STEELY DAN – VECTOR ARENA, AUCKLAND – FRIDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2011

There’s something a little schizophrenic about Steely Dan’s live shows compared with the studio perfectionism of their formative years. In fact, there’s something of a full-on split personality thing going on. While the burgeoning ‘Dan gave up touring as a lifestyle choice early on to concentrate on the aforementioned über-serious studio-wizardry (or because of Donald Fagen’s stage fright, depending on who you listen to) the live show of the latter-day (one doesn’t like to use the term ‘twilight’) Steely Dan is an energetic, stylish, foot-stomping fun-fest.

The homegrown pop-smoothies of Anika Moa more than ably opened the show, but make no mistake, this was an evening of the kind of music your dad listens to (and then shows you up by doing it better than you). Steve Winwood’s voice still has the power of a man half his age, and while classics like Higher Love haven’t lost any of their power, newer hits like Dirty City have enough fire and brimstone to tip the balance between old guys genuinely making you feel like their music matters and old guys playing in the pub.

Leather waistcoats, silver ponytails and 1974 tour T-shirts in abundance, then, as Messrs Becker and Fagen took to the stage for a set lasting nearly two and a half hours. Old favourites like My Old School, Reelin’ In The Years, Black Friday and Kid Charlemagne rocked the house, but even those tracks that, in the studio, landed just the right side of muzak, were given a new lease of life live – Babylon Sisters, Josie and Hey Nineteen sounded fresh and sparky. None of your po-faced muso-academic chin-stroking between songs either – banter, anecdotes and jokes were delivered with panache (“Make sure you load up on T-shirts.” “Our drummer got the next song wrong. He’s just had a stroke.” “This is from our second album, released during the Jurassic era.”) Maybe ‘twilight’ wasn’t so unkind after all.

The showboating continued for a monster encore which saw them joining forces with Mr Winwood for a teeth-gnashing delivery of Pretzel Logic and a dance hall fave to round off with.

So their lyrical, razor-sharp wit has not dulled with either the passage of time or the rebirth of their live show, and we can surely forgive Donald’s 63 year-old voice for not quite going the full fifteen rounds (surely the only reason Do It Again was left off the set list). You have to wonder what took them so long to stop taking themselves so seriously, and one can only hope they don’t give up the touring just yet, even if it is hell on the knees.

(Mother-in-law had the kids to secure this reviewer’s attendance, and all were furnished with pre-made lasagne to expedite dinner plans. On return from the gig enquired of M-I-L what the lasagne was like – she said “Crusty, but not unpleasant.”)

Not unlike Steely Dan, then.

- Adam Hays

Here is Steely Dan in a recent concert in New York.