By Mike McKenney, Rock At Night New England
Venue: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut-November 2, 2019
A full house of Steely Dan fans were “Reelin’ In The Years” as Donald Fagen and Steely Dan rolled their “Sweet” tour into the Mohegan Sun Arena. The band opened with the great Oliver Nelson cover, “Teenie’s Blues”.
With the crowd settling in, Fagen, the only original member still remaining in the group, then joined the band onstage with “Sign in Stranger” from the ’76 Royal Scam album. “Black Friday”, and “Hey Nineteen” both exemplified the uniqueness of the Jazz/Rock fusion that has propelled Steely Dan into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” and album sales north of 40 million worldwide.
“Aja”, the title track off their conceptual masterpiece of the same name, blends pleasantly smooth jazzy saxophone with guitar and drums into an 8 minute excursion that finishes with a flurry. Fagen admitted he had a cold and he seemed to lean on his backup singers a little more than usual to get him through the 18 song set. With 50 plus years of experience, the ever professional Fagen knows how to keep a show going, singing most of the key words and letting the backup singers and the crowd fill in the rest.
Hits “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”, “Dirty Work, and “Bodhisattva” , had the crowd on their feet, while an inspired “My Old School” was perhaps the standout performance of the night. Donald Fagen exited the stage after an encore the featured “Reelin” In The Years” and the band finished sans Fagen with a Joe Williams cover, “A Man Ain’t Supposed to Cry”
There a only a handful of dates remaining on Steely Dan’s Sweet Tour. Catch them wherever you can.
Steely Dan Setlist:
1. Teenie’s Blues (Oliver Nelson cover)
2. Sign in Stranger
3. Hey Nineteen
4. Aja
5. Black Friday
6. Any Major Dude Will Tell You
7. Kid Charlemagne
8. Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
9. Time Out of Mind
10. Black Cow
11. Peg
12. Dirty Work
13. Josie
14. Keep That Same Old Feeling (The Crusaders cover)
15. Pretzel Logic
16. Bodhisattva
17. My Old School
18. Reelin’ in the Years
19. A Man Ain’t Supposed to Cry (Joe Williams cover) (band only)
PHOTO GALLERY
Mike McKenney is an award winning professional photographer and current New England Correspondent for Rock At Night magazine.
With his years of experience and passion for Concert Photography, Mike has photographed many of the famous acts in the world today.
Rock Icons such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews, and Fleetwood Mac along with Country artist Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney,and Jason Aldean have all appeared before Mike’s camera.
"My goal is always to present the experience truthfully so fans can feel the energy and emotions the Artists convey. It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to be allowed to create art while blending my two passions, music and photography”
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