The Dukes rule with edgy risks, classic hit gems

But last night at the trio’s Dukes of September tour stop at a stuffed Citi Wang Theatre, they were also pirates. Instead of a set of wall-to-wall singles from solo albums, the Dukes raided the past, coming up with chestnuts from soul legends, rock ’n’ roll architects and hippie icons. The gems were welcome treasure next to the classic-but-ubiquitous hits.

The frontmen slowly wandered out while the ace nine-piece backing band vamped over Don Covay’s “Sookie Sookie.” Then the whole crew launched into Lee Michaels’ “Heighty Hi.” Oh, yes, these guys unearthed some truly rare nuggets.

Fagen dressed the groovy Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” in a sport coat and sunglasses and pushed it out into the curious crowd as the Steely Dan song it always wanted to be. Scaggs thumped out Chuck Berry’s tremendous “You Never Can Tell.”

But the high point of the dozen-plus covers was a trifecta of Band tunes. Leaving the mellow ’70s far behind, the old men nearly got into a hootenanny. “King Harvest” worked perfectly with Fagen’s voice and McDonald’s banjo strummin’ - although he joked that every time he plays it, he “gets further from ever having sex again.”

Of course, the fans had paid a lot of money for hits, so every so often, the guys sailed back into their ’70s sound. Huge cheers (almost of relief) went up when the Doobie Brother hit the electric piano chords that open “What a Fool Believes” and “Takin’ It to the Streets,” and Scaggs got big love from the baby boomers with his dirty, dirty “Lowdown.”

But tops was Fagen doing Steely Dan’s always cool “Reelin’ in the Years” - not enough can be said about guitar master Jon Herington, who made a great guitar solo greater.

Some of the stuff was corny, some of it was kooky, but almost all of it took a risk.

And for guys not known for being risky, it was great to see them embrace a set no one imagined they’d do in 1977.