Steely Dan
Pete said, “this place is like being inside a giant bong!” And he was right – the Gibson Amphitheatre (formerly Universal Amphitheatre) was completely sold out and filled to the brim with throwbacks puffing away, plumes filling the hall like some Cheech & Chong routine. We must’ve missed signing a contract at the entrance waiving our option for a contact high!
Steely Dan was in town with master session guitarist Larry Carlton for a four-night stand playing a different classic album each night: “The Royal Scam,” “Aja,” “Gaucho,” and one night of Internet requests.
For Pete’s birthday, I offered to pick up the tab for his ticket if he would make the trip down from Modesto (we hadn’t seen each other in eight years). He took the long way down (Amtrak, then a Greyhound from Bakersfield) and joined me & Mike for a memorable night. We were all equally repulsed by the desperate flash of Universal CityWalk and just as much impressed by the concert. In particular, Jon Herington, Jim Pugh, Carolyn Leonhart, Freddie Washington took turns blowing us away while old men Becker & Fagen seemed not-so-old, energetic and fresh. Hearing Larry Carlton tear up his classic solo on “Third World Man” was the icing on the skunky cake.
Here’s the set list:
Intro: Teenie’s Blues
The Royal Scam (complete)
Hey Nineteen
Daddy Don’t Live in that NYC No More
Aja
Black Friday
Home at Last
Parker’s Band
Love is Like an Itching in My Heart / Band Intros
Third World Man
Peg
Josie
My Old School
Reeling in the Years
Outro: Last Tango in Paris
Tags: music
