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At this point in the Red Rocks season Coloradans are used to rain. And clouds and showers aren’t going to stop them from seeing two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acts kick off a summer tour at the famed amphitheater. British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, backed by the Imposters, joined jazz-rock FM radio staple, Steely Dan, on Monday for the first show of a two-month summer run.
Elvis Costello and the Imposters played a crowd-friendly 45-minute set to open the evening. Led by longtime Costello keyboardist, the incomparable Steve Naïve, the Imposters, along with Costello on guitar, stretched out a bit instrumentally on several songs. Besides “Clubland” from 1981’s “Trust” and “Beyond Belief”, from the following year’s “Imperial Bedroom”, there were the obvious choices: “Alison”, “Pump It Up” and the closer, Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.”
As a ’70s AOR FM radio staple, Steely Dan recorded some of the most obsessively glossy-sounding rock albums of the era, from “Can’t Buy A Thrill” (1972) to 1980’s “Gaucho.” Still, Steely Dan has built up some indie cred of late. Kanye West sampled the Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” for his 2007 track, “Champion.” More recently, the band boldly got themselves booked this year at Coachella, presumably if only to show the kids what jazz chops sound like.
Heard live at Red Rocks, Becker and Fagan, along with their stellar band (horns, guitar, three background vocalists, the Danettes, and, most impressively, their drummer, Keith Carlock) sounded just as pristine as their records, but never sterile.
Fagan, who looks almost the same as he did 20-30 years ago, was the less chatty of the pair. Becker split “Hey Nineteen” with a 10-minute monologue that the by-now-soaked, older (pretty much 50 and up) crowd happily indulged. The set featured many of the band’s most popular songs, such as “Black Friday,” which the band performed as a misty rain cloud spilled out, hovering beautifully just above and below the venue’s two framing rocks. There was also “Time Out of Mind,” “Dirty Work” (sung wonderfully by the Danettes), “Babylon Sisters”, “My Old School,” and the more appropriate than ever, “Reeling In The Years.” And numerous sparkly solos were woven throughout it all. Fans of virtuosity, as well as fans of the Dan, ate it all up. But with as much musicianship as Steely Dan displayed, it didn’t outlast the rain, which caused a number of the near-sold out crowd to trickle out early.
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