Steely Dan / Stevie Winwood Tour Birmingham 23rd Feb 2019

SRich

Hmmmm......I wasn't gonna do this given it is Tickeba****d but given it's the Dan AND Stevie Winwood should be a good night.

Edit: and it's the Guitar Show weekend..........win / win!

Anyone going?

Rocker

I am going to the concert in the 3 Arena in Dublin, 28th February.

Whitecat

Doing the London show... seats aren't quite as good as I had last time at the O2 but oh well, every time I see (the remnants of) Steely Dan I have to assume it will be the last.

SRich

Whitecat said:

every time I see (the remnants of) Steely Dan I have to assume it will be the last.

Amen to that.......but surely Jon Herington is worth the price of admission? That said, the last time I saw Becker & Fagen was on the Art Crimes Tour in '96. I had tix for both Wembley Arena and Birmingham - this time I think I have bought a lifetime membership to the Birmingham Arena.....£111 ffs!   

joneve

Well, that was fucking incredible. 

Keith Carlock’s drumming is simply other worldly. One of, if not the best drummer I’ve ever seen live. 

The rest of the band were top notch as well. Jon Herington is Jon Herington; but Keith Carlock man. Holy shit.

Whitecat

London. Tomorrow night. F*cking excited. I think you *can* buy a thrill. 

joneve

Whitecat said:

London. Tomorrow night. F*cking excited. I think you *can* buy a thrill. 

You're in for a treat sir. The whole band were on fine form. Great setlist too. 

SRich

Is there gas in the car?........full tank!

guitars4you

joneve said:

Well, that was fucking incredible. 

Keith Carlock’s drumming is simply other worldly. One of, if not the best drummer I’ve ever seen live. 

The rest of the band were top notch as well. Jon Herington is Jon Herington; but Keith Carlock man. Holy shit.

I could not find a suitable date to attend - A Friend of mine went and like you he raved about Keith on the drums - He said he just put down the groove that allowed everything else to function on top of it

Whitecat

Elliot Randall showed up at Wembley to play Reelin’!!!

Whitecat

*dupe - delete*

joneve

guitars4you said:

joneve said:

Well, that was fucking incredible. 

Keith Carlock’s drumming is simply other worldly. One of, if not the best drummer I’ve ever seen live. 

The rest of the band were top notch as well. Jon Herington is Jon Herington; but Keith Carlock man. Holy shit.

I could not find a suitable date to attend - A Friend of mine went and like you he raved about Keith on the drums - He said he just put down the groove that allowed everything else to function on top of it

I know he's been touring with them for over 15 years, so he must have been their drummer the last time we saw them in Birmingham, but I don't recall being so blown away. He was an absolute machine and at some points I wondered if he had extra arms as I had NO FUCKING CLUE how he was playing some of the fills. My dad, who's been a drummer for longer than I've been alive (35 years) was just as blown away. 

joneve

Whitecat said:

Elliot Randall showed up at Wembley to play Reelin’!!!

OH FUCK OFF.

joneve

Oh, one thing I thought odd, personally, was that Walter Becker wasn't really acknowledged at all. 


I know they had a mic stand set up that wasn't really used (with exception in one song I think Fagen used it, when he was stood up playing the weird keyboard/recorder thingy), which my dad thought could have been a nod to him, but I would have thought he would at least get a mention - unless it's still too raw, which is fair enough I guess! 

I just thought it was a bit weird. 

Whitecat

joneve said:

Whitecat said:

Elliot Randall showed up at Wembley to play Reelin’!!!

OH FUCK OFF.

It happened...



(Not my video, likely to get pulled eventually, so watch while you can...)

Anyway, yeah, he did mention Walter quite fondly on the quick 2017 British Isles run... and during that tour they played Book Of Liars too on some dates with an accompanying photo montage (omitted from the O2 show in London due to earlier curfew than normal, apparently). So I guess he's kinda started to move on now... he's said in interviews that he doesn't even wanna be touring as just 'Steely Dan' but that the promoters are basically forcing it.

Re the gig last night though, superb stuff... band was on even better form than last time, which was quite something. Steve Winwood sitting in on/singing Pretzel Logic was excellent, I know they did that a while ago on an Aus/NZ tour so glad he dusted off those charts.

We got Babylon Sisters in the pre-band-intro slot, they've been doing Home At Last and Deacon Blues as well, and I would have preferred DB simply due to not hearing it before, but it is what it is.

Was a bit lame that there were no video screens... hard for people in the back of the arena to see much, but the acoustics at Wembley are soooooo much better than they used to be. I was very close to the desk so that was a plus regarding what I was hearing for sure.

Herington was awesome as usual. Just the greatest blend of his own thing plus the important phrases/licks people wanna hear. Could listen to him play all day and all night.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Wembley show was awesome.  Right up there with the best gigs I've ever been too.

That said... I thought Steve Winwood and his band lacked energy and engagement in their performance (if you can call it that). However, that was quickly forgotten when Steely Dan took hold of the night. An arena that had seemed overly large - with some distant chaps on a distant stage - during the Winwood set.... became cozy and engaging.

Skipped

joneve said:

Well, that was fucking incredible. 

Keith Carlock’s drumming is simply other worldly. One of, if not the best drummer I’ve ever seen live. 

The rest of the band were top notch as well. Jon Herington is Jon Herington; but Keith Carlock man. Holy shit.

I believe you. It is a while since I saw them live.

The current musicians are absolutely shit hot, and Keith Carlock is a truly great drummer. He could have played on the original albums if he had a time machine - that is how good he is.

I think Donald Fagen is in love with music and I think he will tour until he drops.

The video clip on this page is awesome.

joneve

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Wembley show was awesome.  Right up there with the best gigs I've ever been too.

That said... I thought Steve Winwood and his band lacked energy and engagement in their performance (if you can call it that). However, that was quickly forgotten when Steely Dan took hold of the night. An arena that had seemed overly large - with some distant chaps on a distant stage - during the Winwood set.... became cozy and engaging.

That's a fair assessment of Birmingham too (although they only had half the arena setup so it felt smaller than a usual cavernous arena.

And although I enjoyed SW, as you say, they lacked a bit of energy I think....I still find it strange that he's 70 years old though, he only looks about 50! 

Strat_a_tat_tat

... and where was Winwood's bass guitarist?

west

McSwaggerty

Steve Winwood totally arsed up 'Higher Love' in Glasgow.  Hard to Believe but it sounded well out of tune and all over the place.
And yes - where was the Bass player ? Fairly sure he wasn't using Hammond Bass pedals.