By Candace Murphy
San Jose Mercury News
Every concert has its turning point. That point in the evening when the melange of notes, phrases and musical stylings that have tumbled out of those immense amps and woofers suddenly aligns and makes nothing but perfect sense.
It is a point of unexpected delirium.
Saturday at Steely Dan’s two-hour, two-set Shoreline Amphitheatre performance, that turning point coincided with a brilliant retooling of the band’s classic “Deacon Blues.” It was then that fans — many of whom had crept forward and usurped the venue’s better seats because the show was hardly full — abandoned their inhibitions. Bookish types who had spent much of the evening with their legs politely crossed, quietly enjoying the show, bobbed their heads and mouthed lyrics. The more boisterous raised beers in punctuating tribute to drinking scotch whisky . . . all! Night! LONG!
That “Deacon Blues” possessed the power to so energize the crowd seemed fitting. For it is a song that vocalist and keyboard player Donald Fagen has described as being about an alienated suburban kid who would rather be part of a culture of losers than of winners. And while Steely Dan fans are in no way losers, just as geezer rock and Geekstock would be an unfair depiction of the band’s music and live shows, there is no doubt that there is a particular fan of the Dan. They are a breed, like Fagen and guitarist Walter Becker, who desperately aspire to the alternative values ensconced in jazz and hip culture.
Saturday — one of those lovely “Evening With” events with no opening act — was largely a trip down memory lane. And Fagen and Becker no fewer than three times reused a joke they’ve been using throughout the tour about how “This song is from one of our albums in the ’70s.” Only four of the band’s 11 albums, including this year’s well-received Two Against Nature and excluding compilations and box sets, were released after that decade.
But the show was a treat, especially since Steely Dan became stars after they retired, and many fans never saw the band play live until they re-formed in 1994. Saturday’s event was hardly different from any others on this 2000 tour, and the set list, in fact, was identical to the one from the group’s June 6 performance in Concord.
The 11-piece backing band, which included three of the most outstanding, spunky and just flat-out groovy backup singers ever assembled on a stage, began the night laying the groundwork for “The Boston Rag.” Minutes later, Fagen, 52, and Becker, 50, strolled out, cloaked in hipster leather jackets, and went to work.
In the first half, “Bodhisattva” was less its bluesy vamping self and more a rockabilly swingster tune in that “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” Andrews Sisters kind of way. The new “Janie Runaway” was bluesy groovy. “Josie,” “Black Friday,” “Do It Again” and “Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More,” with Becker on vocals, were solid.
The second half, though, literally stole the show. Starting as every second half should — with a Henry Mancini tune — the band played “Hank’s Pad,” briefly morphing Shoreline into Holly Golightly’s apartment. Also notable were “Dirty Work,” featuring backup singer Cynthia Calhoun on vocals, and the epic “Peg.”
But best of the night, even better than the final encore, “FM,” was Fagen’s announcement that Steely Dan would be back next year. And the
unspoken promise of unexpected delirium yet to come that went with it.
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