Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers will tour together this summer.
Answering the question of whether Steely Dan has a future after the September death of co-founder Walter Becker, the band has announced a summer tour with The Doobie Brothers.
There will be two New Jersey shows: July 6 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, and July 11 at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden. Holmdel tickets go on sale Jan 12 at 10 a.m. and Camden tickets go on sale Jan. 12 at noon, with various pre-sales before then. For information, visit steelydanofficial.com.
The tour is currently scheduled to include 37 shows from mid-May to mid-July.
The groups share some joint history, with singer-keyboardist Michael McDonald and guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter being associated with both in the ’70s and early ’80s. However, neither musician is expected to perform on this tour.
New Jersey native Donald Fagen, who co-founded and co-led Steely Dan with Becker, told Rolling Stone in December that his preference would be not to tour as Steely Dan anymore. But apparently he was overruled.
According to the article:
“I would actually prefer to call it Donald Fagen and the Steely Dan Band or something like that,” he says, noting that promoters have so far insisted that he call it Steely Dan for commercial reasons. “That’s an ongoing debate. To me, Steely Dan was just me and Walter, really – it was like a concept we had together.”
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