Steely Dan returned to the stage of the University of Akron's E.J. Thomas Hall Tuesday, for the second show of their two-night stand at the venue to perform their 1976 album The Royal Scam in its entirety.
Shortly after backup singer Carolyn Leonhart-Escoffery placed the needle on the record on the turntable at the front of the stage, signifying the beginning of what singer/keyboardist Donald Fagen later referred to as the "epic portion" of the night, the band tore into crowd favorite (and Royal Scam opener) King Charlemagne.
Unfortunately, a few bars into the song a malfunction backstage triggered an alarm adding some unneeded and unwanted flashing lights and a high pitched tone presumably designed to let concert goers know to run screaming from the building waving their arms wildly.
The band either couldn't here the alarm over their own grooves or were simply in "keep playing until someone who signs checks says otherwise" mode, but for the first few moments of the sound it was difficult for many fans to discern of if they should keep singing along or if they should start running for the nearest exit (there are no center aisles at E.J. Thomas, so a panicked exit would have been extra ugly).
The alarm continued through most of an otherwise groovy Caves of Altamira and periodically went off and on a few more times during the two hours show.
Nevertheless, once folks seemed reasonably sure that the easy grooving Sign In Stranger wasn't going to be the last song they ever heard, the crowd — which like the Monday show was a mix of middle aged fans with a healthy heaping of younger folks and families — was not hesitant to show their approval. They sang along with the aforementioned tunes and gave the band a standing ovation and frequently applauded the many soloists throughout the night.
Since The Royal Scam is not as lushly arranged or orchestrated as Aja guitarist Jon Herington was frequently in the spotlight playing fluid lead lines on The Fez sung by the trio of female vocalists while principles Walter Becker and Donald Fagen took an offstage break. Becker and Herington had some nice guitar duels on Green Earring and the reggae based Haitian Divorce, though Herington eschewed the talk box used on the recording.
Following The Royal Scam, the band played a second set that was similar to Monday night though with Aja songs in place of the Royal Scam tunes played the night before.
Hey 19 once again became a head-nodding sing-a-long but Becker's mid-song "rant" leading to the "Cuervo Gold, the fine Columbian" line (also sing-a-long) was a bit longer and more humorous. Showbiz Kids was given a stronger funky James Brown flavored beat and Herington really tore up his fretboard on Peg.
Just as the night before the evening began with a short set from the Chicago based Deep Blue Organ Trio who ably performed the same set from the previous night. The original composition A Deeper Blue, a toe-tapping blues shuffle take on Earth Wind & Fire's R&B ballad Can't Hide Love and a swinging take on the standard These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You).
The trio wasn't to everyone in the crowd's taste, but blind Hammond B3 organist Chris Foreman at times seemed to be channeling the late great Jimmy Smith and guitarist Bobby Broom soulfull improvisations did get many toes tapping.
This is the Tueday night's setlist. There may be a mistake in the second set as I dropped my notebook on the floor right into a small puddle of someone's spilled drink, making some of my notes difficult to decipher…..I'm pretty sure Steely Dan doesn't have a song called Chinese FoamToad
THE ROYAL SCAM
Kid Charlemagne
Caves of Altamira
Don't Take Me Alive
Sign In Stranger
The Fez
Green Earrings
Haitian Divorce
Everything You Did
The Royal Scam THE REST
Hey 19
Dirty Work
Black Friday
Aja
Daddy Don't Live In The New York City No More
Third World Man
Showbiz Kids
Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart/Band Intros
Peg
Josie
My Old School
Reelin' In The Years
Though Steely Dan is known for following their own complex, syncopated jazz-pop beat, the band has jumped on the "in its entirety" trend spending two nights at The University of Akron's E.J Thomas hall performing Aja on Monday night.
Steely Dan principals Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have assembled a superior 11 piece band including three backup singes and a horn section that can play anything out of the band's catalog with near mechanical precision but they didn't let the fancy chords and time changes get in the way of the good grooves found on Aja.
As singer/songwriter Donald Fagen said, going to see a band perform a familiar album in its entirety creates a different artist/audience relationship for that portion of the evening.
Since the audience presumably knows what's coming next, the surprise isn't in the song selection as much as how they are played and whether they can tickle the audiences music/nostalgia bones in all the right places.
Following a casual entrance and a low key version of Oliver Nelson's Teenie's Blues that gave the band the first of many chances to display their chops, one of the backup singers walked to a spotlit phonograph placed at the front of the stage and put a needle on a record signaling the beginning of the album with the funky kiss-off Black Cow..
What followed was a groovy reproduction of the seven track album with the band sticking more or less to the album's original arrangements with a few added solos in place of song fades. Fagen wearing a dark sport coat and darker sunglasses that when coupled with his herky-jerky movements at the Fender Rhodes Piano make him look like Ray Charles' long lost brother, has lost a bit of the top end of his vocal range but overall sounded good.
The highlights of the Aja set included drummer Keith Carlock's swirling fills that pushed the rhythmically complex middle section of the title track, Walt Weiskopf fluid tenor sax improvisations on Deacon Blues, a funky Josie with Becker spinning one of his better staccato, single-note guitar solos of the evening and and his partner Fagen whipping out a chunky piano solo for the funky Josie.
"That's the Aja album, pretty much" Fagen after the closing notes of Josie and a standing ovation from the near sell-out crowd.
The rest of the set was mix of hits and fan favorites including a jamming Bodhisattva with great guitar work from Becker and longtime guitarist Jon Herington, Hey 19, A take on Black Friday that highlighted the soing's underlying blues shuffle more than the propulsion of the recorded version. The "chorus" split the lead vocals on the ballad Dirty Work and Becker took the microphone for Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More.
The band also gave a preview for those returning for Tuesday's concert of The Royal Scam with a version of Kid Charlemagne, that had many in the mostly over 40 crowd wiggling at their seats while singing "Is there gas in the car?"
and Don't Take Me Alive.
SETLIST
AJA
Black Cow
Aja
Deacon Blues
Peg
Home at Last
I Got the News
Josie THE REST
Bodhisattva
Hey Nineteen
Daddy Don’t Live in that New York City No More
GodWhacker
Babylon Sisters
Black Friday
Show Biz Kids
Dirty Work
Love Is like an Itching in My Heart/BandIntros
Don’t Take Me Alive
My Old School
Kid Charlemagne
Rolling Stone reports that all the hubbub the last few days over Steven Tyler's quitting Aerosmith and going solo were put to rest Tuesday night when Tyler jumped onstage with the Joe Perry Project during a show at the Fillmore.
“I just want New York to know, I am not leaving Aerosmith,” Tyler said.
“Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors. But I, M-F-er, am the rainbow!”
The band proceeded to launch into Walk This Way with Tyler behind the mike.
Through the magic of cellphones video camers and YouTube that awesome moment has been preserved for us all.
Unfortunately, Tyler's blue language means you have to follow this link
Whew!
Well, their onstage musical kiss-and-makeup session still doesn't solve the apparent rift in the band (also reported by Rolling Stone, which by the way hates Browns coach Eric Mangini) stemming from Perry's desire to record an old-school 1970's style Aerosmith album while Tyler is happy with the band's recent formula of working with outside writers and making slick records packed with power ballads that make bassist Tom Hamilton cringe.
Since falling off the stage during a show in August, (possibly former) Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler is apparently not interested in being a part of the band he's fronted for more than four decades.
According to guitarist Joe Perry, Tyler has not communicated with any of his fellow bandmembers since Aerosmith had to cancel the remainder of their summer tour while the 61 year-old singer was on the mend.
Perry tweeted on Monday that Aerosmith "is not splitting up" but "looking for a new singer to work with" and that he discovered Tyler's solo wishes via the internet….you know, like the rest of us.
Pertinent Perry tweets:
"Read on line st left band to do "brand Tyler"? That's all I know but like I've said hasn't called me in months.a bit cold forget us 4 guys"
-Nov 6
"What about fans? The people that also love him and put him where he is.after 40 years? And I gotta read it on line? I still got major jetlag"
-Nov 6
"Inthe meantime aerosmith is positivly looking for a new singer to work with. You just can't take 40 years of expiriance and throwitinthebin!"
On Monday Perry spoke on WKXL, in Concord, New Hampshire.:
"After the tour got canceled, he just kept drifting off and doing other things. We would hear things from different people. He wasn't talking directly to anybody in the band," Perry said.
"So basically, he just made the announcement that he was taking some time off."
Perry was more succinct in an interview with The Las Vegas Sun, saying, "Steven quit as far as I can tell."
And now that the cat is out of the bag, Perry had a few other things to say about his longtime bandmate.
"Obviously, he hasn't been giving 100% for a long time," he said. "Frankly, the last few months I've been wanting not to rock the boat. I don't want him cancelling any more gigs. We really wanted to do these last four. We didn't want to call him out or get him pissed off, for whatever reason. So we just let things lie." Perry said to the Sun.
Perry said on twitter that the band WILL continue and that he will keep mum on the subject until after his current Joe Perry Project tour and whenever the remaining members come to a decision.
(cue dramatic, cliffhanger music)
Is this the end of Aerosmith as we know it?
Will they turn any search for a new singer into a reality TV show?
Is Kid Rock available? (Nope. Nevermind, he'd look terrible in a catsuit)
How about that guy who replaced Michael Hutchence in INXS? I hear he needs a gig and he's licked his addiction to the devil's dandruff.
Hey, Sammy Hagar is use to replacing lead singers in established rock bands
Do you still care?
The Black Keys will perform a benefit concert at Musica on Friday, November 27th.
The evening is called The Wild World of Alfred McMoore: a Multimedia Retrospective to Benefit Community Support Services.
Alfred McMoore was a longtime family friend of both Dan Auerbach's and Pat Carney's families. It was McMoore who used the phrase "black key" to describe something or someone he didn't like from which the band derived its name.
McMoore, who suffered from mental health issues, died this past September but lived independently in part through the help of Community Services.
While the Keys perform in the smallest, most intimate venue they've played in locally since their Lime Spider days, guests will be able to go upstairs to the galleries and see McMoore's "outsider art" pencil and crayon drawings.
Proceeds from the show will go to benefit more than 2000 people who are treated by Community Support Services in Northeast Ohio.
Tickets for this exclusive show will be available starting at $50 this Saturday, October 31st at www.ticketweb.com.
A limited number of tickets will be available at different price tiers that include signed CDs, t-shirts, and a post-show meet and greet with the Black Keys.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the unveiling of the new state-of-the-art Foster Theater and to celebrate the new addition they will be screening the film U2 3D from Tuesday, October 27 through Saturday, January 2, 2010.
As you can probably guess from the title, U2 3D is the venerated Rock Hall inducted band U2 in the first ever live-action 3-D Film. The concert was shot in South America during the final leg of the band's Vertigo tour and from most accounts I've heard and read, it is indeed quite an impressive experience. The band certainly was in fine from during their 2005 stop in Cleveland.
Here are a few of the new Foster Theater's particulars.
* 50 percent increase in screen size
* State-of-the-art projector system with 3-D viewing capability
* Dolby 7.1 surround sound and digital sound console
* Increased seating capacity with the addition of a multi-purpose seating area
* New lighting, carpeting, seats and walls
* High-definition camera and recording system that will tape events and programs in the theater for use in the Library & Archives, on the web and more
Here's the trailer for U2 3D
You can see the film for "FREE"….with paid admission to the museum, of course.
That's right all you Springsteen fans.
You thought you were just going to pay fealty to The Boss and listen to his new tunes but NO!
Start your salivating and hear palpitations now because Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band have joined the trend among veteran acts and will be performing his breakthrough 1975 album BORN TO RUN in its entirety.
According to Springsteen manager Jon Landau, after performing the whole album mid-show in Chicago, Springsteen and crew were surprised at how much fans loved the concept (Really?!) and have decided to do the album at Giants Stadium and in Cleveland.
If you hadn't got your tickets yet, Livenation said it has just released "some great seats," so log on to livenation.com or ticketmaster.com or call (888) 894-9424 and get ready to pretend its 1975 again.
And the "in it's entirety" trend continues to make its way to Akron with the announcement that Rock n Roll Hall of Famers Steely Dan will bring its Rent Party '09 Tour to The University of Akron's E.J. Thomas Hall for two nights and two albums (in their entirety).
On Monday, Nov. 16 the venerable jazz/pop group will perform its 1977 hit album AJA in its entirety plus "selected additional favorites."
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, the venerable pop/jazz group will perform its 1976 hit album THE ROYAL SCAM in its entirety plus "selected additional favorites."
That means hits' such as Peg, Deacon Blues and Kid Charlemagne all in the order you remember them (unless your first SD album was a best-of…)
Tickets are $61, $91, $148 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 5. at all Ticketmasters, livenation.com and the E.J. Thomas Hall box office (800)745-3000
Devo has reteamed with their original label Warner Bros. Records in they describe as a ‘‘unique, ground-breaking worldwide partnership,’’ according to Billboard.com
On November 3 W.B. will release deluxe versions of the Akron quintet's best selling albums Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (Gold) and Freedom of Choice (platinum) on CD, limited edition colored vinyl and a 7-inch of Jocko Homo and Mongoloid.
The band will also embark on a seven-city 14 date tour that comes nowhere near Akron unless you consider Chicago "near."
The band as already joined many of their veteran rock peers in the trend of performing entire albums as they ran through Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! at the All Tomorrows Parties Festival in May. For the tour the band will perform two nights in each city performing one of the reissued albums on each night.
As fans recall, Devo released a song/Dell commercial jingle last year Watch Us Work and a single Don't Shoot Me (I'm A Man).
As both Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale told me last winter before the big homecoming show/Democratic party benefit at the Civic Theatre, the band has been writing and recording new tunes and his cogitating on interesting new-fangled ways to distribute the music. Mothersbaugh said among the ideas being bandied about is selling all the songs for advertisements making it possible to give the album away for free (which is pretty D-E-V-O, if you ask me).
The pair also mentioned the possibility of sending out the songs to various contemporary (i.e. younger and hipper) musicians and letting them have their way with the songs as they did when the Teddybears remixed Watch Us Work.
The billboard article mentions LCD Soundsystem, Outkast's Andre 3000 and Justice.
Here are the current tour dates:
Nov. 3-4 Los Angeles (Henry Fonda Theater)
Nov. 6-7 San Francisco (The Regency Ballroom)
Nov. 8-9 Seattle (The Moore)
Nov. 11, 13 Chicago (The Vic Theatre)
Nov. 15-16 Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
Nov. 20-21 New York (The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza)
Country singer/songwriter Gary Allan will bring his Get Off On The Pain tour to the Akron Civic Theatre on Thursday, November 19.
Allan first made a splash with Baskersfield inspired honky-tonk tunes in the mid 90's but on recent albums has been incorporating more classic rock into his country sound. Allan is touring behind his latest single, the weepy love-lost ballad Today, and his upcoming album to be released in November.
Tickets for the show are $28.50 and $38.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m., Friday, Sept 18.
To get you all excited for the show, here's a video of Allan at the House of Blues: Cleveland in March singing Today.
Ok, so he forgot a few of the words.
Cut him some slack, it's a new song.
