Your iconic summer

TRIBE CALLED QUEST | JOÃO GILBERTO | BUTTHOLE SURFERS | B-52’S
STEELY DAN | ALAN AND RICHARD BISHOP | GEORGE MICHAEL | “KIDD” JORDAN
WIRE | TEENAGE JESUS & THE JERKS | THE FEELIES | CHARLIE HADEN | YAZ
THE EX WITH GÉTATCHÈW MÈKURYA | RHYS CHATHAM | JUDAS PRIEST

Photograph: Danny Clinch

Steely Dan

Beacon Theatre. June 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21; $54–$154.

Landmark achievement: Donald Fagen and Walter Becker seamlessly fused jazz sophistication with pop hooks on classics like “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” but home in on the lyrics: Their real triumph is advancing the most acidic wit in rock history.

Why see them now: A whole new generation of fans is indulging in the joys and absurdities of the smooth ’70s via send-ups like Yacht Rock—and finding that Steely Dan was years ahead of them, winking all the while. “We considered the role we were assigned in the Yacht Rock saga to be a reaffirmation of the validity of our work, as well as an awesome personal victory,” says Fagen, whose band’s most recent album came out in 2003. But why do the duo’s classic songs still seem so fresh? “The expiration date on our entire body of work is March 14, 2172,” he says.