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 […]
Tag Archives | Concert reviews
In concert, Steely Dan reeling in the years
Walter Becker, Donald Fagen blend old with new in civilized evening at Blossom By Malcolm X Abram Akron Beacon Journal CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — In 2000, when jazz-pop duo Steely Dan released “Two Against Nature,” their first new CD in 20 years, it was met with much fanfare. It yielded a Grammy for Album of […]
Carefully Crafted Work Still Pleases Ear, Mind
By Curtis Schieber Columbus Dispatch “Agents of the law / Luckless pedestrian / I know you’re out there / With rage in your eyes and your megaphones,” Donald Fagen sang during “Don’t Take Me Alive” in Steely Dan’s second set on Saturday night in the Value City Arena. Thousands in the audience joined in for […]
Steely Dan Goes Back in Time to 1979
By Bobby Reed Chicago Sun-Times Examples of irony, riddles and perversion have been prevalent in Steely Dan’s lyrics for over 30 years. The same is true for the duo’s relationship with the road. They didn’t tour when they had big hits, and two decades later, they toured without new material. Walter Becker (guitar, bass) and […]
Decades Later, Steely Dan Still Vital Force
By Rick Shefchik St. Paul Pioneer Press ST. PAUL, Minn. — If any ’70s-era band should have survived to play arena concerts and win Grammys in the 21st century, it would be Steely Dan. After all, they were an anachronism in their own time, just as they are today. While other groups, then as now, […]
Steely Dan Makes a Long-Awaited Return
By Jon Bream Minneapolis Star Tribune Steely Dan is pop music’s most successful recluse. In their heyday from 1972 to 1980, the Dan duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker eschewed the stage, touring briefly two or three times. They reunited in 1993 to hit the road, touring regularly in the ’90s before finally releasing […]
Strumming a Cynical Chord
Steely Dan starts its summer tour of ‘Everything Must Go’ in all its jaded glory By Randy Lewis Los Angeles Times COSTA MESA, Cal. — For a short time after Sept. 11, some pundits pronounced irony and cynicism dead. Had that been true, it certainly would have meant the end of the line for a […]
Steely Dan really can
The veteran act’s jazz-pop proves as strong as ever at the Pacific, though Donald Fagen is losing his vocal potency By Ben Wener The Orange County Register COSTA MESA, Cal. — A quarter-century ago, when the meticulously smooth “Aja” was an inescapable FM rage, if you had placed a bet that Steely Dan would today […]
Outsiders’ Night in Steely Dan
By John L Walters The Guardian LONDON — Great gig, but what a shame not to hear “What A Shame About Me.” It’s the perfect singalong anthem for fans of Steely Dan, since something in it chimes with misfits, jazz lovers and ill-groomed outsiders everywhere. And there are enough of us around to buy a […]
Steely Dan in Glasgow
By John Williamson Glasgow Herald GLASGOW, Scotland — In the world of Steely Dan, there’s the best part of 20 years has elapsed between their last two studio albums; time stands not only still, but resolutely to attention. With 13 musicians and singers on stage, all of whom wear their colossal technical ability as a […]
