David Crosby Guests With Steely Dan At Beacon

Steely Dan was joined by special guest David Crosby for two songs at the Beacon Theatre on Tuesday night. The concert was the band’s first of five at the New York City venue included in this year’s residency.

Donald Fagen led the Steely Dan band through 1977’s Aja in its entirety to start the evening. Performances of the seven songs from the iconic album were followed by the band covering Oliver Nelson’s “Teenie’s Blues” before Fagen returned for “Sign In Stranger.” A run of classic era favorites “Black Friday,” “Hey Nineteen,” “Kid Charlemagne” and “Dirty Work” was then broken up by “Godwhacker” from 2003’s Everything Must Go.

David Crosby initially appeared towards the end of Steely Dan’s main set to lead the group on guitar and vocals through “Wooden Ships.” Crosby penned the tune with Paul Kantner and Stephen Stills. “Wooden Ships” was released by Crosby, Stills & Nash on their eponymous debut studio album in 1968. Last night marked the Steely Dan debut of the song.

Steely Dan went on to finish the set sans Crosby with “Bodhisattva” and “My Old School.” David came back out with Steely Dan for the “Reelin’ In The Years” encore. The band closed out the evening in typical fashion by covering Joe Williams’ “A Man Ain’t Supposed To Cry.” Steely Dan returns to the Beacon tonight for a full performance of The Royal Scam and more.

Watch fan-shot video featuring the start of “Wooden Ships” thanks to Joshua Goodman: