Steely Dan goes album format in Chicago concert series

To prepare for their current tour - which brings them to Chicago to perform over four nights next week - Steely Dan had to relearn their own music.

The band will perform one of three albums - "Aja," "Gaucho" and "The Royal Scam" - in its entirety on select dates of their Rent Party tour, which comes to the Chicago Theatre starting Monday, Aug 31.

On other dates, they will play requests that fans submit through their Web site. That means Steely Dan had to do some homework.

"We had to learn a lot, a whole bunch of stuff we haven't been doing, just trying to guess what people might vote for," said singer Donald Fagen.

Guitarist Walter Becker found the idea intriguing because some of the songs they had never performed live.

"We had stopped performing in the '70s when we recorded these three albums, so we never really went out to perform the tunes from these three albums," said Becker.

For the request nights - in Chicago, that will be next Friday, Sept 4 - fans could choose from several Steely Dan tracks.

"They're only able to request Steely Dan songs from a menu of choices that has maybe 50 tunes on it," said Becker. "Not knowing in advance what would be the most popular, what we'd end up playing, we couldn't prepare all of the songs from all of the albums."

The band expects fans will want the hits, such as "Hey Nineteen," "Josie" and "Do It Again." That's where they try to make things interesting.

"With songs that we feel have dated, and stuff like that, we often change the arrangements to keep ourselves fresh," Fagen said. "We have a new arrangement this year of 'Reelin' in the Years' that so far the audience seems to really like."

The fans show their appreciation in return, and not just with applause.

"I've met many parents of Ajas and Josies over the years. It's very flattering," Fagen said.

Steely Dan in Chicago

The first three performances will be classic album nights where albums will be performed in their entirety along with selected other songs. The fourth night is an Internet request night with ticket holders voting on what they want to hear. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m.

• Monday, Aug. 31 - "Aja"

• Tuesday, Sept. 1 - "Gaucho"

• Thursday, Sept. 3 - "The Royal Scam" (with guitarist Larry Carlton)

• Friday, Sept. 4 - "Takin' It to the Seats" (with Carlton)

Where: Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St., Chicago

Tickets: $72 to $226. Call (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.