By Tom Siebert
Steely Dan reeled in the years and the Eagles took it to the limit one more time Saturday night before more than 23,000 concert-goers at the United Center in Chicago.
In their second Windy City show, billed as “Eagles: The Long Goodbye Final Tour with Special Guest Steely Dan,” the two supergroups that dominated pop music in the 1970s staged the ultimate battle of the bands.
First up was Donald Fagen, the 76-year-old jazz-rock genius who founded Steely Dan in 1972 with co-songwriter/guitarist Walter Becker, who died of esophageal cancer at 67 on Sept. 3, 2017.
On that somber day, Fagen issued a statement promising “to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can.”
He more than kept that vow last evening with an extraordinary nine-piece band and three angelic backup singers called The Danettes.
The opening number was Stanley Wilson’s 1959 big-band crusher “Phantom Raiders,” followed by some of the most sophisticated songs ever written and recorded.
There was the funky, hypnotic “Josie,” from Steely Dan’s 1977 multi-hit album Aja, then the breezy “Hey Nineteen” off of 1980’s Gaucho, which featured 32 musicians in the studio band’s frequent quest for sonic perfection.
“Hey, kids, how are you doing?” Fagen sang to the Baby Boomer-heavy crowd, which erupted in cheers. He added, “You’re lookin’ great!”
Next up was “Kid Charlemagne,” a magnificent song about the rise and fall of an infamous San Francisco drug dealer. Despite the conspiracy theory, The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was not about LSD. But this little ditty clearly was:
Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there’s gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are.
The United Center rendition of “Kid Charlemagne” featured Jon Herington’s impossible guitar solo, replete with complex bends, rapid arpeggios, and rich melody lines.
The next tune was “Dirty Work” from Steely Dan’s 1972 debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill. This song, like all on the impressive setlist, did not remain the same as the studio version.
Catherine Russell, Carolyn Leonhart, and La Tanya Hill––The Danettes––shared the lead vocals, while the original sax solo was replaced by the trumpet stylings of Michael Leonhart.
Steely Dan always had the best musicians and trombonist James Pugh is an exemplar of that high standard. He has played alongside jazz giants Woody Herman and Chick Corea. Jim is also a faculty member in the School of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The rest of these virtuoso musicians are drummer Keith Carlock, bassist Freddie Washington, guitarist Adam Rogers, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, and saxophonist/clarinetist Roger Rosenberg.
But the undisputed star of the show was Donald Fagen himself. Sitting center stage behind his vintage Rhodes keyboard, wearing dark sunglasses and black clothes, he was the proverbial “cool dude in a loose mood.”
Fagen proved throughout the night that he is still a brilliant piano player, but particularly on the pleading love song “Rikki, Don’t Lose That Number,” a huge hit from 1974’s Pretzel Logic.
And he stood up and out on a few numbers to show off his dazzling skills on the melodica, a portable keyboard that is blown into, most notably on the exotic eight-minute “Aja.”
The showstopper of the night––at least for me––was “My Old School,” the powerful Tex-Mex pop anthem from 1973’s Countdown to Ecstasy.
It is the sordid but very funny story of a mass marijuana bust that Fagen and Becker got caught up in when they were students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1969.
The song’s detailed lyrics include a reference to the then-local district attorney and later Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy––dubbed “Daddy G”––as well as this memorable line:
California tumbles into the sea
That'll be the day I go back to Annandale
Notwithstanding his famous musical pledge, Fagen did go back to his old school to receive an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree in 1985.
The penultimate number of the 12-song set was “Reelin’ in the Years,” a Top Ten hit from 1973 that has not lost its infectiousness, as evidenced by much of the audience singing along emotionally and heartily applauding Carlock’s splashy drum ending.
And nothing against the great Joe Williams’ song “A Man Ain’t Supposed to Cry” from 1958, a better closer may have been Steely Dan’s first hit, “Do It Again,” from 1972.
Better yet, they could have played “Everything You Did,” off 1976’s The Royal Scam, providing a neat introduction of the next act with the verse “Turn up the Eagles; the neighbors are listening.”
Instead, there was a 20-minute intermission, building up to the highest anticipation level for the most commercially successful American musical group, who were introduced by an emotional video montage of their fabled career.
Then, out of the darkness appeared rock legend Don Henley flanked by fellow guitarists Vince Gill, Deacon Frey, Joe Walsh, and Steuart Smith as well as Timothy B. Schmit, whose bass skills were not needed on the thrilling acoustic rendition of “Seven Bridges Road.”
Following the harmonic country song made famous in the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles, they segued straight into “Take It Easy” off 1972’s Eagles, the album from which the band first soared.
Co-written by song master Jackson Browne and sung Saturday night by the late Glenn Frey’s son Deacon, the laidback anthem seemed like sound advice for the troubles of today:
Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy
Then Henley, who alternated all night between his back-of-the-stage drum kit and upfront guitar playing, sang lead on the soft rocker “One of These Nights,” title track from the album that propelled the Eagles to global stardom in 1975.
After which he alighted from his drumming perch, strolled down to the front of the stage, and became the show’s unofficial emcee.
“The Don” graciously welcomed the audience and then reminisced about past visits to Chicago, name-checking “martinis at Gibson’s steakhouse, boat rides on Lake Michigan, and sneaking out to Portillo’s in the middle of the night.”
It’s not easy to play drums and sing at the same time, but Henley has mastered both talents, as demonstrated by his next trick: singing 1972’s “Witchy Woman” while keeping the booming Native American drumbeat in perfect time and tone.
Country megastar Gill, who joined the band in 2018, nailed the lead vocals on “Take It to the Limit,” while the group’s trademark harmonies lifted much of the audience to its feet.
Gill, 66, tapped into the underlying sadness of “Lyin’ Eyes,” albeit without Glenn Frey’s signature sneer.
He also sang the soothing folk rocker “Tequila Sunrise,” from 1973’s Desperado, and “New Kid in Town,” a melancholy south-of-the-border song off Hotel California, the Eagles’ 1976 magnum opus that sold 32 million copies.
During the 20-song set, the hits kept coming. And so did the guitar techs, handing out fresh instruments before each number.
Bassist Timothy B. Schmit, 76, beautifully sang the soulful “I Can’t Tell You Why,” sounding as good as he did when the song became an oft-played single from the 1979 album The Long Run.
The iconic, eclectic band has been touring off and on for more than 50 years, selling more than 200 million records worldwide. Six of the Eagles’ seven studio albums rose to number one, while six of their singles topped the charts.
They have earned six Grammy awards, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and received Kennedy Center Honors in 2016.
Up until 1976, the Eagles were best known for their unique blend of folk, country, bluegrass, and rhythm and blues music. Then founding member Bernie Leadon––who played guitar, banjo, and mandolin––left the quintet and was replaced by gritty lead guitarist Joe Walsh, turning them into a harder rock band.
Walsh struggled with alcohol and other drugs throughout his early career with the James Gang, as a soloist, and with the Eagles. But he was able to get himself together enough to co-write the band’s hit “Life in the Fast Line,” which he played to great fanfare Saturday night.
Walsh, who has been in recovery since 1993, also performed 1970’s “Funk #49” from his James Gang days, Hotel California’s “In the City,” and his 1978 masterwork “Life’s Been Good”––a comic song of rock star excess and serious guitar licks.
Of all the gifted musicians on stage, Joe gained the loudest and longest applauses––and laughs––after making funny faces, recalling his party days in Chicago, and giving a shout-out to legendary local DJ Steve Dahl.
And even though Henley promised early on that the concert would be all about the music––“no fireworks, no inflatables, no wind machines, no butt-waggin’ choreography”––the visuals were a stunner. The stage lighting was colorfully compelling, while the thematic backdrops for each song were poignantly picturesque.
Deacon Frey, who joined the band in 2017, sang lead on “Already Gone,” a revved-up rave from 1974’s On the Border, in addition to the debut album’s “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” after which a photo of his famed father was shown on the towering video screen. And just like his dad in the 1970s, Deacon, 30, wears his shades atop his shoulder-length hair.
Glenn Frey, co-leader of the Eagles who helped write and sang lead on many of their songs, died at 67 from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia in 2016.
His aching loss was followed by the death of another original band member, Randy Meisner, last September. Meisner had suffered from obstructive pulmonary disease and was 77.
After the Eagles broke up for the first time in 1980 amid drug use and personnel turmoil, Glenn Frey had a successful solo career.
So has Henley. He dedicated his smash hit “The Boys of Summer,” from the 1984 album of the same name, to “our good friend” Jimmy Buffet, the tropical troubadour who died of skin cancer at 76 last September.
I would have loved to have heard Henley’s “The End of the Innocence,” an ode to forgiveness and the title track from his 1989 solo album.
And writing of forgiveness, with Frey and Meisner now gone, it would have been a healing gesture to welcome back Don Felder, the Eagles’ longtime lead guitarist who is alive and well and still performing.
Felder, who was replaced by virtuoso guitarist and backup vocalist Smith in 2001, infamously fought with Henley and Frey, took them to court over song royalties and concert profits, and published a tell-all book in 2007 titled Heaven and Hell: My Life with the Eagles.
However, the day after Frey died, Felder told the Associated Press that he felt an "unbelievable sorrow,” adding, "I had always hoped somewhere along the line, he and I would have dinner together, talking about old times and letting it go with a handshake and a hug."
Felder wrote the music for the epic song “Hotel California,” Saturday night’s first encore, with its dramatic acoustic intro followed by Henley’s genius lyrics:
On a dark desert highway
Cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
Smith and Walsh meticulously performed the dueling lead-guitar outro that drove the United Center audience into rock and roll heaven.
Every Eagle contributed to the grand performance, in addition to first-rate touring members Will Hollis on keyboards, Michael Thompson on trombone, and Scott Crago on auxiliary drums.
Walsh took the tempo down with the talk-box blues-shuffle “Rocky Mountain Way,” which he first recorded with his then-band Barnstorm on the album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get in 1973.
Then back came the still-golden-throated Henley with a moving performance of “Desperado,” a song that was popularized by Linda Ronstadt, whose early 1970s backup band included future Eagles Frey, Henley, Meisner, and Leadon.
And the finale of this astonishing concert was the Eagles’ last No. 1 single, 1980’s “Heartache Tonight,” as the video-screen camera captured fans around the cavernous sports arena smiling, clapping, and singing along.
The Eagles/Steely Dan tour began last September in New York City and is scheduled to continue through mid-June with dates in Canada, Great Britain, California, and Charlotte, N.C.
The two classic rock groups may be saying goodbye to touring. But their timeless music, which transcends genre and generation, is here for the long run.
