If it was up to the capacity crowd last night, Steely Dan’s performance would have lasted well-beyond the just over two hours that partners in crime Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and their 11-piece band performed. It was that good.

As advertised, it was Aja night, with set one being a performance of the classic 1977 album in it’s entirety (tonight’s second show will feature 1976’s The Royal Scam; trust me, it was a tough choice to pick one night over another). No big special effects with this kind of show; it was all about top-flight musicianship. I did get a kick though when, to signal the start of the Aja set, one of the backup singers placed an album on a turntable at the side of the stage then flipped it over to ’side two’ at the appropriate moment. The band was met with tremendous cheers and applause at the conclusion of each song from Aja, and when Part 1 of the evening was done, it was onto the real fun of the night.

Hitting the ground running with one of my faves “Bodhisattva” from 1973’s Countdown To Ecstasy, it was one crowd-pleasing number after another. With such an amzing catalogue of material to choose from, and going in you know an entire album is going to be played, there were bound to be tunes not played which I would have loved to have heard, such as Do It Again and FM. But still, one can’t fault them, this is Steely Dan after all, and for those of us who have been fans of the band for years and years, they could really do no wrong.

Donald Fagen held court mostly at his electric piano at center stage, lurching back and forth like a man possesed but he was having a great time, part lead vocalist, part ringmaster. Guitarist Walter Becker, who’s looking more and more like an English professor the older he gets, took lead vocals on Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More, and also took charge of the band intros while the band played the Supremes Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart. Didn’t expect that one, but a lot of fun nonetheless.

The post-Aja setlist covered tracks from various points in their career, form the aformentioned Bodhisattva , to Don’t Take Me Alive, to Black Friday (to which I said “YES!”. Love that song) to a couple of tracks from 1980’s Gaucho. The lone latter-day track was Godwhacker from 2003’s Everything Must Go. (Nothing from 2000’s Grammy winning Two Against Nature).

The sole encore, the outstanding Reelin’ in the Years, had the crowd on its feet wanting more. Kudos go out to drummer Keith Carlock and lead guitarist Jon Herington, who thoughout the evening more than held their own in not only recreating the solos and fills that are so familiar from the records but for providing the solid musicianship that has alwas been the cornerstone of Steely Dan, both live and on record.

Pardon the pun (but I can’t resist) the band will Do It Again tonight. The final show of the tour hits Montreal on Saturday.

Opening act Chicgao-based Deep Blue Organ Trio (just one killer Hammond B-3 organ actually, plus drums and guitar) provided a brief of but upbeat set of jazz-blues instrumentals that the crowd ate up which set the mood for what was to come, including a well-received cover of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Can’t Hide Love“.

Steely Dan set list:
Aja album
Black Cow
Aja
Deacon Blues
Peg
Home at Last
I Got the News
Josie

Bodhisattva
Hey Nineteen
Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More
Godwhacker
Babyolon Sisters
Green Earrings
Black Friday
Dirty Work (sung by the backup singers)
Love is Like an Itching in My Heart (band intros)
Don’t Take Me Alive
My Old School
Kid Charlemagne

Encore
Reelin’ In The Years

My attempts to get a decent video of Steely Dan were thwarted by the Massey Hall security goons who told me to turn off my camera. Oh well, I tried. Here’s what I got. Better than nothing:

No comments necessary. This video speaks for itself.

Just a few short weeks ago I blogged about the return of Haydain Neale and Jacksoul. You can read it about here. Now comes word that this past Sunday, Haydain lost his battle with lung cancer at the age of 39. The Canadian music scene has lost a very talented performer. He will be missed.

Check this out:

Variety is reporting that Universal Music Group, home to a massive roster of artists such as the Black Eyed Peas, U2, Weezer, Kanye West and Nickelback have apparently inked a deal with an Australian based company called Guvera to allow folks like you and I to legally download music for free from the artists signed to UMG’s stable of labels. And it’s a huge stable. UMG distributes Interscope, Island, and Motown to name just a few. The service will be advertiser supported, and it’s the advertisers who will be paying the labels, not you. The service is planning a February 2010 launch.

No word yet if the service will be limited to certain tracks by certain artists or the whole shebang, or more importantly, if the service will be available in Canada. Stay tuned. Literally.

Here’s the latest from Weezer. I like this one.

While the current tour ends this coming weekend in Buffalo, all is not lost. According to Rolling Stone, there are plenty of goodies on the way to tide fans over until the next album of new material. First up, a DVD of the current tour is scheduled to come out just after Christmas. No details yet on whether this will be a single show dvd in the same vein as the Live In NYC (actually filmed over two nights) and Live in Barcelona DVD’s or a compilation of different shows. Either way, it’s sure to be worth picking up when it hits stores.

But the even better news: 2010 will finally see the release of the Darkness on The Edge of Town box set. It will likely contain a remastered edition of the 1978 classic, a documentary on the recording of the album plus live footage from the subsequent tour. If it’s anything like the Born to Run box set, this will be killer. I can’t wait.

Until then, a great clip from the Live in Barcelona DVD:

Introduction to Music Success 101: if you have a minor hit on your hands have a choice between going out on the road and increasing your chances of fame and fortune, or staying home and going back in the studio, you might want to choose the former. The Headboys were a Scottish pop/new-wave outfit who scored a minor radio hit in ‘79 with The Shape of Things To Come off their debut album. A Stateside tour was planned but for reasons unknown they chose instead to head back into the studio and try their hands at recording a follow-up album. That album however was never released, and the band broke up.

The only band member to achieve any further level of success in the music field was keyboardist Calum Malcolm who went on to have a fruitful career as a producer and engineer.

A late ’70s bit of musical obscurity for sure, but a catchy single nonetheless.

October 10, 2005–Air Canada Centre, Toronto

In stores today, Good Evening New York City, is a cd/dvd chronicle of McCartney’s July 2009 performance at Citi Field in NYC. The release of this album got me thinking back to a night just over four years ago when Mrs. B and I saw McCartney live in T.O as he toured behind Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. The opportunity to see McCartney perform both Beatles classics as well as his solo hits was just something I wasn’t going to pass up, and he did not disappoint.

First off, I was fortunate to have amazing seats in the lover level right beside the stage. Any closer and I would have been singing backup. The setlist was just outstanding. From the opening strains of Magical Mystery Tour, through other Beatles classics like Drive My Car, Got To Get You Into My Life and Hey Jude to McCartney solo hits like Jet, Band on The Run and Maybe I’m Amazed, the then 63-year-old McCartney thoroughly entertained the capacity crowd over a running time of almost three hours. Add a first-class sound and light show and a superb band (also featured on the new cd) including one of my favourite drummers, Abe Laboriel Jr, it was a night I’ll never forget.

Here’s a clip from Good Evening NYC:

In 2005, it was Paul McCartney. Then came the Stones, followed by Prince (in the rain, natch) Tom Petty and last year’s great performance by Bruce Springsteen. I have to admit, I’m not a big football fan (I prefer hockey and basketball), but like millions of others I usually jump on the Super Bowl bandwagon every year, if for nothing else then to tune in to the halftime show, which has been quite the spectacle over the last few years.

Now comes rumour that The Who will be taking the stage at the 2010 extravaganza known as Super Bowl XLIV, set for February 7th in Miami. This has not yet been officially confirmed by either the NFL or the band, so stay tuned.

The Who are apparently working on new music for their next album, a follow-up to “Endless Wire“, released in 2006. I can only hope another tour will follow and this time they’ll stop in Toronto. On the last tour, they bypassed Toronto in favour of Hamilton.

Until their (let’s hope) Super Bowl performance, here’s a great clip of the band from Switzerland in 2006. They still got it.

The new issue of Rolling Stone provides a comprehensive look at the two recent RnR Hall of Fame concerts held in New York City at the end of October. By all accounts, the two shows featuring the likes of the three kids pictured above plus Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, CSN and a whack of other legends were nothing short of historic.

You can see some great photos here.

Also, HBO will be showing a highlights special on November 29th (and sure to be re-run) so if you’re a subscriber, it will be worth tuning in. If you’re not a subscriber, footage is bound to show up somewhere on the internet, so no worries. Speaking of which, here’s a fan-filmed clip of U2, Springsteen and Patti Smith coming together to perform Springsteen’s ‘Because of the Night’, famously recorded by Smith:

The Shuffle Report: 10 songs I listened to, in order, on my iPod in shuffle mode at a given point in time. No editing, no skipping. It is what it is.

It was one of those nights. Everyone has one of those nights. You go to bed at a decent hour, manage to fall asleep relatively quickly but alas, a peaceful night’s rest is not to be. For any number of reasons, you find yourself awake in the middle of the night, and as hard as you pray for a quick return to dreamland, the sleep gods just laugh at you. Eventually, you do manage to will yourself back to sleep, but then the alarm goes off an hour later. When that happens, the first word that usually comes to mind starts with ‘f’ and rhymes with truck.

So while I tried to stay awake on the subway ride to work, thinking happy thoughts about that cup of coffee I’m going to grab as soon as I get to the office and trying to focus so I don’t miss my stop (hey, it’s happened), I turned up the volume on the iPod just a little bit louder. Had some good tunes to keep me company:

1. One More Day—Cheap Trick (Rockford) [Highly recommend this latter-day release from the masters of power pop.]
2. Hi Hi Hi—Paul McCartney (Wingspan: Hits and History) [Great rocker from McCartney's early solo work.]
3. Strong—Robbie Williams (The Ego Has Landed) [The guy is one of the biggest pop stars in the world but not in North America. Have never been able to figure that one out.]
4. Jamie G.—Joe Jackson (Laughter & Lust) [An oft-overlooked album from JJ's catalogue that contains some decent cuts.]
5. Ray’s Blues—Ray Charles (The Birth of Soul) [Essential compilation of Ray's career with Atlantic Records.]
6. Paper Thin—John Hiatt (Slow Turning) [Outstanding album from one my favourite artists.]
7. Outskirts—Blue Rodeo (Outskirts) [Have never grown tired of this album, 22 years after its release.]
8. Do You Want To Know A Secret—The Beatles (Please Please Me) [Sing it, George.]
9. It’s Just Talk—Pat Metheny Group (Still Life Talking) [Love Metheny's work with the PMG.]
10. Run Rudolph Run—Chuck Berry (The Chess Box) [Hey, it's that time of the year. Forget all the schmaltzy holiday music. Let Uncle Chuck show you how it's done.]