Steely Dan final N.Y. night + What will happen in 2012?

Larry Carlton on the final night in New York.

The 2011 Steely Dan tour ended November 5 after 63 shows. Radio Dupree had the privilege of attending three of those.
We've already written about Rarities Night September 17 and Request Night September 22. Here are our memories from the final New York show, September 23.

We were a bit curious about how much from Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go would actually be performed on the night, since The Royal Scam was added to a night that initially promised just 21st Century Dan + Selected Hits.

The show started with a complete performance of The Royal Scam album. It had been played three nights earlier, but this time guitarist Larry Carlton joined on stage and stayed for the whole show. And there's no denying he added an extra spark to the proceedings, with Walter Becker and Jon Herington smiling and having fun as they proceeded through the songs.

When it was time to present the rarely played music from the two latest albums it started with the title track from Two Against Nature. A personal favourite!
Gaslighting Abbie, Janie Runaway and Cousin Dupree followed before switching albums to Everything Must Go with the title track and Godwhacker. And that was it as far as 21st Century Dan goes.
Then it was on to the band intros during Papa Don't Make No Mess, Dirty Work and the final clap-and-sing-along series of songs; Josie, Peg, Bodhisattva and Reelin' In The Years. The encore was Pretzel Logic.

Bye-bye!

Quite a night! And let's not forget the added pleasure of meeting fans before and after the show(s).

* * *

So what now? Well, there's hope among fans that the band will be back on the road in 2012. And that might happen. But more likely is Donald Fagen doing a few solo gigs to promote his new album. An album that should arrive before summer (or sooner still if we had anything to say in the matter!)

But these are all specualtions. What's sure is that the successful joining of Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs as The Dukes Of September in 2010 will get a new chance early 2012. Could be Donald will use that tour to premiere his new album?

And what will Walter do? Donald has mentioned that he's been working on his own project, whatever that might be. A new record? Hopefully! Will it see the light of day in 2012? Hopefully!

Another thing that's sure is that 2012 will mark the 40 anniversary of Steely Dan. Expect another Greatest Hits album if nothing else. Maybe even a remastered and expanded box á la Citizen Steely Dan from 1993. It's getting on a bit... Hey19 (!) years old.
Some fans are hoping that now that the holy grail of "lost" Steely Dan songs; Second Arrangement, has been played live for the very first time, Donald and Walter will surprise us all by releasing some sort of live recordning from the 2011 tour. In one form or another.

So here are the above mentioned ranked from "will happen" to "no way José":

YES - Donald Fagen releasing new solo album
YES - The Dukes Of September will tour
YES - Some sort of commemorative Greatest Hits/Box Set will be released to celebrate 40 years of Steely Dan

MAYBE - Donald Fagen will do a solo tour
MAYBE - Steely Dan will be back on the road before the year is over
MAYBE - Something new from Walter Becker will arrive

NAW - A Blue-ray/DVD extravaganza or CD from the 2011 tour will be released
NAW - A new Steely Dan album is recorded and/or released
NAW - Steely Dan calls it a day and breaks up.

Let me leave you with this minor mystery. Over on steelydan.com a couple of end of tour pictures of the band appeared after the final show. They were accompanied by the line "Three seasons, two hemispheres, and sixty-three gigs later..."

A couple of weeks pass by and up pops the addition (more coming soon...)

But what?

--- Jim Fisk

UPDATE December 4, 2011: Yes, the answer to what (more coming soon...) meant is covered in this post.