REVIEW: Steely Dan, Live at Universal Amphitheatre, Universal
City, California, June 13, 2000
- Paul Andersen
They're back! Patience is rewarded at last. The Dan is back.
Instead of a "How ya doin', L.A.?" to pump up the crowd like most groups, Donald Fagen kept proclaiming, "Well, all righty," numerous times throughout the evening, like a somewhat crotchety university professor getting ready to write another theorem on the board. But then, Steely Dan has always marched to its own drummer, often in an odd time signature.
Though they did a number of tours throughout the 90s as Steely Dan, Fagen and his partner, guitarist Walter Becker, felt they needed something to promote other than songs that are currently a couple of decades old. They now have their new album, Two Against Nature, and the new songs seemed to rejuvenate the pair, as they proved Tuesday night at the Universal Amphitheatre in the first of three local shows. Even with audio problems that distracted Fagen throughout most of the first half, the duo, backed by an eleven member ensemble that understood all the rich nuances inherent in their music, put on a show that will surely rank among the best of the year.
Steely Dan has always been as much a jazz entity as a rock band, and that is the side that came across the strongest on this night. Of course, with talent like drummer Ricky Lawson, saxists Cornelius Bumpus and Bob Sheppard and trumpeter Michael Leonhart, it would be hard to sound bad. But thanks to some imaginative rearranging of the older songs, which reached across the breadth of their career, all of the FM staples (including, of course, the song "FM") that have kept their name a constant on classic rock and smooth jazz radio were played with fire, verve and, at times, wild abandon.
In retrospect, looking back over the set list, the group only played four new tunes: "Janie Runaway," "Gaslighting Abbie," the appropriate "West of Hollywood" and the dark, twisted single, "Cousin Dupree." But the manner in which they merged in with the others, seamlessly joining them in such a way as to not know where in the timeline they fit (if you didn't know better), was eerie, proving once again the totally timeless nature of their music.
But, the Dan being the Dan, there were a few surprises. Guitarist Denny Dias, an original member of the band in the early 70s, joined them on a number of songs, including his old feature, "Do It Again." A jazzy romp through a Henry Mancini number opened up the second half. Eagle member Timothy B. Schmitt came out to do some background vocals. But mainly, it was a time for celebrating the genius of an unlikely dynamic duo.
All righty, indeed!
