Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

It was a fun concert, but it took more out of me than I had hoped.

When cattitude and I heard on the radio, back in April, that Steely Dan were doing four nights at the Beacon Theater this week, it was tempting. (When he and I were getting to know their music, Steely Dan simply did not tour: they were entirely a recording act.) So we discussed the relative merits of different nights of the week and available tickets, and bought balcony seats for last night.

The opening act didn't impress either of us (an instrumental quartet, loosely in a jazz vein), but we weren't kept waiting terribly long: I think Steely Dan started about 8:45 (the tickets said the show would start at 8).

I was making notes, in the hope of constructing a set list, and discovered that not only did they play things I didn't recognize (possibly off their most recent album, which I haven't listened to much), I was doing very badly at remembering song titles, so I have a bunch of notes that consist of a phrase from the lyrics, which will be enough to track it down later. But I can enjoy a song without remembering the title, and I may or may not bother to flesh the notes out later. I think my favorite of what they did—and this obviously is my mood from last night, as well as how they did the various songs—was "Home at Last." What struck me about "Hey Nineteen" was that at 44, I'm almost certainly older than Fagen and Becker were when they recorded the song; I was close to 19 myself when I first heard it.

If we'd heard about the concert one month ago instead of two, we wouldn't have done it: not that soon after surgery. If it had been at Irving Plaza or a similar venue, I'd have tried to resell the ticket, but the Beacon is a sit-down venue. Part of why the concert took a lot out of me is that I drank more tea, and later in the day, than usual, because I didn't want to fall asleep partway through, and then had trouble falling asleep when we did get home. So, some of the pain near my gall bladder incisions that I thought I was past; I took half a Percocet this afternoon, the first time in days. [The tour is called "Think Fast," and if I'd done that I might have decided to skip the show, and regretted it later; instead, I was out last night, and am therefore not at the gym now.]


ETA: I have talked to Cattitude, and we have an incomplete set list (which he may wish to add to in comments):

The band, without Becker and Fagen, started with an instrumental. Then (in order, but not complete): Royal Scam, Show Biz Kids, Everything You Did, Hey Nineteen, Gaucho, Green Earrings, Home at Last, Black Friday, When Josie Comes Home, Peg.

Becker and Fagen walked offstage during the end of that, leaving the band to finish the last bit. After the usual rituals, they did the usual rock concert clearly-planned encore (with matching visuals on the screen behind them: Kid Charlemagne and My Old School.

This was the first time I've seen VNV Nation live (and the first live rock show I'd been to in several years, somehow). I was thinking "concert" when I bought this ticket, though Irving Plaza is a "no seating" venue, so you either stand on the dance floor, or line the balcony and stand more quietly. I was down on the dance floor, but it was crowded enough that I found myself periodically jumping up and down, then landing a few inches off of where I'd meant and either crowding into someone or getting my feet tangled.

I had fun, but less than I'd expected: a lot of what I like about VNV Nation is the lyrics, which in the live show were often covered by the instruments. (I have the feeling that much of the crowd could have sung along to the entire thing, not just the songs the band asked us to, so it mattered less to them.) If I do this again—and I may, the next time they tour—I'll time things to arrive during the opening act, not well before, to save my energy for dancing to VNV Nation. I also think I would have enjoyed myself more if I'd pre-ordered the album the tour is supporting, and had it by mail in time to listen before the show; I picked up a copy last night, along with one of the tour t-shirts (they also had tank tops, hoodies, etc.)

The openers, And One, were okay to dance to, but didn't grab me beyond that. They began their set by announcing "From now on, this is German territory", and the crowd seemed cheerful about that because it meant they were about to sing; I was left thinking "we won the peace, that time" [for large values of "we," obviously, but some of the names that came to mind were Truman, Marshall, de Gaulle, and Willy Brandt]. It also reminded me that I may have been the oldest person on the dance floor (no way to be sure, in either direction). The random people near me in the crowd were friendly, including a couple of conversations that basically were someone apologizing for bumping me while dancing, and me saying things like "it happens, I'll try not to bump you."

I got home late, by my current standards (about 1:30); maybe not by those of the people I overheard after the show discussing whether they were going clubbing. cattitude was happily asleep, of course. [He also likes VNV Nation, but wasn't up for standing that long in a crowd, so I only bought one ticket.]