit 15 cities over 28 concerts before wrapping at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. Tickets for the tour, which is promoted by Live Nation, will go on sale starting Friday, July 30, at 10 AM Local through Ticketmaster. A full listing of tour dates can be found below.

Fans can purchase Platinum tickets for the ‘Absolutely Normal’ tour beginning Thursday, July 29, at 10 AM. Presale ticket opportunities begin Thursday, July 29, at 10 AM (local) through 10 PM (times are local). Visit the band’s official website for more information

In album news, Steely Dan’s Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! and a live version of the acclaimed solo album by Donald Fagen – The Nightfly Live – will both be released through UMe on CD & Digital on September 24, 2021. Both albums will be available on 180g-vinyl on October 1, 2021.

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The first live Steely Dan album in more than 25 years, Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! was recorded across tour dates at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, The Met Philadelphia, & more, and showcases selections from Steely Dan’s extraordinary catalog of slinky grooves, sleek subversive lyrics, and infectious hits. Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly Live was performed live by The Steely Dan Band.

Concertgoers can expect a hefty draft of the inimitable Steely Dan sonic experience this summer, showcasing selections from Steely Dan’s extraordinary five-decade plus catalog as well as Fagen’s masterpiece, The Nightfly . Each ticket purchased online comes with a CD copy of Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! or The Nightfly Live .

Steely Dan’s ‘Absolutely Normal ’21’ dates are as follows:

Tue Oct 05: Miami Beach, FL The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater Wed Oct 06: Miami Beach, FL The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater Fri Oct 08: Miami Beach, FL The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater Sat Oct 09: Miami Beach, FL The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater Tue Oct 12: Orlando, FL Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Wed Oct 13: Orlando, FL Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Fri Oct 15: St. Petersburg, FL Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater Sat Oct 16: St. Petersburg, FL Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater Tue Oct 19: Jacksonville, FL Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts – Moran Theater Wed Oct 20: North Charleston, SC North Charleston Performing Arts Center Fri Oct 22: Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium Sat Oct 23: Richmond, VA Altria Theater Mon Oct 25: Baltimore, MD Hippodrome Theatre at France-Merrick Performing Arts Wed Oct 27: Philadelphia, PA The Met Philadelphia Fri Oct 29: Philadelphia, PA The Met Philadelphia Sat Oct 30: Philadelphia, PA The Met Philadelphia Mon Nov 01: Red Bank, NJ Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at the Count Basie Center Wed Nov 03: Morristown, NJ Mayo Performing Arts Center Thu Nov 04: Morristown, NJ Mayo Performing Arts Center Sat Nov 06: Morristown, NJ Mayo Performing Arts Center Sun Nov 07: Morristown, NJ Mayo Performing Arts Center Tue Nov 09: Port Chester, NY The Capitol Theatre Wed Nov 10: Port Chester, NY The Capitol Theatre Sat Nov 13: Wallingford, CT Toyota Oakdale Theatre Sun Nov 14: Bethlehem, PA The Wind Creek Event Center Wed Nov 17: Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens Fri Nov 19: Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens Sat Nov 20: Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens

toni jo syring

July 26, 2021 at 6:00 pm

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Steely Dan Announces The "Absolutely Normal Tour '21"

• Last updated: 28 Jul 2021, 18:04:37
• Published: 27 Jul 2021, 16:28:11
• Written by: Erica Lauren
• Photography by: Brian Rasic
• Categories: Tour Dates Tagged: Steely Dan

Steely Dan have revealed plans to hit the road this fall. The 'Absolutely Normal Tour ’21' will kick off on October 5, with 4 consecutive shows at The Fillmore Miami Beach in Florida. The trek will conclude November 20, with 3 nights at Boston's Orpheum Theatre. Ahead of the tour kickoff, Steely Dan will drop their first live album in over two decades, Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! , on September 24.

The 28-date tour’s setlist is expected to center around Steely Dan’s expansive five-decade discography as well as Donald Fagen's solo material. Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 30. Visit the official Steely Dan website for further details. See below for a full list of dates.

Absolutely Normal Tour Dates

October 5th – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater

October 6th – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater

October 8th – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater

October 9th – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater

October 12th – Orlando, FL @ Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

October 13th – Orlando, FL @ Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

October 15th – St. Petersburg, FL @ Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater

October 16th – St. Petersburg, FL @ Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater

October 19th – Jacksonville, FL @ Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts – Moran Theater

October 20th – North Charleston, SC @ North Charleston Performing Arts Center

October 22nd – Charlotte, NC @ Ovens Auditorium

October 23rd – Richmond, VA @ Altria Theater

October 25th – Baltimore, MD @ Hippodrome Theatre at France-Merrick Performing Arts

October 27th – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia

October 29th – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia

October 30th – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia

November 1st – Red Bank, NJ @ Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at the Count Basie Center

November 3d – Morristown, NJ @ Mayo Performing Arts Center

November 4th – Morristown, NJ @ Mayo Performing Arts Center

November 6th – Morristown, NJ @ Mayo Performing Arts Center

November 7th – Morristown, NJ @ Mayo Performing Arts Center

November 9th – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre

November 10th – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre

November 13th – Wallingford, CT @ Toyota Oakdale Theatre

November 14th – Bethlehem, PA @ The Wind Creek Event Center

November 17th – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre

November 19th – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre

November 20th – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre

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Did Steely Dan Ever Tour? A Journey Through the Band’s Live Performances

Steely Dan, renowned for their unique blend of rock and jazz, has left an indelible mark on the music world. For those curious about their live performances, you might wonder, “Did Steely Dan ever tour?” In this article, we delve into the band’s touring history, highlighting memorable moments from their live shows and addressing the burning question of whether they’ve embarked on tours.

Did Steely Dan Ever Tour? Touring History

Steely Dan boasts a storied history of touring, with a prolific list of live performances that span multiple decades. They’ve graced stages across the world, mesmerizing audiences with their genre-defying sound.

Since their formation in the early 1970s, Steely Dan has consistently showcased their musical genius and stage presence. Their tours have taken them to venues of all sizes, from intimate clubs to grand arenas, enchanting audiences and leaving a trail of unforgettable concerts in their wake.

The Early Years

In the early 1970s, Steely Dan embarked on their first tours, introducing audiences to their innovative music. These formative years set the stage for their future as a legendary live act.

During these initial tours, Steely Dan began to make their mark in the music world. Their genre-blurring sound, blending rock, jazz, and pop elements, captivated audiences with its uniqueness and complexity. The early 1970s were a time of musical exploration and experimentation, and Steely Dan was at the forefront of this movement.

Their live shows in the early years were not just concerts but experiences. Audiences were treated to a fusion of genres, intricate harmonies, and thought-provoking lyrics that challenged traditional expectations of rock music. Steely Dan’s commitment to delivering outstanding live performances was evident from the start, and it quickly became clear that they were a band to watch.

Hiatus and Return

Steely Dan briefly paused touring activities, focusing on studio work and refining their sound. However, in the late ’90s, they made a triumphant return to the stage, rekindling their live performances with a new fervor.

In the late 1990s, to the delight of fans, Steely Dan made a triumphant return to the stage. Their live performances were infused with a newfound energy and enthusiasm, marking the beginning of a new era in their touring history. This return was a testament to the enduring love for their music and the excitement that live shows brought to both the band and their dedicated fanbase.

Memorable Concerts

Steely Dan’s live shows are celebrated for their impeccable musicianship, featuring an ensemble of top-tier session musicians. Their concerts often include hits like “Do It Again,” “Reelin’ in the Years,” and “Peg,” alongside deep cuts that delight fans.

Steely Dan’s live performances offer an immersive experience that showcases their extraordinary musicianship and highlights the talent of the session musicians who join them on stage. Each instrument, from the intricate guitar solos to the jazzy saxophone, is a testament to the band’s commitment to perfection.

A Steely Dan Experience

Attending a Steely Dan concert is more than just a musical journey; it’s an immersion into their world of intricate harmonies, thought-provoking lyrics, and jazz-infused rock. Their live performances are a testament to their enduring appeal and musical brilliance.

Stay Informed

For those eager to catch Steely Dan on tour, staying informed is key. The band often announces tour dates and locations well in advance on their official website and through social media channels.

Steely Dan recognizes the enthusiasm of their fanbase and takes great care to ensure that their concert-goers are well-prepared. Their official website is an invaluable resource, providing real-time updates on tour dates, venues, and ticket availability. It’s often the first destination for fans looking to secure their spot at one of their electrifying concerts.

In answer to the question, “Did Steely Dan ever tour?”—absolutely, they did. Steely Dan has a rich history of touring, captivating audiences with their extraordinary live performances. Their music is timeless, and their concerts are a testament to their enduring legacy. So, if you’re a fan or someone looking to experience the magic of Steely Dan live, keep an eye on their future tour updates, and prepare for a musical journey that will leave you in awe.

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Steely Dan Releases 2 Live Albums Ahead of 2021 Tour

Steely Dan live at The Met Philadelphia (Photo: John Vettese; used with permission)

Steely Dan has set the “Absolutely Normal Tour ’21,” which kicks off with a four-night stand in Miami, Fla., on October 5. The U.S. tour will hit 15 cities over 28 concerts before wrapping on November 20. See below for the full itinerary.

In addition, Steely Dan’s Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! and a live version of Donald Fagen’s acclaimed 1982 solo album The Nightfly were both released through UMe on Sept. 24. (Both albums will also be available on 180g vinyl on Oct. 1.) The first live Steely Dan album in more than 25 years, Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! was recorded across tour dates at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, The Met Philadelphia, and more, and showcases selections from the band’s extraordinary catalog. Fagen’s The Nightfly Live was performed live by the Steely Dan Band. The full tracklisting can be found below.

Listen to several favorites from  Northeast Corridor

Concertgoers can expect a set from Steely Dan ’s extraordinary five-decade plus catalog as well as The Nightfly . Each concert ticket purchased online comes with a CD copy of Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! or The Nightfly Live .

Listen to Fagen and the Steely Dan Band perform “I.G.Y.” and “New Frontier” from the new live album

Steely Dan 2021 Tour Dates (Tickets are available here  and here )

Oct 25 – Baltimore, MD – Hippodrome Theatre at France-Merrick Perf. Arts Oct 27 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia Oct 29 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia Oct 30 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia Nov 01 – Red Bank, NJ – Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at the Count Basie Center Nov 03 – Morristown, NJ – Mayo PAC Nov 04 – Morristown, NJ – Mayo PAC Nov 06 – Morristown, NJ – Mayo PAC Nov 07 – Morristown, NJ – Mayo PAC Nov 09 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre Nov 10 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre Nov 13 – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre Nov 14 – Bethlehem, PA – The Wind Creek Event Center Nov 17 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens Nov 19 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens Nov 20 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens Nov 23 – Syracuse, NY – Landmark Theatre

2022 Jul 15 – Richmond, VA – Altria Theater Jul 16 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium Jul 20 – Jacksonville, FL – Moran Theater Jul 22 – St. Petersburg, FL – Mahaffey Theater Jul 23 – St. Petersburg, FL – Mahaffey Theater Jul 26 – Miami Beach, FL – Jackie Gleason Theater Jul 27 – Miami Beach, FL – Jackie Gleason Theater Jul 29 – Miami Beach, FL – Jackie Gleason Theater Jul 30 – Miami Beach, FL – Jackie Gleason Theater Aug 01 – Orlando, FL – Dr. Phillips PAC Aug 02 – Orlando, FL – Dr. Phillips PAC Aug 04 – North Charleston, SC – North Charleston PAC

(Dates for Steely Dan’s 2022 tour are below.)

Related: Listings for 100s of classic rock tours

Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! Tracklisting

1. Black Cow 2. Kid Charlemagne 3. Rikki Don’t Lose That Number 4. Hey Nineteen 5. Any Major Dude Will Tell You 6. Glamour Profession 7. Things I Miss the Most 8. Aja 9. Peg 10. Bodhisattva 11. Reelin’ in the Years 12. A Man Ain’t Supposed to Cry

The Nightfly Live Tracklisting

1. I.G.Y 2. Green Flower Street 3. Ruby Baby 4. Maxine 5. New Frontier 6. The Nightfly 7. The Goodbye Look 8. Walk Between the Raindrops

Steely Dan 2022 Tour Dates (Tickets are available  here  and here ) May 20 – Portland, OR – Veterans Memorial Coliseum May 21 – Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre May 25 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion May 27 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl May 28 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre May 31 – Phoenix, AZ – AK-Chin Pavilion Jun 02 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena Jun 03 – Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman Jun 05 – Austin, TX – ACL Live Jun 06 – Austin, TX – ACL Live Jun 10 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP Jun 11 – Memphis, TN – Location TBA Jun 14 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park Jun 16 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center Jun 18 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre Jun 19 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre Jun 21 – Saratoga Springs, NY – SPAC Jun 23 – Syracuse, NY – St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview Jun 25 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap Jun 26 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap Jun 29 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater Jun 30 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center Jul 02 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center Jul 03 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

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4 Comments so far

Much as I love Steely Dan, this version of “Reelin’ in the Years” does nothing for me. I saw them twice when they resumed touring in the early 90s. They rocked. Don’t need to see Donald channeling his inner Ray.

Thanks for the article/update. Steely Dan’s 1995 “Alive In America”, while, for some odd reason, was not fully embraced by “professional” critics, is, IMO, a terrific album; regardless of live or studio The performances, set selection, sonics, and production, are top-notch. Definitely on my personal “ten” list on a deserted island (bring plenty of AA batteries for the salvaged CD player).

No UK again?

The new live version of Bodhissatva, as it was on the last tour, is worth the price of all your groceries this year. The new guitarist blows Herrington off the stage and the crowd showed its appreciation.

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From the Archives: The 1993 interview when Walter Becker opened up about Steely Dan’s subversive intentions

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Walter Becker, co-founder with Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, died Sunday at age 67. In this Sunday Calendar interview published in The Times on Aug. 22, 1993, Becker and Fagen talked with Chris Willman at the start of their first reunion tour after 19 years away from the stage as Steely Dan and a little more than a decade after they last recorded together as Steely Dan. They went on to make two more albums together and continued to tour together until illness forced Becker to pull out of a Steely Dan performance at the Classic West festival at Dodger Stadium in July. In this interview from the archives, Becker and Fagen, with biting wit, discuss the dichotomy of the anarchy of their lyrics and the jazz harmonies of their singular sound.

FLASH BACK TO THE LATE ‘70s , exact date undetermined. You turn on “The Donny and Marie Show,” and see one of the most weirdly funny things ever on national television: The teen sibling hosts in spangles and bell-bottoms are doing a tribute to nostalgia, in the form of a bouncy duet of Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years.”

“The weekend at the college didn’t turn out like you planned,” a beaming Donny Osmond sang to Marie, by all appearances clueless to the absurdity of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s unwieldy verses in his beaming mouth. “The things that pass for knowledge I can’t understand.” . . .

Did Donny have the slightest idea what he was singing?

Did Steely Dan fans, for that matter?

Donny and Marie weren’t alone in being oblivious to the often hidden meanings of Fagen and Becker’s hits, which were just hooky enough to be permanently embedded in many millions of craniums despite a popular lack of comprehension of what subversive ideas might lie therein.

What American of a certain age can’t sing a few seemingly random phrases of Fagen and Becker’s strange design: “Babylon sisters, shake it.” “Drink Scotch whiskey all night long, and die behind the wheel.” “Drink your big black cow and get outta here.”

The dangerous, funny, possibly misanthropic elusiveness of the lyrics was matched by Becker and Fagen’s relative reclusion as pop personalities. It was up to Donny and Marie and a lot of lounge singers to publicly perform Steely Dan’s hits because Donald and Walter wouldn’t. The duo disbanded its backup lineup and quit touring in 1974, ceasing all live performances well before most of their major hits were even released.

It was frustrating to some fans that jazz-influenced music that benefited from some of the best studio playing in the business couldn’t be heard in a live setting. But to the true aficionado, Steely Dan’s unwillingness to waste time touring in order to focus on the bigger rewards of record-making was just the ultimate measure of their ornery integrity.

Flash forward to the present, at which point Fagen, 45, and Becker, 43, have done the unthinkable and — an astonishing 19 years after their previous gig — booked a brief U.S. tour under the moniker of Steely Dan, which itself has been retired for well over a decade. Nearly all of the shows — including dates at the Greek Sept. 7-8 and Irvine Meadows Sept. 10 — sold out within minutes or hours of going on sale. (Tickets still remain for a show at the Blockbuster Pavilion Sept. 11.)

And while fans salivate at the idea of the Dan made flesh, a few couldn’t help but be nagged by the fear that, after all this time, a “reunion” tour might represent another kind of sell-out, in which the Steely ones finally cave in to the demands of the masses after all.

Will their “Reelin’ in the Years” end up like Donny and Marie’s: taking what was written as a backhanded look at memory-mongering, and unfortunately resurrect it as an irony-free anthem to nostalgia?

Far be it from these fellows to dissuade anyone else’s hard-fought cynicism.

Contacted by phone for comment on how the opening Midwest dates on the tour went last weekend, Becker answered, “Well, not too good. It turns out that show business isn’t really in my blood anyway, and I’m looking forward to getting back to working on my car . . . “

Whew. Incorrigible after all.

Older fans may still think of Becker and Fagen as bad boys, but talk up the band to any self-respectingly “alternative” teen or twentysomething “Lollapalooza”-goer, and the image they have of Steely Dan in their young minds will produce about the same look of distaste as if you’d suggested they attend a Kenny G show. It’s hard convincing them that, for all the inherent musical “slickness,” Steely Dan was the alternative band of its time.

We thought superimposing jazz harmonies on pop songs was subversive.

— Walter Becker

The generation gap is obvious enough that you could update the lyrics of the group’s 1980 Top 10 hit, a tune about dating a girl too young to be familiar with Aretha Franklin, to apply to Steely Dan itself: Hey nineteen, that’s Donald Fagen / She don’t remember the Kings of Scorn . . .

The instrumental warmth and smoothness of the sounds was a necessary tonic for the bitterness sometimes infecting the sentiments (or lack of them). Theirs could be a chilly, emotionally barren landscape, filled with fictional characters and place names that had less to do with Dylan’s or Springsteen’s use of the same devices than their own post-Burroughsian, pre-cyberpunk uncharted universe.

Steely Dan’s key oldies get played on most of the available radio formats. But in trying to figure out exactly who it was that snapped up all those tour tickets so instantly, it comes to mind that there are probably two core audiences for Steely Dan:

First and foremost, there are those lingering, literarily minded, misanthropic anarchists who always dug the Dan’s bad attitude.

And then, of course, there’s the pacifist army of modern “Wave” listeners.

“I’m sorry?” asks Fagen, apparently not familiar with the latter radio format.

“People who listen to the light jazz radio station, like ‘The Wave,’ ” says Becker, jumping in to help.

Given the cultural divide between these two camps, we continue, does the duo worry that any brawls might break out between the surly old hepsters and the gentler sax-lovers at these shows?

“They’re probably just exactly the same people,” muses Becker.

“They’ll all have an inner conflict,” Fagen offers.

“Right,” says Becker, “they’re probably different shadow personalities of the same people.”

“Dupe-elgangers,” puns Fagen.

“If you will. And I think you will,” adds Becker, with a hint of menace.

It is a funny split, in any case, this leap between the anger in many of Steely Dan’s songs over the years and the easier-listening strains the group eventually became best known for.

A handful of rock acts, from Randy Newman to Was (Not Was), have emulated this dualism of purpose. But historically, musicians informed by jazz rapids have drifted toward unchallenging lyrical currents, whereas, conversely, bands with subversive intentions tend to deliberately drift toward unsophisticated styles of music. As a group with credentials toward serious musicianship and an intellectually insurgent attitude, Steely Dan remains widely adored, and hardly imitated.

“Why is that?” says Becker, leaping ahead to the question. “Well, in that respect the situation hasn’t changed in 20 years. It’s the dichotomy that you mentioned a moment ago: The ‘anarchists,’ or people who are interested in more interesting lyrics, are generally speaking not interested in jazz harmonies. They want something more raw and what they perceive to be subversive-sounding, which usually means clanging guitars.

“And it was just a quirk of Donald’s and my natures that we thought superimposing jazz harmonies on pop songs was subversive in a much subtler way. But I guess most people who are writing music and songs don’t really look at it that way . . . luckily for us!”

Adds Fagen, “I think people who are sophisticated in the sense that they want to hear some substance in the lyrics are musically going to tend to be primitivists . . . “

“Or some sort of socialists,” points out Becker.

Fagen: “Yeah. They have that kind of nostalgia de la boue, they’re into this purity thing of rock ‘n’ roll — they see it as once being the sort of revolutionary teen-age thing and they want to maintain that.

“It has to do with when we were born and how we grew up,” Fagen explains. “Even though we were really too young to experience a lot of the golden age of jazz in the ‘50s, nevertheless that’s what we were into, through recordings, although we saw live jazz as well at the tail end of that era. And we also had literary aspirations, I suppose.”

A developmental quirk of fate?

“Quirk of fate. Of course, there are no accidents . . . as they say in Vienna.”

As the oft-repeated story goes: Becker and Fagen met at New York’s Bard College in the late ‘60s, where they shared an equal love for black humor and Charlie Parker and disdain for many things hippie-ish. They participated together in a series of bands before joining up with, of all groups, Jay & the Americans, the first of their bad touring experiences.

After selling a few of their songs at the famous Brill Building in New York, they moved to L.A., set up with a publishing deal as hired hands of ABC Records. Their early songwriting demos — widely bootlegged and disseminated — show that the duo had their unique “voice” from the start and were hilariously ill-suited to writing generic hits for mainstream stars (although a few compositions did get recorded, including “I Mean to Shine” by Barbra Streisand).

Eventually the ABC label was convinced that these boys were better off writing for themselves. The year 1972 brought the name Steely Dan (borrowed from a dildo of the same name in William Burroughs’ novel “Naked Lunch”) and the debut album “Can’t Buy a Thrill,” with an auspicious first single, “Do It Again,” that went to No. 4.

“When we went out (on tour) in support of the first album, the record company in a way forced us out,” Fagen explains. “That was a thing that you were supposed to do. The original band was put together very quickly — almost instantly, really. And we were dealing with musicians we didn’t know very well. Toward the end of our touring days, after two years of touring around and with some additional personnel, we were starting to get pretty good.

“Although the players were good players, we wanted to do a variety of types of music and work with other musicians. And they basically — and very justifiably — wanted to go out and play and make money. And so we decided to disband and concentrate on recording and writing music, which takes a lot of time and thought, and to eventually put another band together, perhaps, and go out. But I guess inertia set in, and we ended up just making records.”

The retirement from the stage was never meant to be permanent. In fact, Becker and Fagen put together and briefly rehearsed a band to tour behind their biggest album, 1977’s “Aja,” but got fed up with the logistics and the musicians’ financial demands before any dates got booked.

It turns out that show business isn’t really in my blood anyway, and I’m looking forward to getting back to working on my car.

Like another quintessential ‘70s group, the Eagles, Steely Dan followed up its most successful album (“Aja” equals “Hotel California”) by becoming perfectionists in the studio and spending years on a final effort whose painstakingness effectively killed the band (“Gaucho” / “The Long Run”). In 1981, while still considered commercial superstars, Becker and Fagen announced the dissolution of their partnership.

Fagen released a very successful solo debut in ‘82, “The Nightfly,” and Becker produced a few jazz and pop albums. Otherwise, the two men who produced one of the most enduring pop oeuvres of the ‘70s were maddeningly invisible throughout the ‘80s.

The collaboration officially resumed with Becker’s production of Fagen’s recent “Kamakiriad” album, on which he also played bass and guitar; Fagen, in turn, has co-written songs for the album Becker hopes to have out next year, on which he’ll be singing lead vocals for the first time since a few errant verses on Steely Dan’s debut 21 years back.

The tentative step back toward the dreaded touring process was a result of the New York Rock and Soul Revue, a combo Fagen put together in 1991 to play R&B oldies. A few Steely Dan oldies found their way into the set, and eventually Becker even sat in on a few dates.

“I just got comfortable being on stage again,” Fagen says of the Soul Revue shows. “Now we have an opportunity to go out with musicians of our own choosing (a 10-piece band including players such as Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine and saxman Bob Sheppard), and we’re touring under conditions which can’t even be compared with what we were doing then, which was opening for a lot of heavy metal groups. And the technology of touring has become refined and much more comfortable, much more human.”

As for the ever-present danger of unseemly nostalgia, Becker readily admits, “I don’t know if it’s really possible to transcend that danger and do old songs at the same time.”

But, the danger surrounding the N-word is allayed — if not transcended — by the fact that, by Becker’s rough reckoning, the 3 1/2-hour shows are composed of “half Steely Dan stuff, half stuff from Donald’s record, and half stuff from my record.”

There’s another factor working in Steely Dan’s favor to wipe out any would-be mustiness here, and that’s the fact that almost none of the material from the band’s 1972-80 life span sounds dated. In terms of the massive contemporary appreciation of irony as a replacement for old-school rock idealism, it rather seems the world caught up with the cynical voice that Fagen and Becker were able to claim from the get-go.

Go back and listen to “The Royal Scam” — which many fans consider the pair’s best, most literary-minded and darkest album — and marvel at its seeming topicality: An ominous narrative about a normal guy who up and snapped, well-armed and holding off a SWAT team (“Don’t Take Me Alive”); a cheerful ode to the importance of always wearing a condom (“The Fez”); a hauntingly lyrical paean to dream-laden immigrants who wind up among America’s homeless (the title track). All virtually ripped from today’s headlines, despite the album’s 1976 copyright date.

But as the popular culture seems to have become as cynical as Steely Dan at its peak, our heroes may have themselves grown a slight bit kinder and gentler, if Fagen’s emotionally richer “Kamakiriad” is an indication. (Ironically.)

“Actually Walter and I are very sweet-natured lads,” Fagen insists.

Not that they’re ever likely to be renamed Softie Dan. “We were angry kids, there’s no doubt about it,” he continues.

“To a lot of people, the ‘60s is now some sort of incredible layer cake invented by the media. But the fact was that we did have the attitude that we were brought up with inauthentic values, etc., and were trying to find some other kind of alternative values. We were looking for that in a very aggressive way. And as you get older, you’re not that angry anymore.”

So maybe now — nostalgia be damned — even they can sing “Reelin’ in the Years” with a slight smile.

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‘Our World Is More Steely Dan Than It’s Ever Been’: Why the Seventies Jazz-Rock Cynics Sound Perfect Right Now

By Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

You could fill a book with all the shady characters you meet in Steely Dan songs. Quantum Criminals i s that book. Journalist Alex Pappademas and artist Joan LeMay take a deep dive into the genius of Steely Dan, and the strange world that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker built together. LeMay illustrates her favorite Dan characters, from Rikki to Kid Charlemagne, from Dr. Wu to Peg, all the way to the El Supremo in the room at the top of the stairs. Pappademas gives a mind-bending guided tour of the Steely Dan universe, exploring their songs, their legend, their negative charisma, their decadent love affair with L.A. Quantum Criminals is one of the sharpest, funniest, and best books ever about any rock artist. 

But maybe this revival also means they were ahead of their time. Pappademas writes, “If more people are ready for Steely Dan in the Twenties than they were in the Nineties—or even the Seventies—it’s because our fast-warming world is more Steely Dannish than it’s ever been.”

Pappademas spoke to Rolling Stone about the weirdly timeless appeal of Steely Dan, the current Danaissance, the “yacht-rock” question, the “Deacon Blues”/ Star Trek connection, his favorite drum solo, and how ironic fandom can lead to the real thing.

How did you begin your personal Steely Dan journey?

Editor’s picks

Every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history.

And that’s how the seed gets planted. Because you can try to ironically enjoy Steely Dan, but they’re already ahead of you on that. They were the first yacht-rock parody before yacht-rock existed. A song like “Any Major Dude” has more in common with the Blue Jean Committee or the fake Steely Dan song in Oh, Hello . It’s like they’re already making the parody version before the genuine article existed. And a lot of yacht-rock I think is just Steely Dan with like one less chord and a lot less irony. 

Your origin story is just like mine. For me, it was ironically buying Pretzel Logic within days of turning 30. Totally stereotypical. 

Hear King Princess Cover Steely Dan's 'Dirty Work'

Joni mitchell revisits her move from the 'hit department' to the 'art department' on late seventies box set, watch joni mitchell cover elton john’s ‘i’m still standing’ with her own lyrical twists.

Why is this Steely Danaissance happening now? Why do they speak to our moment?

We’re more cynical. We’re all looking out at the world with a Donald and Walter-ish kind of dismay. So they make a lot more sense now. What seemed cold and remote and jerky about them back in the day—now, that’s just the way people talk. They’re also also writing apocalyptically about their time, and our time now seems so unavoidably apocalyptic. It really does feel like California is sliding into the sea along with the rest of America. So the time is is finally right for them. It only took 50 years.

The Steely Dan/Gen Z connection seems like a parallel to Joni Mitchell . Gen Z just gets them on a deeper level than any previous generation did. 

Joni is definitely a parallel. She has a similar arc—she gets smoother and jazzier as she goes on. But it’s like what Robert Christgau wrote about Blue : as her sound gets more and more California, her satire of California gets sharper. As she embraces the musical ethos of her moment, she becomes a better satirist of the sexual and spiritual ethos . And that’s Gaucho . They mastered the smooth sound of the Seventies, yet it’s their best parody of California. It’s their most savage satire of their world, just as they were embraced by that world. 

At the end, Steely Dan are peers of the Eagles, as opposed to people on the outside making fun of the Eagles. Donald is there at the Eagles vs. Rolling Stone softball game . [ Note: This grudge match really happened , and the band kicked our asses, 15-8. ] But he’s sitting in the Eagles rooting section, not the rock-critics rooting section.

The book keeps coming back to the eternal question of what Walter Becker did. You sum it up as “plausible deniability.” That’s a perfect explanation.

You assume that the narrator of “Fire and Rain” is James Taylor, and you assume that the narrator of “Heart of Gold” is Neil Young, because there’s a guy with a guitar telling you something. But Steely Dan have all of these distancing devices in place. You understand you’re not being told the story straight—it’s coming at you sideways. Stephen Malkmus has that great quote about them: “If you avoid the first person, your music becomes frightening, as if composed by phantoms.” That phantom quality, that question of who wrote what, inflects everything Steely Dan did.

How did you two devise the format for this book—Joan LeMay illustrates the song characters, you write about them?

This was two projects that merged into one. Jessica Hopper started working as an editor on the American Music Series and asked me, “Is there somebody you could write a music book about?” So I thought, “Who am I never tired of thinking about? Steely Dan.” Meanwhile, Joan was gonna do a zine where where she drew every character in every Steely Dan song. Jessica said, “Joan, this is not a zine. This is a book.” So these two things came together. But we didn’t try to define these characters. Anything I wrote that felt like fan-fiction got cut immediately. You don’t wanna be filling in the holes in these stories too much.

You write about how Steely Dan create these unsavory, untrustworthy, unlikeable, quasi-inhuman L.A. characters. They seem close to Randy Newman that way. Is there a connection?

Steely Dan loved L.A. too. Donald had a great line in 1977: “We’re not as negative as the Eagles. They’re totally down on California.” Steely Dan came to L.A. and found it hilarious. If you get into the Eagles, who are the the nemesis in this book in some ways—but when the Eagles started writing negatively about California, it wasn’t funny to them. They were very upset about the depravity they were seeing at the Hotel California. Whereas if Steely Dan wrote “Hotel California,” it would be about somebody saying, “Isn’t this hotel great? We got pink champagne! You can go do a Satan murder in the back if you want to!” Both bands are singing about self-delusion, but Steely Dan are singing in the voice of self-delusion, instead of describing self-delusion.  

Something about the current Danaissance: it seems the newer fans are mostly into the later albums. It’s almost like they’re now the band that made Aja and Gaucho , with everything else as just a prologue. 

Those first four albums are less talked about. It’s songs of innocence vs. songs of experience, right? There’s a lot of angry young Dan on those first records. When you get to the later albums, with the really slick surfaces, that’s what we think of as Steely Dan. But my favorite one is Countdown to Ecstasy , and its stock seems so low right now. It’s still their worst-selling album ever. It’s the coolest Steely Dan record, because it’s the only band record. When you listen to those live bootlegs from ’74, they’re a shit-hot band, but they turned their backs on that. So that album is still not talked about enough. There’s amazing stuff on Pretzel Logic —best album cover, too. The Royal Scam, worst cover.

Gaucho has gone from most-hated to arguably most-loved.

You quote the guitarist Denny Dias on recording Katy Lied , and he says it all went wrong in the studio because of “human error.” He sounds like HAL 9000 in 2001 . “This music is too important to be jeopardized by human error. We clearly need to kill the astronauts.”

Steely Dan managed to kill all the astronauts. That’s what Gaucho is—that’s when HAL is fully driving the ship through the black hole. Even Walter is out of the picture at that point. So Donald, I guess that makes him Dave Bowman, trying to land on the water.

The reason they stopped touring is because they couldn’t do it exactly like the records. And that they found that very frustrating. They heard all these mistakes and flubs. That’s what so great about Countdown —it feels loose, like “Let’s let Skunk Baxter drive for a minute.” I wish there was more of that, but it’s not Steely Dan if they allow that to happen. And so they start gradually making it much more careful and more intense and then it becomes something different. It becomes like this kind of weird cocaine chamber music by the end.

There’s so much mystique about their sidemen.

Everybody wanted to play on a Steely Dan record because they got to really use what they were good at. They were these in-demand session dudes, so for them it’s okay, dog-food commercial at 11, then Steely Dan at 2:30, then Three Dog Night at 3:45. It was this magical place for the session dudes where they could really get into it, because as much as Donald and Walter were these exacting studio sticklers, they were looking for everybody’s best idea. They wanted the Brecker brothers, the L.A. cats, the New York cats. And even those guys were found wanting. Donald and Walter would hire these high-price session dudes, fire them all at the end of the day, then bring in different high-price guys every day. It’s almost like they did it on purpose, to live up to their legend.

One of the best chapters is where you analyze the Classic Albums: Aja documentary. There’s the famous scene where they’re at the studio console, listening to all the rejected guitar solos for “Peg,” doing their bitchy commentary. What does that moment mean to you?

Ultimately, Steely Dan is the relationship between Donald and Walter, and we get to peek into it through this. It’s not first and foremost a relationship with the audience. It’s about these two guys amusing each other, like they’re podcasters or something, making each other laugh. We get to eavesdrop on that, but at the end of the day, it’s about the two of them. The mind-meld that’s happening. At that time, this documentary was the only artifact we had—the only way we had of seeing them. That moment at the console—I could watch all the outtakes of that moment.

Time to draft your all-star team. Your favorite drum break on a Steely Dan record?

I have to go with “Aja,” the amazing Steve Gadd. If I could play drums, just sit down like Garth from Wayne’s World and do any drum break, it would be that “Aja” break, including the little stick clicks in the middle of it. That song is peak after peak, with Wayne Shorter just blowing it out. But my favorite Steely Dan drummer has to be Bernard Purdie , playing the “Purdie shuffle” on things like The Royal Scam , when they came back to New York.

Best sax solo?

I don’t wanna say Wayne again, but it’s hard not to. Wayne’s the greatest. That’s the truest jazz moment—it’s like a cosmic wind is blowing through that song at that moment. But I might give it to Pete Christlieb on “Deacon Blues,” the sax player that they recruited from the Tonight Show band to play on this song. They were watching the Tonight Show , heard him, and said, THAT guy. He’s a working musician who happens to work on the song about learning to work the saxophone. In that moment, he IS Deacon Blues. He’s had an amazing long career—he ends up in the Star Trek orchestra, on The Next Generation.

Yeah, it’s like a picture of Walter with a Klingon forehead or something. Guitar solos are easier for me. I really like the one in “The Royal Scam.” That’s where you’re working your way up to Larry Carlton’s work on Hill Street Blues , that TV cop jazz of the Eighties. 

Best vocal?

“Your Gold Teeth II” is an incredible Donald vocal. He’s fascinating as a singer because he didn’t think of himself that way. They never really intended to become a band, but he certainly didn’t intend to be the lead singer of a band. He fought against it for a long time. That’s why they had David Palmer on the first record—they needed a frontman who looked like a frontman . Palmer’s perfect for that—he looks like he’s from the same lab as Peter Frampton. Donald can’t hit those high notes, but the sound of Donald working within his limitations is the sound of Steely Dan to me. In that song, there’s something so emotionally huge in what he’s doing. It’s the more reflective of the “Your Gold Teeth” songs. 

The other “Your Gold Teeth” [on Countdown ] is just weird. That’s where they reference “Cathy Berberian,” like it’s a name everybody would know. “Even Cathy Berberian knows there’s one roulade she can’t sing.” She was an avant-garde singer/composer, worked with John Cage and Stravinksy. But they just throw that in there, at a time when nobody could Google it. People must’ve thought, “That’s some friend of theirs.” And it has nothing to do with the rest of the song—just the most random, far-out name they could reference. It’s great that they don’t feel the need to footnote it—it’s just them saying, “Wouldn’t it be crazy if we put Cathy Berberian’s name in this song?”

Just planting a seed to grow later.

Exactly. “Somebody writing a book of essays about Steely Dan is gonna love this in about 30, 40 years.”

In a way that’s the theme of the whole book—we get so obsessive over micro-Dan details like this. Isn’t it weird people are so ready for a deep dive like this now?

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I feel like that was because we were all obsessed, the Spin [magazine] bros. That is what we would listen to. When I was there, working at a rock magazine, it was the peak of the New New York, and all the Meet Me in the Bathroom era was happening all around us. And our job was to be very much enthusiastic about what was going on in that moment. Keeping our jobs depended on that a little bit. “Oh, you wanna keep your health insurance? You get fucking excited about the Mooney Suzuki, man.” And a lot of that music is incredible, but at the end of a long day of being stoked about whatever was happening down at 7B or wherever, you don’t necessarily wanna come home from McDonald’s and eat hamburgers. It was a contrarian position and it was a weird kind of rebellion that we were engaged in: “We’re gonna go home and listen to Dick’s Picks and Steely Dan.” 

We were rock critics who just wanted a dive bar with a giant jukebox that had every Steely Dan record on it. That’s how this happens—that’s how you start to think too much about Steely Dan. You sit around with friends saying, “What does this even mean ?”

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Steely Dan Drops Off Tour Dates With Eagles Due to Illness

Steve Miller filled in during the Indianapolis shows.

By Rania Aniftos

Rania Aniftos

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Steely Dan has reportedly dropped out of a few of their tour dates with the Eagles due to illness.

According to Indianapolis’  Indy Star , Don Henley told the crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse that Steely Dan frontman Donald Fagen had been hospitalized, before thanking fellow rocker Steve Miller for filling in at the last minute. “The show must go on,” Henley reportedly said.

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The Eagles announced their final The Long Goodbye tour earlier this year. “The Eagles have had a miraculous 52-year odyssey, performing for people all over the globe; keeping the music alive in the face of tragic losses, upheavals and setbacks of many kinds,” read a statement from the group. “Credit and thanks go to our longtime management team, our dedicated road crew, and our exceptional backup musicians for providing skilled and steadfast support, throughout these many years. We know how fortunate we are, and we are truly grateful.”

The tour will wrap on January 6 in Inglewood, Calif. See the full list of dates here .

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• Michael McDonald

Donald Fagen Says He Regrets That Michael McDonald Didn’t Replace Him as Steely Dan’s Lead Singer

by Matt Friedlander May 14, 2024, 6:59 pm

Donald Fagen has been Steely Dan ’s sole official lead singer since the group’s original co-lead vocalist David Palmer left the band in 1973.

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That same year, the soulful, honey-voiced Michael McDonald joined Steely Dan’s touring lineup as a backing vocalist and keyboardist. According to Fagen, around that time, McDonald nearly was asked to take over for him as the band’s main vocalist.

[Buy Doobie Brothers Concert Tickets]

“There was a serious discussion about whether he should replace me as the lead singer, which would have been my personal preference,” Fagen told The New York Times via email, as reported in an article about McDonald’s soon-to-be-published memoir, What a Fool Believes . “But, for some dumb reason, I was voted down. I didn’t insist, and I’ve regretted it ever since.”

Fagen added, “I mean, here’s this monster singer and musician, and he’s also really funny and a sweetheart of a guy. What’s not to like?”

[RELATED: The Meaning Behind “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers and How It Transformed Michael McDonald’s Career]

The Steely Dan co-founder also noted that it was future Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro who referred McDonald to his band. “[Michael] came to rehearsal a few days later and knocked everyone out,” Fagen recalled.

More About McDonald’s Contributions to Steely Dan and His Later Career

McDonald was a member of Steely Dan’s touring group until the band decided to stop touring in 1974. He also contributed backing vocals to four of the band’s albums— Katy Lied (1975), The Royal Scam (1976), Aja (1977), and Gaucho (1980).

McDonald, of course, also joined The Doobie Brothers in 1975, and became that group’s main singer and keyboardist until its 1982 breakup. He then launched a successful solo career.

About McDonald’s Memoir, Plans for a Book Tour

What a Fool Believes , named after the chart-topping Doobie Brothers hit McDonald co-wrote with Kenny Loggins, will be released on Tuesday, May 21. Michael penned the book with his friend, Mad About You actor Paul Reiser, who also is an accomplished musician.

To promote the memoir, McDonald and Reiser will appear together at series of book-tour events scheduled for May 21 in New York City, May 22 in Nashville, May 23 in St. Louis, and May 29 in Los Angeles.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michael McDonald (@michaelmcdonaldofficial)

McDonald’s 2024 Tour Plans with The Doobie Brothers

McDonald, who rejoined The Doobie Brothers in 2019, will then hit the road with the band for its 2024 trek. First up for The Doobies will be a series of European concerts opening for the Eagles in late May and June. They include five concerts in Manchester, U.K., and two in Arnhem, Netherlands.

Interestingly, The Doobie Brothers are taking over the support slot for Steely Dan, who dropped off the bill “due to unforeseen circumstances.”

After the European dates, The Doobie Brothers will launch a North American headlining tour. That trek runs from a June 23 concert in Inglewood, California, through an October 16 show in Saint John, Canada.

Tickets for The Doobie Brothers’ concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub .

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Doobie Brothers (@doobiebrothersofficial)

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© 2024 American Songwriter

Eagles announce final ever UK shows with Steely Dan

Tickets go on sale this Friday (January 26)

Eagles have announced their final ever UK shows as part of their ‘Long Goodbye’ tour – find the dates below and purchase tickets here .

The rock legends will be performing as part of a residency at Manchester’s Co-op Live in May and June alongside special guest Steely Dan .

The ‘Long Goodbye’ tour arena residency will kick off on Friday, May 31, followed by dates on June 1 and 4. An extra European date has also been added for June 13 at GelreDome in The Netherlands.

Tickets go on general sale this Friday (January 26) at 10am GMT from here . Alternatively, fans can access pre-sales at the same link from Wednesday (January 24) at 10am GMT.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eagles (@eagles)

“The Eagles have had a miraculous 52-year odyssey, performing for people all over the globe; keeping the music alive in the face of tragic losses, upheavals and setbacks of many kinds. Credit and thanks go to our longtime management team, our dedicated road crew, and our exceptional backup musicians for providing skilled and steadfast support, throughout these many years,” the band said in a press statement.

“We know how fortunate we are, and we are truly grateful. Our long run has lasted far longer than any of us ever dreamed. But, everything has its time, and the time has come for us to close the circle. The official farewell tour is currently underway. We want to give all our fans a chance to see us on this final round.  So, scheduling information will be released as dates are set.

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“The difficulties of booking venues for multiple nights may require us to return to certain cities, depending on demand.  But, we hope to see as many of you as we can, before we finish up. Most importantly, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for embracing this band and its music. At the end of the day, you are the reason we have been able to carry on for over five decades. This is our swan song, but the music goes on and on.”

The performances will see the band – Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Vince Gill and Deacon Frey – celebrate 50 plus years of their career.

The new dates come after they announced their farewell tour across North America last summer , which is continuing across February and March. You can purchase any remaining tickets here .

Eagles’ UK and European dates for ‘The Long Goodbye Tour’ are:

MAY 31 – Manchester, UK, Co-op Live

JUNE 1 – Manchester, UK, Co-op Live 4 – Manchester, UK, Co-op Live 13 – Arnhem, The Netherlands, GelreDome

2022 saw the ‘Hotel California’ artists embark on a European and UK/Ireland tour and included a concert at BST Hyde Park in London – which fans initially suspected could have been their last in the UK .

During the show, Henley said: “In case we don’t pass this way again, I want to thank you all for embracing these songs, taking them into your hearts and your homes – we appreciate it.”

In July last year, Randy Meisner, a co-founder of the Eagles and the band’s original bassist, died at the age of 77 .

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Legendary classic rock singer says he should have been replaced decades ago

• Published: May. 14, 2024, 10:49 a.m.

Donald Fagen of Steely Dan performs during night one of the Eagles "The Long Goodbye" tour on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, at Madison Square Garden in New York. He recently admitted that he wished Michael McDonald would've replaced him. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

• Saleah Blancaflor | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

If Steely Dan frontman Donald Fagen had his way, Michael McDonald would’ve replaced him on vocals decades ago.

McDonald contributed the vocals and piano for Steely Dan when he went on tour with the band in 1973 and 1974, and was involved with their studio projects until 1980s “Goucho.” He came back for another gig in 2006.

During a recent New York Times interview which promotes McDonald’s new memoir “What a Fool Believes: A Memoir,” Fagen admitted he’d attempted to make McDonald’s ‘70s involvement permanent, but regrets that it never actually happened. He also spoke about why the collaboration never amounted to anything larger.

“There was a serious discussion about whether he should replace me as the lead singer, which would have been my personal preference,” Fagen, a Passaic native, told the Times. “But, for some dumb reason, I was voted down. I didn’t insist, and I’ve regretted it ever since. I mean, here’s this monster singer and musician, and he’s also really funny and a sweetheart of a guy. What’s not to like?”

In the same interview, Fagen also recalled the first time he met McDonald in 1973 when he came to a Steely Dan rehearsal a few days later “and knocked everyone out.” That event in particular along with many others are recounted in McDonald’s memoir.

McDonald is currently on tour with the Doobie Brothers for the “Rockin Down the Highway” tour. There will be two shows in New Jeresy, including one in Camden at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on Aug. 3 and the other on Aug. 6 in Holmdel at PNC Bank Arts Center .

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Saleah Blancaflor may be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter at @saleyley and Instagram .

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Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan (American Music Series) Hardcover – May 9, 2023

Purchase options and add-ons.

“ONE OF THE SHARPEST, FUNNIEST, AND BEST BOOKS EVER ABOUT ANY ROCK ARTIST”— Rolling Stone

“WEIRD AND WONDROUS”— New York Times

“I ADORED IT”—Michael Chabon

A literary and visual exploration of the songs of Steely Dan.

Steely Dan’s songs are exercises in fictional world-building. No one else in the classic-rock canon has conjured a more vivid cast of rogues and heroes, creeps and schmucks, lovers and dreamers and cold-blooded operators—or imbued their characters with so much humanity. Pulling from history, lived experience, pulp fiction, the lore of the counterculture, and their own darkly comic imaginations, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker summoned protagonists who seemed like fully formed people with complicated pasts, scars they don’t talk about, delusions and desires and memories they can’t shake. From Rikki to Dr. Wu, Hoops McCann to Kid Charlemagne, Franny from NYU to the Woolly Man without a Face, every name is a locked-room mystery, beguiling listeners and earning the band an exceptionally passionate and ever-growing cult fandom.

Quantum Criminals presents the world of Steely Dan as it has never been seen, much less heard. Artist Joan LeMay has crafted lively, color-saturated images of her favorite characters from the Daniverse to accompany writer Alex Pappademas’s explorations of the famous and obscure songs that inspired each painting, in short essays full of cultural context, wild speculation, inspired dot-connecting, and the occasional conspiracy theory. All of it is refracted through the perspectives of the characters themselves, making for a musical companion unlike any other. Funny, discerning, and visually stunning, Quantum Criminals is a singular celebration of Steely Dan’s musical cosmos.

• Print length 280 pages
• Language English
• Publisher University of Texas Press
• Publication date May 9, 2023
• Dimensions 7 x 1 x 10 inches
• ISBN-10 1477324992
• ISBN-13 978-1477324998
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

Quantum Criminals is one of the sharpest, funniest, and best books ever about any rock artist.

Pappademas offers a lively series of ruminations about individual songs, loosely pegged to the characters who populate those songs and who are rendered in playfully detailed and colorful portraits by LeMay. The result is both a celebration and an artifact of the current Steely Dan moment...In sharp and funny chapters, Pappademas riffs on [Steely Dan's] cast of characters in ways that capture the band’s cultural context and musical debts.

[ Quantum Criminals ] uncovers the vast constellation of lyrical references, artistic influences and social and political contexts surrounding the band and its music.

Wry, playful but deeply incisive...Fagen, Becker...and Pappademas are kindred spirits, smartass, sharp-eyed observers of life’s El Supremos—a description that suits other Dan fans as well. Quantum Criminals is like a secret handshake between two covers. The best part is that it illuminates details the rest of us may have glossed over for years.

In one fell swoop, [ Quantum Criminals ] has become the essential Steely Dan book. And you should absolutely be reading it right now...Pappademas and LeMay leave no stones unturned in their quest to unlock every mythological quadrant of Steely Dan’s immense, decades-long artistic conceptions.

A whimsical plunge into one of America’s most unconventional rock bands...[A] delicious deep dive into the many protagonists in the 'Steely Daniverse'...LeMay’s vibrant paintings—more than 100 of which are included in the book—provide yet another kaleidoscopic lens through which to consider the duo’s wild imaginations. Any major dude will tell you that this is a solid and highly entertaining take on Fagen and Becker’s 'platonic love story.'

[An] engaging and illuminating way to tell the band's history... Quantum Criminals is undoubtedly the best thing I’ve ever read about this endearingly strange and endlessly fascinating band.

An engrossing series of essays that innovatively chart the cosmology of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s musical universe…[A] terrific and irresistible book.

These song-based essays are part band biography, trenchant culture criticism, poignant ‘70s history, and psychedelic tone poems. Like Steely Dan’s tunes, they toe the line between an unbridled reverence for the music and esoteric sensibilities. I read it in a day and came out with an even deeper respect for their catalog.

This is the finest piece of rock journalism that I have read in a long time.

The shibboleth of Steely Dan, spelled out across fifty years and nine records, can’t be explained or sold: if you know, you know. And if you know… rejoice. Quantum Criminals is a fiend folio for Dan freaks, an astonishing, joyous, vibrant book capturing the Becker and Fagan canon of cosmic losers, doomed loners, jazz narcs, and star-bummers, along with half the truth and all the bullshit that makes being into Steely Dan such a delightful, unsolvable puzzle. Alex writes like Iain Sinclair in the streets and Greil Marcus in the sheets; Joan paints like Steve Keene doing a presidential portrait of Maira Kalman. Of course. Who better? Who else? They know, too. Like the man says, if it good to ya, it gotta be good for ya —and this book is very, very good.

About the Author

Alex Pappademas is the author of Keanu Reeves: Most Triumphant — The Movies & Meaning of an Irrepressible Icon and the writer and host of the acclaimed podcast The Big Hit Show. His work has also appeared in GQ , the New York Times , and Grantland.

Joan LeMay is an artist based in London and New York City (although the paintings for this book were created in Portland). Her work appears in multiple publications and books and has been shown in museums, galleries, and public spaces internationally.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Texas Press (May 9, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1477324992
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1477324998
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.93 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1 x 10 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #25,459 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books )

About the author

Alex pappademas.

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