I have been to two more concerts this past Monday and Tuesday. Got a chance to see the Happy Together Tour at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand for the final show of their tour. This was a group of bands from the '60s that were popular before the psychedelic rock phase hit. Bands included The Buckinghams, The Grass Roots, The Association, The Turtles with Flo & Eddie, and Mark Lindsay (the lead singer from Paul Revere & The Raiders).
I was not familiar with too many of the songs except for a cover the Buckingham's did of "Expressway To Your Heart" by the Philadelphia soul band The Soul Survivors, "Windy" by The Association (which had all of it's original members) and some covers Mark Lindsay did in medley by Cream and The Who which turned out to be song teases. I was impressed by much of the musicianship of the bands and their enthusiastic showmanship despite knowing only a few songs.
As for Steely Dan, I had seen them before at Northrop Auditorium in 2009. So, this was my second time and third seeing Donald Fagen after experiencing a show he did at the fair last year with Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. In an ironic twist of fate, rain plagued both of those shows and Fagen said from the stage last night something to the extent of, "whenever I show up here for a show, it rains!" There was a continuous gentle shower throughout the entire show last night.
The music of Steely Dan is jazz influenced pop more or less but the band has some ace backing musicians and has never had consistent members except for Donald Fagen on keys and melodica and his partner, Walter Becker on guitar. The revolving door of guitarists includes such names as Larry Carlton, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Denny Dias, Elliott Randall, Dean Parks, Hiram Bullock and Jay Graydon. Jon Herrington (their ace touring guitarist) plays uniquely in his own way. But his playing suits what was done on the studio cuts to a T.
Notable highlights included show openers "East St. Louis Toodle-O" (a Duke Ellington/Bubber Miley cover with the horn section), "Your Gold Teeth" and "Bodhisattva" from the "Countdown To Ecstasy" record, 80% of the "Aja" album and three songs from "Gaucho". Those were "Hey Nineteen", "Glamor Profession" and "Time Out of Mind". "Kid Charlemagne" from "The Royal Scam" and "Reelin' In The Years" closed the set. There were not only definite highlights from Herrington on guitar, but their keyboardist Jim Beard, bassist Freddie Washington and drummer Keith Carlock were on top of the grooves throughout the set.
Some people might not understand the complexity of Steely Dan's jazz influenced pop style or their odd and unusual lyrics (with some of the terminologies used needing a dictionary to be defined). But, their jazz influences ring through (although not as intensely as a true jazz band) and the songwriting capability of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker is surely strong as their catalog has remained intact and popular for the better part of nearly four decades.
The Minnesota State Fair surely knows how to find great and well known acts for their grandstand concerts and this year was no exception.
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