What can I say about the Steely Dan concert at Tanglewood that hasn’t already been said in the fine reviews in the Albany Times Union and Berkshire Eagle? Let me first agree with both reviewers by saying that the playing was perfect and the band top notch. I want to add, however, that I was very impressed by Walter Becker’s guitar chops. I do remember hearing his leads occasionally, but, for the most part he played bass on Steely Dan albums.

The sound was another story altogether and I will use this as an opportunity to voice my opinion on modern concert sound system techniques. In ancient times, only the vocals were sent through the PA system. While this was not optimal it did have the advantage of letting the listener clearly hear each instrument. Now, each instrument is input to a mixer via a microphone and the sound engineer decides on the right mix of volume (and possibly compression and EQ) that the listener will hear through the speaker system. It seems that whenever this is done something suffers. At Tanglewood, the vocals and bass suffered the most while the drums, keyboards and guitars were the clear winners.

I must say that this was still probably one of the best concert sound mixes I have heard in the past two and a half decades. Most concert sound engineers seem to combine the bass and drums into a loud roar that drowns out most everything else. Nevertheless, much of the point of Steely Dan’s music lies in the jazz harmonies, and, for one to enjoy harmony one needs to hear the notes both individually and as they blend together. And, I must add, in the Koussevitzky Shed of Tanglewood amplification should have been limited. But, I digress.

The set list was definitely for the hardcore fan. I struggled to immediately name the two most recent songs (Janie Runaway and Godwhacker) but right away identified all of the others. My wife, on the other hand, turned to me midway into the night and asked, “have they played any songs that I would know?” to which I simply replied, “No”.

If I had to offer any critique of the song choices I would say: Given their extensive catalog, a cover (Papa Don’t Take No Mess) was unnecessary and “Your Gold Teeth” and “Show Biz Kids” could have been replaced by any number of songs (insert favorites here).

In contrast with other reviewers I enjoyed the fact that Becker reminisced about his youthful trips to the Berkshires and appreciated the anecdote about his meeting Donald Fagen at Bard College. I also want to mention that guitarist Jon Herington did not (as one reviewer stated) play a note for note rendering of Elliot Randall’s solo on Reelin’ in the Years. While he rightly included the parts that should have been rendered exactly, he also improvised freely on the solo.

That said Steely Dan is a cultural treasure. Their lyrics are intelligent, ironic, and engaging. Their music successfully blends jazz, pop, hard rock, and, the blues like no one else can. It is indeed a pity that no one on the current rock music scene seems to be learning from their example. Nevertheless, it is a blessing that they are still with us.

Set list:

Intro: Dizzy's Business, Aja, Black Friday, Hey Nineteen (stopped to address sound problem then played again), Your Gold Teeth, Time Out of Mind, Show Biz Kids, Bodhisattva, Janie Runaway, Godwhacker, Dirty Work (sung by the “Embassy Brats”), Papa Don’t Take No Mess (James Brown) w/band intros and rap by Becker , Babylon Sisters, Piano solo – Josie, Peg, My Old School, Reelin’ in the Years, Encore: Kid Charlemagne, Outro: Theme from Last Tango in Paris.