The Music Note

“We are a little different from what we were a few months ago. But I’ve got to live with that,” Donald Fagen told the audience a few songs in to Steely Dan’s first UK gig in just under a decade. This reference to the recent passing of the band’s co-founder, Walter Becker, was accompanied by a poignantly placed empty mic stand that remained centre stage for the duration of the 90-minute Bluesfest headline set at London’s O2 arena. Despite an understated onstage entrance, perhaps made more evident following The Doobie Brothers’ electric opening set, “The Steely Dan Organisation” – a term Fagen used in acknowledgement to his 12-piece band – kicked off the performance with the rousingly upbeat ‘Bodhisattva’. The irresistible funk groove of ‘Black Cow’ was an early highlight, while ‘Hey Nineteen’, the intro of which is so instantly recognisable, set the crowd momentum soaring. It would have been difficult to top this opening trio of songs, had it not been for Fagen then proceeding to s...

John Mayer’s recent two-night consecutive run at the O2 Arena marked a long-awaited return for the musician, who last performed at this same venue three years ago. Mayer’s current tour is in support of latest album The Search for Everything – a project that was released in two gradual ‘waves’ as four-track EPs, followed by the arrival of the complete album last month. With a keener emphasis on pop and soul, the twelve tracks that comprise The Search for Everything indicate an evident shift from the folk/country sound that has dominated previous releases, Paradise Valley and Born and Raised , though the country influence still lingers in places. The Search for Everything tour is structured in a chapter format, accompanied by scenic onscreen visuals and stage lighting which provided a cinematic quality that was unlike any past Mayer gig I had attended. After opening the first of the O2 gigs with a solid rendition of ‘Heartbreak Warfare’ from 2010’s Battle Studies , Mayer and h...