Steely Dan performing a special setlist show including a complete performance of Aja

WOW! What a show. After a brief instrumental "warm-up," my wife and I were fortunate enough to see Aja perfomed in it's entirety. Although Aja didn't produce the hits like other albums, it was and still is one of my favorite albums/CDs of all time and in my opinion, is Steely Dan's strongest, start to finish.

The Aja set started with one of the back-up singers (I will refer to them as the "Danettes") symbolically placing a record on a turn table and setting the needle down, just like in the good ole days. After the first three songs, "Black Cow", "Aja" and "Deacon Blues", she returned to the turn table, flipped the album and we heard the rest of the record, "Peg", "Home at Last", "I Got the News" and "Josie." When Aja came out in 1977, the duo decided to concentrate on the music and less on touring and as a result surrounded themselves by top-notch musicians, and last night was no different. The drummer and lead guitar player were phenomenal, and the horn section played great, as well. The music was perfect and stayed in its "70's mind-set" with no attempt to change the sound. The Danettes were flawless and sounded just like the original back-up singers on the record. In fact, the only thing noticably missing was Michael McDonald's back-up vocals, especially on "Peg."

After Donald Fagen finally acknowledged the crowd, they went on to play 13 or 14 songs including "Black Friday," "Bodhisattva," "Babylon Sisters," "Hey Nineteen," "Show Biz Kids," and "Do it Again." They attempted "Dirty Work" from the first album, but the Danettes did the vocals, as the original vocalist on that song, David Palmer, is no longer with the band. Although the Danettes sound fine, it didn't have the same feel.

Walter Becker actually sang a song, and quite honestly I'm not sure what song it was, but it's a good thing that Donald Fagen is the lead singer! I'm not exactly sure why Walter was there except to introduce the band. His guitar playing was over-shadowed by the other lead guitar player.

Finally, they did the rehearsed encore, "Reelin' in the Years" and it was performed just like the album cut.

All-in-all a great show. Tonight they are doing The Royal Scam instead of Aja. I think I got the better deal.