note: holy crap damn hell! I totally forgot, in my rush to malign former rock superstars, that it was 9/11. That shit's crazy. I suppose I'll just address it tomorrow, since that will be more like 9/11 where I come from and I'm damn tired. Anyway, big up to everyone affected by that, even six years later. Now back to the show...
The only times I've ever seen 12 or more people onstage at one time were Counting Crows encores when the crew and opening bands got to come up and shake it to Hangin' Around. That is, until tonight.
What I've discovered is that there are two ways to approach a live show: reinterpreting songs, and reproducing sounds. I would hazard that most bands fall into that first category-- every show is slightly different, the set list is changed, the friendly banter is unique, and the songs have their own flavors. That, to me, is what makes seeing a band worth the money you spend. But Steely Dan falls into the second category in the worst way. Now, I happened to see the Goo Goo Dolls two nights in a row and homeboys played the exact same set with the exact same instrumentation, but it still varied significantly from the studio versions; it felt rehearsed and somewhat uninspired, but Steely just felt staged, and I just felt bored.
First of all, Donald Fagen is a Fraggle, which is extremely creepy. Second of all, who in the hell needs two guitars, two pianos, a bass, a drum, a baritone sax, an alto/tenor sax, a trumpet, a trombone, and two back-up singers in order to perform a song about green earrings? Steely Dan was not just playing Steely Dan songs-- they were note by note, phrase by phrase, reproducing exactly what one hears on their albums like they were cover songs and the band was afraid of 'getting it wrong'. Occasionally, a solo happened. Otherwise, they might as well have been lip synching; and if they're going to do that, why don't I just google a picture of them, kick my feet up, and put on a greatest hits album? And get this-- the show was horribly staged, yet Fagen flubbed his lines!! There was a certain point in which he was supposed to introduce his partner, Walter Becker, and he fucked it up, starting to mention the female back-up singers, then admitting his mistake to the crowd. How pretentious does an artist have to be in order to script their between-song banter, and how lame does an artist have to be in order to blow it? Then came Fagen's introduction-- "The one; the only one. The orignal; the originator. The rock star, record producer, hit-maker, author, gourmet chef...." (the ellipsis is provided because it went on so long I couldn't possibly catch them all). Somehow "Columbia recording artist" has sufficed for Dylan for 40 years, but Donald "Fraggle" Fagen needs a public fellating every single night in order to feel good about himself? WEAK SAUCE!
The real entertainment of the night was the cat from VH1's 'Best Week Ever' who left a comment on Innocent Abroad asking if that blog was written by Adam Duritz-- as if Mr. Duritz had nothing better to do with his time than bitch and moan online about marginal indie artists.
Drink Count: 8
P.S. Hey, Steely: just so you know, ANY song can sound good with 12 layers-- a great song can be played with 100 parts or 1 and be equally moving. For some reason, I doubt Black Friday and Aja would be quite as effective 'solo voce' or with only acoustic guitar accompaniment. And thanks, because now that I've seen you, I have absolutely no need or desire to see you again-- way to build up a strong fan base, guys!
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