When Steely Dan Concert Tour?
Renowned for their use of jazz inspirations and sharp lyrics, Steely Dan is among the most popular and important rock bands of the seventies. The band's fans are excited about the upcoming tour even though there have not been many concerts lately.
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen founded Steely Dan in 1972; the duo is known for its studio perfectionism and avoidance of tours. Steely Dan recorded mostly and only thought about touring as opposed to many other bands of the day, who constantly played live in support of their albums. Although they broke up formally in 1981, Steely Dan did not perform live for over twenty years.
Fans who never imagined they would be able to see Steely Dan in performance found their return to touring in 1993 startling. Although Steely Dan was still not as busy on the road as other bands, this signaled the start of a new chapter for the live band. Following the Two Against Nature record and during the remainder of the decade, Steely Dan toured practically yearly giving flawless performances combining songs from Fagen and Becker's albums with the Seventies successes.
All this changed when Walter Becker died in September of 2017. He was mourned by fans and musicians alike, understanding that the band would never be the same without Becker. For the next four years, it was still unclear whether Steely Dan would continue to perform as a live band or not. Donald Fagen has since returned to touring under the Steely Dan moniker in 2021 with a stellar band of backing singers and musicians to accurately perform the band’s records live.
Although fans enjoyed Steely Dan as live performers once again, the tour seems to be implied by Donald Fagen as something that is not feasible for him as he approaches seventy-five. He said in a 2022 interview that he has been considering that his touring days are coming to an end especially when he was hospitalized with Covid which worsened his health. He currently intends to gradually reduce rigorous touring over the next couple of years.
However, Fagen’s comments do not mean that Steely Dan concerts are about to cease forever or something to that effect. They did not exclude occasional performances or brief series of shows when his health condition allowed it. Steely Dan also can play at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival whenever they want and has been invited to do so several times over the past twenty years.
As for the future, Steely Dan fans can see Donald Fagen perform as a co-headliner alongside the former Doobie Brothers singer and guitarist John Mayall during the summer of 2023. Although these are not technically Steely Dan concerts, the ones who will be performing are Fagen and his band and they will cover songs from Steely Dan and also from Fagen’s solo album. He will be able to provide the musicianship that makes Steely Dan stand out with the attention to detail that makes the band famous.
That will be the next time that the concert-going public will be focusing vigilantly on Donald Fagen and what his Steely Dan band will be doing after early fall 2023 when he wraps up his string of dates with John Mayall. If he is healthy enough in 2024, there might be a short Steely Dan tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band’s first record Can’t Buy A Thrill. It is probably impossible for Steely Dan to embark on another months-long world tour again, but any chance to see the band play live is a treat for a real fan.
While they have never been a prolific touring band since their inception in the early seventies up to mid nineties, over the last three decades any time they have gone on the road they have turned out to be quite a live band. Though the nucleus of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker is now a thing of the past, the sound and the style Steely Dan recordings convey remains evident as ever during any concert where Fagen and his band play under the name Steely Dan. If Fagen follows through on his plan to do less touring in the future, one can state for certain that Steely Dan will keep up their penchant for delivering memorable live performances with tight musicianship and reverence for the songs when they do go out on the road.
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