By Steve Morse
Boston Globe
MANSFIELD, Mass. — Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen is known for his irony, but he sounded totally sincere when he told Saturday’s crowd, “There are no Steely Dan fans anywhere who are cooler or hipper to play for than the Steely Dan fans in Boston.” His emotional words came after yet another noisy round of applause from the 12,000 fans who greeted most songs as though the Rolling Stones were in the house.
This was easily the most refreshing Steely Dan show at the Tweeter Center since the band came back in 1993, following a 19-year absence from the road. The crowd at that first comeback show was reverent and quiet, acting as if it were in church and as if it had never expected to see the band again. But Steely Dan has toured several times since — and each time the bond has grown with the audience, which now acts much looser, helping Saturday’s gig feel more like a euphoric rock show than a tense, one-off event.
Steely Dan also has become a powerful live act. Although the name still technically only applies to the songwriting duo of Fagen and Walter Becker, they have developed a steady core of touring musicians who give the duo’s jazz-funk sound a more organic, living-and-breathing edge, versus the coldly antiseptic nature of that first comeback tour. And not enough can be said about the talent of this 13-piece group, especially drummer Keith Carlock (whose propulsive solo sparked a standing ovation), Cindy Mizelle (one of three female backup singers, she also once toured with the Stones), saxophonist Cornelius Bumpus (a ’70s legend), and guitarist Jon Herington, whose lead/rhythm exchanges with Becker were exceptional. The group’s four-piece horn section was also a marvel.
Steely Dan played two long, rewarding sets. The first tickled memories with “Aja,” “Babylon Sisters,” and a very funky “Peg” (with thumb-plucked bass) but also featured the new “Godwhacker” (with unison harmonies by Fagen and the three backup singers) and “Slang of Ages,” an amusing, almost Woody Allen-ish tale sung by Becker.
The second set opened humorously with the unrecorded “The Steely Dan Show,” with lyrics projected on a rear video screen like a teleprompter for an audience singalong: “You’re in the catbird seat at a Steely Dan show . . . just trip out on hits and the groove that never quits,” the words said. “It’s a tribute to us, written by us, actually. It’s embarrassing,” Fagen said minutes later as the crowd laughed. But then the grooves did keep coming, with “Hey Nineteen” (about some tequila-soaked good times), “Josie,” “Kid Charlemagne,” and “My Old School.” Not all the hits were played, and Becker tested the crowd’s patience with another lead vocal on “Haitian Divorce” (botching it badly). But that was a rare misstep on this upbeat night that proved Steely Dan is far more than just another nostalgia act.
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