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June 24, 2018

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The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan brought their vintage sounds from the '70s to Blossom Music Center on Saturday night.  

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Cleveland sure does love its classic rock and fans came out in droves to hear one Hall of Fame band (Steely Dan) and another band who isn't currently inducted (Doobie Brothers) but should be.  A Live Nation representative said that the 16,000-plus patrons at Blossom made Cleveland the top selling city on this tour! 

 

That's because Cleveland does, in fact, rock.

 

The  Doobie Brothers were the first act to take the stage.  Original members Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons traded guitar licks as well as lead vocals.  Long-time member John McFee also played some nice guitar, some pedal steel and even the fiddle. However saxophonist Marc Russo, a twenty-year member of the band, often stole the spotlight with his amazing work on tunes like "Takin' It To The Streets."

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The band sprinkled in some early hits like "Dark Eyed Cajun Woman" and "Rockin' Down The Highway," and even played a more recent (2010) and appropriately-titled "World Gone Crazy."

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However, it was the second half of the set that got everyone on their feet.  "Black Water" became a huge sing-a-long as Simmons sang "Ohio moon" and "Cleveland moon" instead of "Mississippi" which got a huge reaction from the crowd.

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Other songs like "Long Train Runnin'," "China Grove," and "Listen To The Music" make it hard to believe that The Doobie Brothers aren't already in the Hall of Fame.  

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After a short stage rest, 2001 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Steely Dan took the stage next.  

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With the 2017 death of founding member Walter Becker, singer and keyboardist Donald Fagen is the only original member left in the group.

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Fagen and his great ten-piece backing band stuck mostly to the hits to the delight of the nearly sold-out crowd.

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The fans swayed and sang along to such hits like "Hey Nineteen" and "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number."

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Fagen mentioned that he and long time partner Walter Becker wrote a song for a film.  Mentioning Becker's name got a big response from the audience which led Fagen to say, "Yes, yes, we all miss him."  He went on to say that the movie wasn't very good but the song "FM" became a hit for them.

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Other classic hits included "Kid Charlemagne," "Black Friday" and "Peg."  On "Dirty Work," Fagen let his two female backing singers take over on lead vocals and they did an outstanding job.

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"Josie" and "My Old School" closed out the set as Fagen encored with "Reelin' In They Years."

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It was another great night of classic rock performed by two of the best classic rock acts.

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Review and Photos by Greg Drugan

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