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Colorado weather can certainly make summer concerts an interesting affair. Unlike our coastal brethren, the weather doesn’t seem to stay constant.
About an hour into the show at Thursday night, just before Donald Fagan halted the show due to the weather, I found myself cursing my lack of foresight in not bringing a jacket. As the rain picked up in pace and the wind started blowing, fans started pulling out rain ponchos and fleece jackets. They were at least prepared.
You could say that a band’s fan loyalty can be judged by how they react to challenging conditions when they are at a concert. Judging by their fans, most of whom stayed the distance Thursday night, Steely Dan’s fans are exceptionally loyal.
The evening got off to a smooth start, with jazz organist short set. DeFrancesco, who has played with the likes of Miles Davis and John McLaughlin, is touring with the Joey DeFrancesco Trio, which consists of DeFrancesco on Hammond B3, drummer Byron Landham and organ player Pat Bianchi.
The trio’s set was mostly improvisational jazz instrumentals, a bold set given the context of the show. Truthfully, much of it sounded like it belonged in a small smoky jazz club instead of a 10,000 seat amphitheater, though the skill of the three musicians almost overcame it. However, the set-closing “I’ve Got My Mojo Workin,’” which DeFrancesco recorded with Jimmy Smith, had some funk to it and got some in the crowd dancing along.
Back to Steely Dan though: Founded by keyboard played Donald Fagen and guitarist Walter Becker, the group had a string of hit records in the ’70s. Mixing elements of jazz, rock and blues, the band has a unique, now-established sound. Since their reunion, they have toured semi-regularly — which is ironic since during their heyday they never toured.
The set opened with “Everyone’s Gone to the Movies,” done as an instrumental by their massive backing band. The band includes a full horn section, as well as drummer Keith Carlock, bassist Freddie Washington, keyboard player Jeff Young and guitarist Jon Herington. Two backing vocalists, Tawatha Agee and Cindy Mizelle, round out the sound.
After finishing the first song, Becker and Fagen wandered on stage to a roar from the audience and launched into “The Royal Scam,” which featured a hypnotic riff on the piano from Fagen. During the song, the rain started to sprinkle. As the evening progressed, this turned more problematic, for both the band and the fans.
I’ll confess that I’m not too familiar with Steely Dan, or at least, before Thursday, I didn’t think I was. Without the help of some rather excited fans, I wouldn’t have been able to get many of the song names. However, having said that, I was amazed during their two-hour plus set how many songs I recognized from the radio, and that was without their playing two of the songs I know best, “Reelin’ in the Years” and “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number.”
Steely Dan was well-known during their heyday for the near-perfection of their recordings. In fact, many modern acts could stand to listen to their albums to hear how you can have punch and drive without overcompressing the music and losing all the dynamics.
That seems to have carried over into their live set as well. For instance, “Two Against Nature” featured soaring guitar lines from Becker and excellent harmonies between Fagen, Mizelle and Agee. All the other instruments could be heard clearly underneath Becker’s solo, and it made the song sound stronger as a result.
During the first half of the show, the rain began to fall more insistently. While they were playing their hit “Hey Nineteen,” Fagen held up his hand and stopped the song, then explained that he was worried about getting electrocuted and they were going to take a five-minute break to move his piano and microphone further underneath the roof over the stage.
The delay stretched for about 20 minutes, and Becker explained they were waiting for the storm to pass a little more. It never completely left, and so the crowd was treated to the amusing spectacle of stagehands periodically running on stage and holding umbrellas over Fagen and Becker to shield them from the blowing rain. Sometimes the umbrellas were nearly turned inside out by the gusts.
After returning, the band launched into “Hey Nineteen” again. Fans were treated to a variety of the band’s hits over the rest of the evening. Fagen’s “New Frontier” featured an excellent driving bass line from Washington.
The last half of the set was heavy on material from the band’s magnum opus “Aja,” including an excellent version of “Josie” that featured twin guitar solos from Becker and Herington, where they played the same part to give it an extra kick. During “Aja,” the weird light grid behind the stage took on an effect like a field of stars. Herington also got a chance to shine on the up-tempo “Peg,” one of the band’s best known songs, playing an excellent solo.
The band ended the night with a two-song encore that included “Pretzel Logic,” a more bluesy tune, and “Kid Charlemagne.”
After finishing the latter, Fagen, Becker, Mizelle and Agee left the stage. However, after the house lights went up, the rest of the band launched into an instrumental that served as nice filler for people packing up for the night.
Candace Horgan is a Denver-based writer and regular Reverb contributor.
is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and regular Reverb contributor.
