Sunday 1 June 2008

Steely Dan plots new additions to summer tour map

Steely Dan [ tickets ] has added new dates to its impending summer trek, which finds the veteran jazz-rockers holding court in New York City and dropping in on a Canadian jazz fest.The group will also tour a handful of West Coast wineries during the outing, which kicks off June 8 in Hollywood, FL. The NYC visit comes later in the month, with the band launching a four-night run at the Beacon Theatre beginning June 13.After a trip north of the border for Montreal's July 1-2 International Jazz Festival, the band will head west for a mid-summer leg. The outfit's current schedule is below; check the group's website for updates.The upcoming tour will mark the third straight year that the band--led by co-founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker--has launched a major tour after a career spent largely avoiding the business of touring altogether.Last year, the group toured North America, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand with a 10-piece band that included drummer Keith Carlock, bassist Freddie Washington and guitarist Jon Herington. Steely Dan performed an exhaustive set list that featured songs from the pair's three-decade-plus career, as well as samplings from Fagen's recently released "Morph the Cat" and Becker's upcoming second solo LP, "Circus Money," which drops June 10.Steely Dan continues to tour behind 2003's "Everything Must Go." The group's previous album, 2000's "Two Against Nature," was the pair's first new studio release in 20 years and earned the band three Grammys in 2001, including Album of the Year.