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Playing BluesFest 2017<\/i>, major props go to magnificent openers, The Doobie Brothers. With Little Feat\u2019s Bill Payne on keyboards, their uplifting harmonies and the guitar work of Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons were as sweet as ever. Following, loose of tie and hunched over his keyboard in similar pose to his idol, Ray Charles, Donald Fagen led his crack band through a catalogue of sophisticated jazz and blues-tinged songs. The set-list was built largely around Aja <\/i>and Gaucho<\/i>, and it was a flawless Black Cow that set the cool tone, with its breezy nonchalance. The timeless patina of fan favourites, Hey Nineteen, Peg and Josie, were polished to perfection with finely-played arrangements, while sassy backing vocals on Babylon Sisters brought a roar of appreciation.<\/p>\n
A barrage of brassy notes from the horn section heralded biographical encore, My Old School, and prompted super-honed soloing from the stage, as fans got up to applaud a triumphant, bravura performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Playing BluesFest 2017, major props go to magnificent openers, The Doobie Brothers. With Little Feat\u2019s Bill Payne on keyboards, their uplifting harmonies and the guitar work of Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons were as sweet as ever. Following, loose of tie and hunched over his keyboard in similar pose to his idol, Ray Charles, Donald Fagen led hi\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,16],"tags":[34],"issue":[10093],"class_list":["post-193506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live","category-reviews","tag-steely-dan","issue-january-2018"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n